We headed out the back road from Cairanne and got a different look at Cairanne through the vineyards. The vines are laden, the fruit is already pretty sweet and as I mentioned earlier, they have started picking the whites. So soon the countryside will be abuzz with farmer's tractors and wagons heaped with grapes and the mammoth mechanical pickers roaring up and down the rows of vines.
Between Montelimar and Avignon there are 18 villages that have been given the Cotes du Rhone-Villages appellation. Some of these were the villages we passed through today, with the exception of Vinsobres which is considered a Cru, like Gigondas and Chateauneuf-du-Pape. Vinsobres is a wine we really don't know and seldom see in Canada, so we'll definitely have to check it out in the coming weeks. Pictured below are scenes of Vinsobres from below and above.
The other Villages rated villages we visited on today's meanderings, other than Cairanne, included St. Maurice, Valreas and Visan. Valreas is actually considerably larger than the other two and has the amenities typical of larger places in France. Visan and St. Maurice, on the other hand, are both very quaint and ancient-looking.
Today, we managed to start out a little late, so had to skip tasting in these places because they were closed for lunch. Mid-day is not a good time to get anything done in France. We did, however, drive through some very pretty countryside with already harvested but very colourful fields of lavender and sunflowers that were ready to be harvested. A number of the roads around here go right along the spine of the hills, affording vistas in all directions.
Later in the afternoon, we set out to taste some local wines. We first went to Alary, who are literally a stone's roll from our house. Much our their production has been sold out, which says something for the winery, but we did find a couple of nice reds.
The next two places Armand and Richaud were A) closed and B) lacking in product, so we went down the road to Domaine L'Ameillaud, which as it turns out was owned by a Brit. We spent a delightful time tasting his reds - no whites here either. This is one name we know from Canada, but now he only exports to BC & Alberta, because he was fed up with the LCBO. Have we heard this story before? YES WE HAVE! We found all of his wines very enjoyable, even though only one actually had the Cairrane name on it. He made an interesting observation about the Rasteau wines being more consistent than Cairanne and that might be why we see more of them in Canada. He thought he would be harvesting in about 10 days. There is a Gite here holding 5 couples - 5 rooms, 4 baths, with a pool and right at the estate. Could be interesting.
Believe it or not, tonight was the first time that we've eaten out, since we've been here. We walked down to the local restaurant La Tourne au Verre, which offers only one menu of 3 courses each evening and were seated on their patio - their only seating area in nice weather. This evening for 23 Euros we started with an amuse bouche of rillettes, a starter of warm mackerel and aubergine and a main course of duck with mashed potatoes, vegetables and a jus of thyme. Dessert was a chocolate mousse. For wine we bought by the glass, as they had a really nice selection. They also have an amazing wine (by the bottle) menu, with pages and pages of French wines. We were glad to have made a reservation, because they were full and turning away late comers.
Walking up the hill was at lot tougher than walking down, but at least we might have worked off a few calories. The wind is blowing tonight and that might signal a change in the weather. We'll have to wait to see what tomorrow brings.
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