Let’s go wine tasting!

This morning marked the departure of Tony and Jackie. We sent them off with a good breakfast to a locale in the southern Dordodgne. Bon voyage!

Now it was time for us to start exploring wine, so off we went, to a domaine close to us that we’d never visited - La Presidente.

We were on our own at this winery that had a very cool tasting room adorned with a centre piece of grape vines and several modern works of art.

We set out on a quest for good Cotes du Rhone whites and actually found a good one here. Their white Chateauneuf du Pape which was good but a little out of our price point, especially after last night.

Next stop was Camille Cayran, our coop in Cairanne. Their wine seems to be getting better and better so of course, we left here with wine as well. We also took some time to visit the Parcours Sensoriel in the basement of the coop. This display is an excellent education on wine tasting and since we visited it the first time, it has been very well maintained.

After a lunch of leftovers back at Chez Pigeon, we headed off to do some grocery shopping in Orange, but took the scenic route past the Arc du Triomphe and the Theatre Ancien.

After some essential shopping - I think that means wine - we were heading home and then - just because we could - we detoured to Chateauneuf du Pape. Beaucastel was the first stop - for a photo - then via the fabulous estates of Mt. Redon and La Gardine to the town.

We ended up at the chateau and got the prerequisite photo overlooking the Rhone.

On the way back to Chez Pigeon, we had an interesting “Ozark” experience. We opted for the “straight route” along the narrow farm road to Cairanne from the Coteaux et Fourchette roundabout. This is a route that our GPS took us on to Cairanne years ago. It’s only 50 kmph and because it’s very narrow and rugged, you can’t go much faster. So low and behold, at the only real curve on the road, I came head on with a rugged off road vehicle driven by a surly Frenchman with a young girl in the passenger seat. We did not collide, but, he was totally pissed, for whatever reason and immediately turned around and started to follow us - closely. It became clear, along the route, that we were destined for a showdown, somewhere. As we hit the tiny roundabout below Cairanne, after about 4 kilometres of pursuit, he cut us off in a most aggressive manner - almost slammed us - and started to spew off about the nature of the small road we’d been on. I was contrite - what the hell! (Claude and Carole amazingly concur) and apologized, totally in English that we’d hit the curve at the same time. His little French girl copilot was in shock about the pursuit and wondered whether there might be a shoot out. He did have the hunter’s vest in the vehicle and had been probably been out hunting and likely drinking, but my English apology soothed him and we parted company. Hallelujah!! We spent the rest of the day on the terrace eating up the view and sucking up the wine.