A walk around the vineyards with Alice Tourbier

I grew up in Grenoble a city located in the French Alps. My parents moved to Bordeaux taking over a winery when I was 15 years old. It was difficult at first for me to leave the mountains where I was skiing 3 days a week during the winter season. But my family found new roots in our vines plants and I discover a new passion for winemaking and winetasting. A good bottle of wine has so much to tell, it is like a treasure that you open and share with friends.

Les Sources de Caudalie in Bordeaux means a lot to me and my husband Jerome. We started as baby hoteliers in 1999 opening the doors of the family vineyards to visitors and realizing that Bordeaux lacked accommodations, we first opened les Sources de Caudalie with 29 bedrooms, restaurant and wine spa. We soon realized that we need more bedrooms to develop activities offered on site.
Today we are very proud to be part of the Palaces de France, the 25 best French hotels. Our guests come with very high expectations, and we are pleased to meet their high standards offering a genuine experience of the French Art de Vivre in the vineyards.

I own and manage with my husband 2 Small Luxury Hotels one outside Paris and one outside Bordeaux; and I supervise the construction of a new hotel in the Loire Valley.
My weeks are rhythmed by travels to these 3 destinations. I try to spend 1 day in each hotel. I am based in Paris, so I am a regular user of the SNCF trains.

Our hotel is located in the middle of Bordeaux vineyards. The new vintage is always a celebration. The harvest in September and October is the best time to visit.

Dishes in Bordeaux have always enhanced the Bordeaux wines. The local special dishes are quite simple. There is a famous desert from Bordeaux called Canelé which was originally made with the yolk leftover from the winemakers and flour.

Les Sources de Caudalie is offering a true retreat in the vineyards out of the crowds.

I love the Alps! Mountains are my favourite landscape. From December to April, all my leisure travels consist of going skiing in the Alps. I love the 3 Valleys, Lech, Chamonix, l’Alpe d’Huez…

I would like to go back to Japan with my family. Our kids are now 10 and 12 years old, it is a wonderful age to travel with them. Japan is a strong a fascinating culture for French people : attention to details, a lot of sophistication in simplicity.

There is a trend for destinations that are inspirational and experiential. Travellers are looking for destinations that make sense for them and where they not only discover, but where they learn by sharing with locals.

We have a unique experience all around grape with vineyards landscape, 2-Michelin star food matching the most impressive winelist, Caudalie vinotherapie spa using natural water and grape extracts.

Service service service!

Best hotel experience ever actually happened in our hotel when our whole team of les Sources de Caudalie had signed a very nice and personalized note to my husband and I, that we discovered as we checked in. It was very emotional for us.
I try to forget very fast the bad experiences in hotels as I am always trying to see the best sides of every situation.

I will choose an SLH hotel as I trust their hotels selection and the high quality of services they offer. They are the places to share intimate moments in a new destination and still have the connexion with the local environment.