Chateauneuf du Pape

As September winds down, I’m embarrassed to say that we still have summer weather. Vive la Provence!
After numerous years of touring in France we have become pretty well conditioned to the state of French secondary roads, namely NARROW! No complaints about the autoroutes – they’re terrific!
We are nonplused about traveling on two lane roads that would qualify as one-lane roads in Canada. It does not faze us to have to come to a dead stop as a transport truck approaches. Roads that have speed limits of 90 kph, where you can barely manage 50 kph do not ruffle us. We are not perturbed by endless traffic circles – hell we have them in Kitchener. But every once and a while we’re in awe of transport truck drivers who have some extremely difficult situations to navigate.
The photos below document one such encounter. The semi ahead of us sat while the dump truck passed, because the semi needed to be in the middle of the road to clear the plane trees in Violes that have encroached seriously on the road on both sides. Time for a by-pass around Violes, but that would mean wiping out vineyards and I don’t see that happening in the near future.


Chateauneuf du Pape! The name conjures up very good wine, wine that is barely affordable in Canada. In fact, it’s barely affordable here. As testimonial to this fact, we bought our first bottle of red Chateauneuf today and it’s likely to be our last on this trip.


Until today, we had not darkened the doorstep of Chateauneuf, but we finally made the trip. Don’t go to Chateauneuf du Pape for a shopping trip unless it’s wine you want because at least 95% of the shops here are dedicated to selling wine.

We picked up our wine at the tourist wine shop that represents the majority of Chateauneuf producers. Our choice was a Domaine Bois de Boursan that Peter & Margaret introduced us to. It wasn’t a Cuvee Felix but we were happy to find any wine by Jean-Paul Versino at this venue.



I call the middle photo above "Rocks, Roses & Roots".
I think we’re becoming more and more French, because we totally shut down for the afternoon and didn’t head to Chateauneuf du Pape until after 5:00 p.m. by which time everything in France has opened up again. Photos taken therefore showed that dramatic late day sun.

No eating out today! We’ll try harder tomorrow!

Touring the Drome

As the day began, we weren’t entirely sure what we were up to. We did figure, however, that it was time to address the excess baggage that we were accumulating with all of our shopping trips. So, a visit to the Post Office to purchase a box in which some of our Canadian clothing could be shipped home was in order.
By the time we got around to doing that, it was starting to heat up and it was time to think about where to go for lunch. Rough life, eh?
We planned to take a trek back up the valley to la Garde-Adhemar where we would find a restaurant called Le Logis de l’Escalin.

When we checked out the Michelin website, they said nothing exceptional about it, but someone from Michelin clearly needs to revisit to do a reassessment because this place was outstanding.

Before lunch we took a walkabout around the old town which to our surprise is yet another Plus Beaux Villages de France.

The terrace of Le Logis overlooks the Rhone valley as does the entire village and it was beautifully shaded and reminded us of Hotel Montmirail in Vacqueras.

There was an extensive menu with, for example, a Menu Degustation that had 11 courses. We were looking for significantly less food so ordered their least expensive Menu for 21 Euros entitled the TGV. This of course suggests that it’s a faster meal, but it also pays homage to the TGV that zooms passed in the valley below every 5 minutes.

We felt that despite ordering the cheapest menu that we still had the same impeccable service as all of the other patrons. And we definitely were not short on food. There were the cruditees to start followed by the amuse bouche. Our main course was a pork cutlet done in a sauerkraut reduction with dauphine potatoes and eggplant confit. The dessert that followed came was actually 5 mini desserts. With tea and coffee came more sweets. Even a glass of local rose was included in the menu price.
We came away from lunch very satisfied and looking for the car’s air conditioning. By the time we hit our next destination, Grignan, the temperature had risen above 30 degrees again.

We’ve visited Grignan before and on one occasion tried without luck to get into the chateau. Today we succeeded and discovered the reason for failure in the past was due to ongoing renovations.

This chateau has been beautifully restored with appropriate period pieces in each room. It was, of course, sacked during the Revolution and all original works of art were looted. The lady who bought it in the early 1900’s did a fabulous job of bringing it back to life.


In our walk around the grounds we had a view to the south of something extremely tall jutting out of the top of a nearby village.

Since we were staring into the sun, it looked like it could be a large religious statue, but as we drove to Chamaret, we discovered it was an extremely tall clock and bell tower.

We then continued our journey up the Nyons valley to try to find the new house purchased by Jim & Lynda Gardner, the American neighbours to us in Cairanne. Their new town, Mirabel aux Baronnies, is just over the hills from us. It’s a cute little town with slightly more commerce than Cairanne.

They’ve decided to purchase a place with no property to maintain, so they’re right in the heart of the town with entrances to the house off streets on both sides. This place reminds us a lot of St. Chinian and we loved that spot.

We got back to Cairanne shortly before 5:00 and lay low for a bit until the heat finally abated. Rough life, eh?
With this continual string of excellent lunches, we’ve been eating very little in the evening, which is a good thing, otherwise our luggage won’t be the only thing overweight on the airplane.

It’s a good thing that today we made our last visit of this trip to Vaison la Romaine’s Tuesday market, because I’m running seriously thin on new repertoire for this or any market. Although we will be still in the country next Tuesday, we will be packed up and off to the south.
So today I will reclaim my theme from last Thursday that featured market dogs, because although I entitled that one “pampered pooches”, I believe that may have been a misnomer based on today’s sightings.
It was another steamy market walk and we were wilting by the end of it. Apparently the heat was also too much for the dogs. First there was one dog in its own stroller, then three, but in fairness to the three, they were puppies.


There were also the regular sightings of creatures significantly less canine in nature and more classically French.

We also finally saw zucchini blossoms and although we didn’t buy them, I thought we walked away from the vegetable stand with what one might consider a very French collection, namely fresh figs, uniquely ribbed beefsteak tomatoes which are the tastiest of French tomatoes, elongated French radishes and jujubes, which are not our jelly kind, but rather a tiny grape-shaped fruit that is very crunchy.

Following market we headed to Vacqueras for lunch a L’Eloge, which is a very modern restaurant in the basement of the Vacqueras Wine Cooperative. We managed to get a table without reservation and were seated in a very private circular setting mostly enclosed in white sheers with white leather chairs. Each table in the restaurant is compartmentalized in the same manner with fibre-optically lighted ramps connecting them. Tres chic!
We opted for the 15 Euro menu considered their light and rapid offering. It still started with an amuse bouche of a warm asparagus mousse. Main course was a veal chop with pureed potatoes, one baby carrot, one braised cherry tomato and one spear of asparagus. It was delicious! Dessert and coffee was included which consisted of an assortment of little pastries including a little pistachio crème brulee. We drank the Cave’s Vacqueras rose which was only 3 Euros per glass.

The washrooms in this place were also worth a comment. The common sink area was glassed and looked out over the oak barrel room of the Cave so you could just stand there washing your hands contemplating the excellent wine to come.
Not much to report from the rest of the day, where we mostly made an effort to escape the heat and stay hydrated – translation cocktail hour.

On the Beach

Since summer was not about to give up yet and hit us today with another blast of Sahara heat, we decided it would be a good day for a drive to the beach. A drive to the beach from here means heading south to Montpelier and then hanging a sharp left to the Mediterranean.

We arrived just about lunchtime so in an effort to find a nice place to eat, we ended up in Aigues-Mortes. This is a delightful medieval town with its fortified gates still encircling the entire old town.


There are lots of eateries here but we always seem to end up in the main square. Today, you can see Dawn had moules/frites, her favourite. Lunch at Restaurant les Voyageurs cost us about 200 Euros less than yesterday’s lunch. To this I say, “There is “food” and there is “cuisine art” - not that you have too much bad food in France.

Just after lunch we noticed this getaway artist. He was snagged immediately after the photo was taken.

From there we drove south along the beach. As you take this drive south from Aigues-Mortes, you quickly discover that there isn't a lot of public access to beaches. There is a lot of private land right up to the water and then there are the salt works of les Salines and the shallow flamingo-infested wetlands just off the shoreline. So you don't hit public beaches until just south of La Grand Motte.


We’ve been down here before at this time of year and most years the beaches have been deserted, but not today. Not only were there lots of sun worshippers, but there were also lots of people in the water. I stuck my toes in and indeed, it was still pretty comfortable for this time of year.

This great beach is just south of the resort town of La Grand Motte shown above, with its funky architecture.
Most of today’s trip was on the autoroute, so it was a pretty quick round trip. Stopping in at the Orange Carrefour on the way back, we discovered that someone decided to do some Sunday shopping yesterday and cleaned out the jewelry store and the nearby tobacco store in the mall. We're thinking the latter was about lottery tickets. Maybe they don’t know about a) guards or b) alarms, because it looked like the thieves had achieved a comprehensive cleanout.
Tonight we finally got together with our Cairanne neighbours the Gardners, who are lawyers hailing from Portland Oregon. Apparently they were in an acquisition mode on this trip because they purchased another property, this one in Mirabel aux Baronnies which will be used as a kind of a time share. Anyway, we had a great visit and meal and drank way too much wine - not a new story.

A visit to Le Grand Pre

Today’s edition is devoted to gastronomy. I know this comes as no great surprise, but we just literally lived and breathed today’s dining experience at Le Grand Pre, two villages away from us in Roaix.

Chef and owner Raoul Reichrath opened this restaurant ten years ago and got his Michelin star in 2006. We have visited before and eaten in the garden, when Brigitte was with us and also in the bistro called Preface with Brenda & Bill Fraser, but today due to yet another overcast Sunday, we were in the dining room.
The décor is simple and yet elegant. But that’s not why you come here. It’s all about the food and the outstanding service which features a comfortable sense of pace and no hovering.
We opted for the Grand Pre menu, which on a Sunday comes in at 59 Euros. Lunch is quite a bit less expensive during the week.
This menu is four courses but invariably there is also the amuse bouche and the palate cleanser, not to mention the goodies that come with coffee and tea.
There was no choice in the courses, which is a good thing, because one might not be inclined to order the first course and that would be a mistake because the octopus carpaccio, shown below, was fabulous. It came topped with compote of pimento and mushroom.

Second course, shown below was foie gras with crispy angel hair pasta and figs in a red wine reduction. Might be my best foie gras yet!

Third course was a filet of fish -not really sure what fish - that was so mild, you hardly knew you were eating fish. It was served on a squash puree with a drizzle of chicken stock.
Dessert featured figs with a vanilla bean ice cream.
The quantities were perfect and we came away not feeling stuffed and able to savour each dish.
The table next to us featured the inevitable dog, which was presented with his own water dish by staff. We must assume that the reason dogs and children are so well behaved in restaurants is because they visit such public places from the day they are born. Pay attention North America!

Our next meal is likely to pale in comparison, but we will content ourselves with the concept that one meal is not necessarily better than another, only different. Yeh, right!

Gigondas

The day didn't start off with a trip to Gigondas, irrefutably one of the stars in southern Rhone wines, but it incidentally became the highlight.
We had some inconsequential shopping to do in Vaison la Romaine, but we knew there was a special vendage activity happening in Rasteau. This village has only recently been propelled into the international limelight, due to its ascent to Cru status. No longer will it be Cotes-du-Rhone-Villages. Now, just Rasteau, like Gigondas and Vacqueras before it! It's funny that when we were describing where we were staying to Mme. Valenti in Roussillon yesterday, that she really only understood the area when the name Rasteau came up. "Oh, they make really good wine there", she said.
Anyway, whatever was happening in Rasteau, it was pretty low key, because we went to the Cave Cooperative and it was like every other day. This is a good co-op and I know Margaret likes it but I find its offerings limited.

At that point it was off to Gigondas, where we had not actually ever visited the Cooperative. We had a very helpful gentleman serving us wine and ended up walking away with another case of fabulous wine, including award winning 2007 and 2009 Crus.
Although it might be considered a step down, we thought we'd visit the cave in Sablet, which is La Gravillas, a totally familiar name in Ontario, but alas we arrived over the lunch hour and all was ferme.

So it was back to Cairanne for the afternoon. Cedric the gardener did his hour of work, but after Dawn's labours, there wasn't much left to do.
Now that we're counting down, obscene as it may seem, we've made a list of restaurants we must visit before departing the country. Tonight's choice was a short walk down the hill to La Tourne au Verre.
Dinner tonight was zucchini stuffed with a smoked salmon cream sauce for Dawn and a duck with sesame and avacado for me. Main course was cod with risotto epautre with a varigoule sauce for Dawn and I had stuffed rabbit with mushroom sauce. Dessert for both of us was a delicious pear tartelette. Tonight we ate in the bar with a Domaine Delubac Authentique red wine, which was yet another first for us.

Wait 'till you see tomorrow's choice!

Peter Mayle Country

It seems that a visit to this part of France just isn’t complete without a drive into the Luberon, the area of France made famous by Peter Mayle’s “A Year in Provence”. Since penning that and subsequent follow-up books, this area has become a magnet for English speaking people and I have to say, they were everywhere today.

We started off with a walk through Bonnieux, which coincidentally, had a small market today. Any walk in this village is pretty much straight up or straight down as the whole town is built on a significant bump.


The elevation provided many superb views of the Luberon valley, Mt. Ventoux to the north and the village of Lacoste, directly across the valley from Bonnieux.

Lacoste of course, was the former home of the Marquis de Sade and his castle which was destroyed during the Revolution, has now been restored and is owned by Pierre Cardin who has turned it and other significant spaces in Lacoste into a haven for the Arts. I guess the controversy surrounding this is that most of his events are for privately invited guests, so the locals feel a little neglected.

From Bonnieux, we drove across the valley to Roussillon. I have included the token picture here to prove that indeed we have returned here for the umpteenth time. We made the obligatory stop to visit with Madame Valenti. During our chat we discussed Sunday closings and she said it is illegal to hire someone to work on Sunday. There are exceptions in tourist areas like Roussillon, but the unions are still pretty firm on keeping Sunday a day of rest.

From there, we wound our way home via Gordes, where we had a pique-nique beneath the village and took the obligatory picture of Gordes from the rock ledge on the road in.



Both Roussillon and Gordes are designated as Les Plus Beaux Villages de France, so the tourist flow here never abates.

By the heat of the day, we were back relaxing in Cairanne. It certainly is great to be so close to so many fabulous attractions!