To start with the positives; the people who work there, especially Anne at reception, were fantastic. Local restaurant recommendations, taxi booking, winery tours, umbrellas when raining ect etc were handled brilliantly. The property was in immaculate condition and was beautiful and charming. The location was good, about 20 mins from the centre of Bordeaux city, however it is located in a semi suburban setting and not in the rolling vineyard and countryside we expected (obviously not the hotels fault). I think anyone booking at this property needs to be aware of the factors listed below. 1. This is not really a hotel but more a bed and breakfast with a dinner option or perhaps a guest house; 2. Whilst there are communal areas they are not overly welcoming or comfortable so you can’t relax and enjoy reading a book or chatting over a glass of wine; 3. There is no catering outside of breakfast and dinner (if you book) so should you wish to have a light lunch or afternoon drink or snack this is not an option for you. Equally the local town closes at 2pm so be sure to byo. 4. Breakfast was basic but not unpleasant. Only hot option was scrambled egg. 5. Dinner… promised so much but was so very disappointing. We were offered a 3 course set menu with a couple of choices for each course. Entree was fine but we selected the lamb shank for mains and it was was very dry and tough. The highlight was the lemon soufflé desert option. There was not cheese option offered. Everything was served within the hour. 6. Wine pairing wasn’t wine pairing at all, we were asked to select 2 wines from the menu and they served both before we started dinner. 7. We book suite, the room was very red, lighting was not great so room was very dark. There was no full mirror and the makeup mirror was a handheld one. There was no standup shower so yo have to sit in the bath and hold the shower head over you. Was tricked when washing your hair 😣. 8. The bed was very soft and there was no turn down service on the second night. This place has the potential to be amazing but needs a little more

Beautiful grounds. We took the Wine Tasting and Vineyard Tour (English Speaking). Unfortunately, it was pouring rain so we did not get to tour the vineyards, but were allowed to go out and walk around later, which we did. The Vineyard Tour was great, but one draw back was our guide had such a heavy accent, we could not understand her fully. Even though that was an issue, I asked questions, when I could not understand and she was more than accommodating to clarify. The wine tasting segment went perfectly as our guide for that could speak English with less of an accent. All in all, it was a good experience.

The chateau is easily accessible from Bordeaux by public transport. Pessac has both a train station and a tram terminus. There is a bus from the town centre to the Chateau but as we were early for the tour we ended up walking and having a look at the nearby Cite Fruges. I have to admit that the tour could have been better, our tour guide though lovely, was rather inexperienced and this allowed some people in the group to be rude to her. Her English was not great either so I didn't understand everything she said. Looking at the shop before the tour started we figured out that Pape Clement wines are quite expensive and in the tasting we were offered 3 such wines which was an experience in itself. The owner however has many properties around the world and the shop sells wines from those too, so we were able to buy a couple of less expensive wines. My favourite part of the tour, apart from the tasting was being shown to the buildings were the wine is made and where the barrels are stored. Even better than the tour was being allowed to explore the gardens on our own. There are plants from all over the world, beautifully arranged with an audio guide you get on your phone. We ended up staying nearly till closing time there, so it was an amazing experience.

Even though majority of the group was not french speaking , the guide only done the tour in french. Overall experience was underwhelming and the wine tasting was sub par. Expected better. Better chateaux in Bordeaux to visit.