My friend Lynn and I went to the town of Chateauneuf-du-Pape for a wine tasting while she was here. It is about 40 minutes away from Saint Quentin. We looked it up in the Rick Steve's book, to get information on tasting rooms and restaurants. He never disappoints! So, when Bruce was back from the States, I wanted to take him for his birthday! For those of you who are curious, Chateauneuf -du-Pape is called this because the Pope chose wine from this region, while he was situated in Avignon, in the early 1300's!
First of all, the town is charming. It is a small town, where, at the center is a fountain. It is up in rolling hills, and the town is perched at the precipice of several roads from all directions. The countryside is mostly vineyards! (One of the vineyards that we had gone to, previously, said they have 6 rows of vines in Chateauneuf-du-Pape....so, it must be that some of the vineyards source a portion of their vines to others!) The curious part is that in the vineyards, they stack stones all around the base of the vines, and indeed throughout the vineyard. I believe it is to attract and trap the heat of the sun, so as to stress the vines, and drive the roots deeper into the terroir!
We went to a tasting room called "The Best Vintage", and the lovely women in the tasting room, both spoke English quite well! It is tiny room, with a marble top table at which there are 6 antique french chairs. The stone walls of the tasting room keep it quite cool inside, and the marble top of the tasting table is cool. Wines from 1986 till today, line the walls in wooden boxes.
Because I had been there, previously, and bought a case of wine for Abby and Roger's wedding present, they offered to open some "special bottles" for us to taste! We started with two white wines, both were quite nice....one, we thought had a good deal of depth. Then, they brought out the reds! Superb! I can't describe wine well enough to share with you what we tasted! All of their wines are blends, and they specialize, primarily, in wines with genache, syrah, and cinsault grapes. The tasting room has their own vintage: Chateau de la Gardine...in the family for generations....and they grow all 13 grapes permitted in this appellation. However, they served wines from several other vineyards, as well.
After our tasting we headed up, up, up the hill to the top, where there are the remains of a chateau.
It was a bright, sunny, windy day! We were able to get a table in a restaurant, called "Les Verger des pape". Open air, with sweeping vistas of the vineyards....sunshine...and fabulous french food! Not formal, or fussy, just delicious! We had the Plat du Jour: a traditional lamb stew, with divine veggies on the side. OMG! Lick your fingers good!`
The big man himself! Not bad at 69!
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