A Road Trip Through France… And Life
The miracle that occurred when a courageous widow and unlikely winemaker partnered with an unlikely fungus.
In a recent Gastronomad Experience Journal, I shared how a meaningful cascade of beautiful, serendipitous moments led us from watching Drops of God in California to tasting a 1986 Château d’Yquem on a rooftop in Mexico City, courtesy of incredibly generous friends.
I also mentioned how our friend Jumi spontaneously shared a poem she had written for a wine competition at Château d’Yquem. These were all coincidental and seemingly unrelated events that somehow were actually deeply connected to us, and to this unfolding story.
To really see how all these luminous threads of happy chances began weaving together, how Jumi’s competition aligned with our own plans to drive through France to visit some friends, and how an apartment in Paris opened up for the exact dates we needed, you might enjoy reading that earlier chapter first, the prequel to this wonderful story.
Since that journal, less than a month ago, Mike and I have wandered through many places and tasted their stories through wine and food.
We’ve gathered with old friends and new, and savored life’s deliciousness in many delightful ways.
We took that road trip from Tuscany to France, and the universe rewarded us with a life-filling, blossoming spring: trees heavy with fresh green leaves, flowers blooming into color, endless skies dotted with marshmallow-white puffy clouds, and beautiful people we met along the way.
We explored other wine regions across France during this journey, each with its own beauty and character, but nothing has quite matched the inspiring magic of Bordeaux and its surroundings for me.
There is something about that storied region that feels both grand and intimate at once, as if the land itself were whispering in my ear, insistently calling me to return.
Liquid Gold and Sweet Miracles in Bordeaux
One of the most unforgettable highlights was our visit to Château d’Yquem, the great Sauternes featured in Drops of God, the same wine that had graced our table in Mexico City less than a month earlier, and the very estate that was about to host Jumi’s wine competition.
This entire chain of serendipitous moments, that began not so long ago, was leading us here.
We went with high hopes, and somehow, we still received far more than we expected.
The estate itself is one of the most beautiful wineries I have ever seen. The vines, the light, the sense of history in the air. And the wine... truly exquisite.
We were treated to a magical private visit, tasted different vintages of Sauternes, met the cellar master, a sixth-generation guardian of this liquid gold, were invited into spaces not open to the general public.
We left with not only new knowledge but new friends. It felt like standing inside a living poem.
The Force Behind the Liquid Gold and Château d’Yquem
We learned about an incredible woman who, centuries ago, was far ahead of her time and helped shape this storied estate. Her name was Françoise-Joséphine de Sauvage d’Yquem, and she was remarkable, becoming my muse for this piece.
Despite the difficulties and heartbreaking tragedies in her life, her tenacity still seems to shine through the place itself.
Joséphine was born in 1768 into a family that had owned Yquem since the sixteenth century.
She lost both of her parents in 1785, while she was still a teenager, and that same year she married Count Louis-Amédée de Lur-Saluces.
Just a few years later, in 1788, he died in a riding accident, leaving her a 20‑year‑old widow with two young children at the beginning of the French Revolution.
Not long after, she also suffered the loss of her daughter, Marie-Louise, who died from illness during the harsh years that followed.
During the turmoil of the Revolution, she herself was imprisoned, twice according to some accounts. It is said that Joséphine used her wine to influence her jail keepers.
Through all of this, Joséphine managed to protect the estate and keep it in the family.
Rather than stepping back, she took full responsibility for the property and the business and showed extraordinary acumen as its leader, overseeing Yquem for decades and commissioning a new cellar in 1826 that helped anchor its future.
There is also a story often told in Sauternes, part history and part legend, about a delayed harvest at Yquem and an owner returning to find botrytised grapes that looked ruined, only to discover they produced something extraordinary. (Botrytised grapes are those infected with a fungus called Botrytis cinerea. It causes what’s called “noble rot” in grapes under specific conditions of alternating dry and humid air, concentrating sugars and acids to create sweet wines.)
Historians debate the exact details and timing, and some versions link the legend to later members of the Lur-Saluces family, but the heart of the tale reflects a truth about this place: Yquem has always chosen to work with uncertainty and risk, rather than against it.
Growers in the region had been making late-harvest sweet wines for generations, but under Joséphine the estate leaned into meticulous “tries”: multiple passes through the vineyard, berry by berry, selecting only fruit touched by noble rot, a demanding approach that became central to Yquem’s identity.
The Kind of Choice That Can Change Everything
So much in life feels like an echo of that same stance, a willingness to trust what appears at your door, what shows up unexpectedly in front of you, instead of treating every turn as something to resist or control.
It is a humble conviction to move with the flow of life, to meet its challenges with grace, and to walk forward refusing to let fear keep you from living your truth and calling with honesty, respect, and openness.
To have the courage not to be led by fear, but by conviction and clear-eyed logic, is its own kind of audacity.
Joséphine was a visionary, a true innovator, and a beautiful example of what it means to hold your ground in uncertainty and quietly reshape the future through the choices you make.
The luminous wines of Sauternes, shimmering like liquid gold, tasting of honey, dried apricot, and other complex and delicate notes that unfold with each sip, and the singular reputation of Château d’Yquem are all rooted in this choice to embrace uncertainty and accept the risks of noble rot, tiny yields, and intensely selective hand-harvesting.
Although a bottle of Yquem costs hundreds of euros, and thousands for older vintages, that price reflects the extraordinary care and labor required at every step, from rigorous vineyard work and low-yield farming to meticulous harvesting and long, careful élevage.
Standing on the grounds of Château d’Yquem, hearing Joséphine’s story, it felt impossible not to see the parallel.
Serendipity is not only about chance, but about recognition. About seeing opportunity where others see loss, saying yes when something unexpected reveals itself. About trusting that what looks like risk, or even loss, may be the beginning of something far more beautiful.
Serendipity is also an intentional resolve to search fiercely for possibility, even when everything on the surface appears grim.
The journey that led us to Château d’Yquem is serendipity in its truest form. And Joséphine’s story is yet another connection that tells me she had been practicing the art of serendipity long before we ever gave it a name.
We also explored other beautiful wineries and appellations in the region. The whole journey overflowed with many happy chances, the kind you could never quite plan or script.
It was so rewarding and so wonderful that I have decided to create a Bordeaux Gastronomad Experience.
A Sweet Ode to Sauternes
In the last journal, I also mentioned our dear friend Jumi, whose wine competition at Château d’Yquem became another thread in this tapestry of serendipity.
Jumi has graciously allowed me to share the poem she wrote and presented at that competition, a luminous love letter to Sauternes, written by Jumi Kim:
