Bordeaux, Day 5: Exploring Château de Lescours, Wine Tasting at Château de Pressac, and a Late Evening Stroll

June 7, 2026

I haven’t taken enough photos of the main floor at the chateau. On walking in, it’s a long, massive area that houses a living room area, an enormous banquet table, and a full kitchen.

View from the front door.

I think I was taking out the trash this morning, and just kept encountering some of the many animal statues all around the grounds.

A view of one of the main buildings.

One of many areas where there were tables and chairs, for folks to gather around a bottle or two of wine.

More statues.

There once was an actual moat surrounding the buildings, which apparently was even deeper than what is visible today.

And, of course, within the moat – several alligator statues.

Fast forward a bit to one of our first wine tastings. Liz and I went along with the Holder family to Château de Pressac.

We got a tour of the facilities.

The buildings were deceptive – on the outside, they looked much older, but were quite modern on the inside.

Barrels and storage.

Cool to see these amphoras, which were also used as storage.

A view of one of the buildings, standing in the main courtyard.

Walking back towards the tasting room.

We were part of a sizable group, all tasting several of the wines from the chateau.

Here was something interesting – while there were some larger grocery stores nearby, they were a good 10+ minutes away. But nearby… there was an Api location (a small, self-contained grocery store that had some basics and relied on shoppers checking themselves out).

I had found out about this during some of my pre-trip research. To access the store, you needed to download the app and create an account, but it wasn’t possible for me to do in the States. By the time we arrived, I had forgotten about it… and this morning, was frantically trying to find a way in.

The app ended up not working well, due to my US phone number. But I was able to submit a message to Api Support… and during the wine tasting, I was able to get a lot of help. I was sent a QR code to use, and was able to use that instead of the app… and was able to get in this evening.

Interesting note: on applying for my account, I needed to indicate where I was staying, and also had to upload photos of where I was staying. So I guess access to each location is specific, and having an account does not necessarily mean you can walk into any location you choose.

Inside, there was a good mix of things. It was warm, but most of the items on the shelves were fine without refrigeration.

But there were refrigerated and frozen items as well. Pretty handy as a place to go, and definitely helped us out later on… when all the grocery stores closed early on a Sunday.

Tonight, we gathered some extra ingredients for a dinner at the chateau.

On returning home, we found some of the peacocks just relaxing by the cars.

We ended up letting the younger family members figure out dinner (we had a variety of pastas and veggies). While they were figuring out the meal as a group, I snuck out with Liz and Kirt for a late stroll around the property.

A small coop (can’t recall if these were chickens or ducks).

At the far edge of the property.

At the border of the property.

This sign was pretty ominous, but I guess that was me reading in to the skull and crossbones. Translated, the text seems to be:

“Passing through this gate is strictly prohibited, for the sake of the animals’ tranquility.”

More sculptures. Unexpected to see this here, but also quite awesome to see this here.

A view down one of the rows, looking back at the buildings.

A small, open area, with a bench.

An old bridge that has seen better days. None of us felt adventurous enough to try to cross.

Looking back towards our building.

Kirt and Liz, walking back to the house.

Our big family meal. With so many people, going out to eat is a complex (and expensive) endeavor. It was nice to be able to stay “at home,” and eat together.

Our dinner must have smelled quite good, as we had a lot of interest from outside our house. Luckily for us, we had the windows closed.

I don’t have any photos from the late evening… but several of us had a blast playing Jackbox Games (I downloaded a Party Pack, earlier in the day).

We did several rounds of Quiplash, which is always a winner. Hard to believe the last time we played this game (with the Ford kids) was during the Pandemic ack in 2020.

The games were a fun end to the day, with everyone being quite silly and loud. Really wish I had more images from this night, as it was one of my favorite moments – watching everyone hanging out and laughing together.