A walk through the vineyards

At just about 7:00 this morning, the dump trucks started rolling up into the upper town to continue their infrastructure improvements. It is quite entertaining to watch the trucks from our terrace as they approach the historic gates to the old town.

They have absolute minimal clearance and knowing that hitting the arch would be a career ender, they inch through the arch as if the truck noise alone might bring it down.
Today was forecast to be a windy one. They didn’t say anything about the Mistral, but we got a good blow. The temperature has stayed high, so, who knows.
We opted for a no-car day and plotted a walking route through the vines.
So, if you were staying in the south of France for a month and wanted to take a walk in the vineyards, this is what it might look like.
I must start by saying that this was Wednesday and typically the hunters blow their wad on Sundays and Wednesdays. So, the course plotted for today stayed mostly on paved roads, albeit one-lane farmer’s roads with next to no traffic, vehicular or otherwise.
We passed a variety of vegetation, not just grapes. There were olive trees, pear trees, pomegranates and these bushes laden with brightly-coloured berries.

We headed south out of town and immediately had a great vista of the Dentelles de Montmirail, a prominent geological feature in this area.

Very few places on today’s path were without a view of Cairanne.

As we walked along the trail, we regularly came upon intersections showing direction and distance.

The trail was also regularly marked with yellow flashings , like the ones on this borie-looking water well. Bories are found throughout Provence and their origins, going back perhaps 500 years are still uncertain. Were they merely shepherd’s respites or were they dwellings for avoiding the plague?

As we followed our route, we were forced to step off the road only once as two vehicles loaded with Algerian grape pickers came zooming past hooting and hollering – I’m guessing at Dawn, not at me I hope.
A change in our course took us past two noteworthy domaines - Nick Thompson’s L’Ameillaud and Domaine Galuvan (the terracotta-coloured building) who took over one of our favourites, Domaine Rocher.


From there we headed up into the hills east of Cairanne. We passed the Estevenas vineyards where they were harvesting in earnest. The grade was steady and although Dawn was looking for a shortcut at one point, she stayed the course.

Our walk ended at the Cairanne butcher – another first I might add – and we stocked up with items for a couple of meals. Dawn had never been into the Petitte Jennette store across the street from the butcher, so that was our next stop. It is important to note that if you’re looking for a toothbrush here that they’re next to the light bulbs and duct tape and the dog food is adjacent to the olive oil. Needless to say, however, they have just about anything you might need in a pinch, but we left with only a baguette.
Then it was back to the house for laundry and gardening. The bed sheets had nicely wrapped themselves around the clothesline numerous times in the wind, making removing them interesting.
The rest of the day was pretty quiet, but with the breeze, the end terrace was the place to be.

If it’s Tuesday, we must be in Vaison la Romaine

After yet another night of not closing inner doors – the voleurs were of course locked – we awoke to another hot one. Our line for today was, “Let’s go to the Vaison la Romaine market to get a good walk.” Right! “OK, maybe a little shopping.”

The town was bustling as usual and we got waylaid at the very first stall. Here the shirts and Capri’s that were 15 and 20 Euros were now 8 Euros and the lady’s tunics were only 12 Euros. Well, who can resist those bargains? It appeared that they were clearing out the summer stock and we obligingly helped them out.

It is always fun to see the outfits on the REAL French women. There is usually that “Je ne sais quoi?” about them as this photo illustrates. I probably shouldn’t mention that this just happens to be my tomato lady, AGAIN!

After a short shuffle, because that’s about maximum speed in this congested market, we settled in for lunch at another of Peter and Margaret’s favourites, La Lyriste. The menu here was definitely not the regular Provencal fare and for 19 Euros we had an excellent and unique meal.

Dawn started with an olive tapenade risotto done to a crispy or as they call it “croustillant”, finish, while I started with a pear tarte with carmellized onions and Fourme d’Ambert cheese. Main course was brochettes of salmon for Dawn and I had a bull (taureau) parmentier, with an orange sauce - something like a shepherd’s pie with mashed potatoes on top. For dessert, we both had a three layered parfait with chocolate on the bottom, mascarpone in the middle and a plum puree on the top.

After lunch, market had packed up, the garbage trucks were cleaning the streets and we badly needed that walk I talked about earlier. So, despite the blazing sun and intense heat, we set off to conquer the chateau at the top of the old town. This is not something we had done before, despite many visits to Vaison.
It was a very picturesque walk and we discovered some really cool cafes on the way up. The view from the chateau today was pristine, with those Provencal blue skies dominating.


Following our excellent walk, we stopped in at Intermarche to get some white wine. Although we’ve found a few local ones that are good, most are quite expensive. So, another first for us was buying bag-in-a-box –three litres of Vaison white for 11 Euros. I did the same thing at Camille Cayran yesterday with their rose and I have to confess that the wine is pretty good.
When we returned to Cairanne at around 4:00, we discovered that today was the first day that it was actually a good deal more pleasant inside the house, in the heat of the day. Therefore, we didn’t actually head out onto the terrace until close to 7:00. I should point out that we ARE NOT complaining about the weather! Keep it coming, I say!

Le Parcours Sensoriel

Today began with an early quick trip – aka 6:30 a.m. - to Marseilles to deliver Jackie to the airport. The Autoroute du Soleil – what a great name for a highway – was fairly heavy, even at that hour, but still flowed nicely. One thing I really do appreciate about the French autoroutes, other than the speed – is that nobody passes on the right and the left lane is reserved for strictly that. Nobody’s going crazy speeds like in Germany, but lots of high-speed commuters are doing well over 150 kph.
We got Jackie through security and then headed back. I hope everything went well for her flights.
Before returning to Cairanne we picked up some groceries in Orange. We got back in time for PIZZA – lots left over from last night.

Without company, it was time to slow down a bit. The breeze was keeping things comfortable in the 30-degree sun, so we hung out on the terrace. The only drawback was the rumble of dump trucks passing us from the upper town where they felt it was time to refurbish the plumbing.


Later in the afternoon we walked down to Camille Cayran, the Cairanne wine growers cooperative. The farmers were busy delivering their loads of grapes. We often assume that all of these grapes are being picked in the Cairanne environs, where in fact, many of these farmers are driving their loads 20 kilometres or more.

Then, for the first time – don’t ask me why we haven’t done it before – we went downstairs at the co-op to a display they call Le Parcours Sensoriel - a sensory course.


They’ve put a substantial amount of revenue into this display – I’m thinking they’re looking to attract bus tours – which was an excellent course on Cairanne wines.
They described the terroir surrounding Cairanne with models showing the various cross-sections. Apparently only the hilly terroirs are producing grapes suitable for a Cairanne designation.
There was also an excellent collage of photos and artwork where I discovered that real French ladies drink their wine like this.

One display showed each wine produced with a sniffer that illustrated what was to be tasted in each wine. Loved it!

Back at the ranch, it was book and blog time. Meanwhile, the vendage went on below us.

OK. So, while I was writing this edition of my blog, I got an e-mail from my daughter, who was concerned when she heard about an explosion at a nuclear facility in the south of France. That news was correct, but may I emphasize that it was NOT a nuclear explosion. The facility in question was at Marcoule, the high-tech recycling facility - that by the way is studied by the rest of the world - built in nuclear-dependant France. There is no reactor at Marcoule and although one person was apparently killed, there is no risk of internal or external radiation.
After the disaster in Japan, the world is understandably neurotic about nuclear energy, but this incident twenty kilometres from us has simple come and gone.

Our last day with Jackie

Last night, as the sun was setting, Jackie and I drove to the river, west of town, for that memorable look back at Cairanne. The moon was almost full, so the combination of village, Mt. Ventoux and the moon were quite striking.

We chose two perspectives, with the second allowing us a peek at the Pigeon home. I’ve included two photos below, one that shows the village profile for scale and one that focuses on the Pigeon property.


When we awoke this morning, it became quickly apparent that today would not be a good day for a stroll in the vineyards. Our first clue was the popping of hunter’s rifles as they chased down all manner of ferocious rabbits and tiny tenacious game birds. There might be some sanglier (wild boar) out there but I’m guessing they can outsmart the hunters.

After enjoying the cool breeze on the terrace, we headed for lunch to the Hotel Montmirail in Vacqueras. This is one of our favourite haunts and on a beautiful day like today, eating on the patio was delightful. I’d have to say that although our bill was much less here – and we’ve started each meal with a glass of champagne – the quality of the food equaled the best.
Dawn & Jackie began with an eggplant bundle stuffed with vegetables and tied up with a zucchini flower – shown below.

I, on the underhand, had – take a guess – foie gras. I’m going to soon start quacking.
Dawn & Jackie had fish for their main course with a mustard sauce. I had tiny brochettes of slightly crisp lamb. My dish is shown below. Please note that with the lamb is one green bean sliced up, one half of a mushroom, one tiny slice of potato, one little mound of zucchini and one cherry tomato farci.

Dessert was an assortment of little delicacies from gateau to crème brulee.
On the way back to Carianne, we made a quick stop in Gigondas to check out wine for future purchases. The original village cave is under renovation, so they now have a spot beneath the post office.
Back in Cairanne, we discovered that the pizza truck is parked in the main square on Sundays, so dinner tonight was an easy prep. The pizza guy has twenty or so varieties of thin crust pizza, most with tomato base, but some with creme fraiche. We opted for pizzas to suit each of our tastes and as a result, we will have pizza for lunch for days to come.

The First of our Plus Beaux Villages

For anyone reading my blog, did anyone notice that we did NOT visit a market yesterday? A milestone!
Today, however, we made up for that and returned to the market in Ste. Cecile les Vignes. We’ve decided that Margaret is right about this being the perfect market, because although it’s a fraction of the size of Vaison la Romaine, it’s got everything you need on market day.

The girls got heavily into the clothing stalls again and meantime I found the best perches for the wait.
We also did the local thing and sat down at the local bar for a coffee. There was a very pretty French girl near where we were sitting selling her buns – er, her dainties – er, her breads and gateaux.


We then set out for lunch in Seguret, which is our closest Plus Beaux Villages. We chose the restaurant at the top of the town that Michelin gives three knives and forks, La Table du Comtat.

We sat on their terrace overlooking the next village of Sablet. Their location was quite stunning!
I think some food photos are in order today. We had three and four course menus. Dawn started with a fresh gazpacho with chorizo, followed that with a surf and turf with langoustines, scallops and duck with a orange/ coriander béarnaise. Her dessert was Peach Melba with a vanilla ice cream. The surf and turf is shown below.

Jackie’s appetizer was scallops in a veloute while I had - guess? – foie gras with apple.
Both Jackie and I had a veal cutlet with braised endive.
Next was a Roquefort cheese course with a cheese brioche.
Dessert for Jackie was Pear with crème anglaise and caramel, while I had a trilogy of plums – ice cream, mousse and tart, shown below.

The food was outstanding and the service was excellent. Although this used to be a hotel, they now only operate the restaurant. We would highly recommend it.
Following lunch, it was time for a walk through the picturesque village. There weren’t an overabundance of tourists today, so the walk was quite delightful.


Find the kitty in the photo above.
Since we were in the neighbourhood, we drove up the hill to Walter McKinlay’s Domaine Mourchon, where Walter, as usual, was minding the fort. We discovered that he now qualifies as a negociant and can therefore bring in grapes for a white wine that he’s never had before and a Chateuneuf du Pape. Apparently Chateuneuf sells 50% of their grapes to outside negociants, because this provides upfront cash.


Back at the ranch, we once again worked on avoiding the heat and Skyped with the White family in Canada. Gotta love this service!
Dinner, like we needed it, was fresh pasta from the market with sausages and sauce. We have to eat to keep up our strength to walk the markets, to buy the goods, to fuel the economy. That’s our story and we’re sticking to it!

A Gastronomic Quest

As the sun began to rise over the Vaucluse, it looked fairly certain that we were going to have another smoking hot day. Along with the startling blue Provincial skies, this should equal a perfect day to take the trek to the summit of Mt. Ventoux. Since Jackie had never taken this trip, off we went.

We headed off fairly early to avoid the heat of the day and so did the entire biking population of France and perhaps Europe. There appeared to be an entire club of Cristal riders– wouldn’t you hate to be sponsored by an elite champagne house?

Anyway, other than the bikes, there weren’t a lot of cars so there was lots of parking at the summit.


The views were pristine, but without a 3D camera the whole perspective is lost unless you’ve been there.
Descending, bikers who were doing easily 80 kph were chasing us and it was hard to stay ahead of them. We also had the obligatory sheep-crossing stop, accompanied by a shepherd and three dogs.

When we reached the base town of Bedouin, we made a post office stop and then headed to Crillon la Brave, a village with a great view of Mt. Ventoux. Someday we will stay/eat here.

From there, we counted on the GPS to take us to lunch at the chateau in Rochegude. The restaurant is actually called Restaurant de la Roche Aigue, which is apparently the old name for Rochegude, meaning “rock on an angle”. Dawn was hoping for a patio lunch, but instead we ate in air-conditioned comfort. We did finally make it to the patio for coffee, shown below.


For first course, we all opted for fresh figs from the neighbouring village of Piolenc, accompanied by slices of smoked duck breast and basilic goat’s cheese.
Dawn’s main’s course was a filet of cod with Nyons olives, while Jackie & I had roasted guinea fowl breast in a wonderful sauce – je ne sais quoi.
For dessert, Jackie & Dawn had a warmed chocolate raspberry meringue with a fruit sorbet and I had strawberries in a balsamic-vinagre sauce.
Our wine for lunch was a Rochegude white, which was quite lovely.
This was a 39 Euro prix fixe and we came away feeling we had successfully chosen another excellent lunch spot, different from yesterday and yet despite their lack of Michelin accreditation, Rochegude was definitely worth the visit.
Since it was still early in the afternoon, we zipped back to Avignon for another shot at Auchan. The crowds were less crazy here today. We picked up a few essentials and headed back to Cairanne. We did take note of the Auchan rose wine selection, however, and considering that the majority of these wines were in the 3-5 Euro range, we were quite envious.

Back in Cairanne, the courtyard appeared to be the best place to escape the heat and this situation continued well into the evening.
Dinner tonight was veal burgers and sausages that we bought as a result of a demonstration at Auchan. They were very tasty.
And that, as they say, wraps it up for another day of fun and frolic!

A culinary highlight!

It’s safe to say that the vendage for 2011 has begun with earnest. Tractors with mountainous trailers of grapes and mammoth grape harvesting machines are littering the roads. The weather continues to be fabulous, so one could say that all is good in southern Rhone wine country.


To keep up our record, we started the day with the market in Nyons. As long as this great weather keeps up, this is, at the very least, a good way to log those precious steps. The girls have definitely gotten into the French shopping style, hitting the vendors most frequented by the locals.

Today, we lunched at the single star le Pres du Moulin restaurant in Serignan du Comtat, which is a couple villages away from Cairanne. This lunch will rate as our finest culinary experience of the trip to date.
We sat on the plane tree shaded terrace and started off with a glass of champagne – Tattinger for Dawn and brut Mosaique rose Jacquart for Jackie & I. Interestingly enough the Jacquart was 5 euros more per glass.
For first course, Dawn and Jackie has a salad of tomatoes and artichokes where they had skinned the tomatoes, thinly sliced them and presented them in a nicely molded round. My first course was grilled foie gras – quel surpris! – with green shallot bows. Talk about flavour!

Jackie’s main course was supreme of white chicken with lemon. Dawn had steak with a divine mustard sauce – divine equaling mustard/butter/cream/butter/cream/butter/cream. Get the idea? I had a croustillant de boudin which was blood sausage finished crispy in a round. Various mounds of creamy mashed potatoes accompanied all meals. For dessert it was a rum and raisin ice cream for Jackie, a chocolate-coffee milles-feuilles for Dawn and a hazelnut tart for me.
Wine with lunch was a 2009 Domaine Delubac Cairanne white.
Wow! What a lunch!
We drove back to Cairanne via the chateau in Rochegude where we quickly decided to get reservations for tomorrow – more about that then.
The remainder of the day was spent in various shaded locations around our Cairanne house sipping white Chateuneuf du Pape. No large meal tonight, since we didn’t need it and also because we wanted to continue savouring our lunch experience.