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We have been really excited about today. I booked an all day Provence wine tour of the cote du rhone and chateauneuf du pape wine regions for us. We took a taxi downtown to the tourist info. Office where we were to meet our guide from Avignon Wine Tours. David met us along with 2 men from south Africa, Peter and Marius. We departed a little after 9:00 and drove north out of Avignon to wine country. David is a master sommelier and was so excited to share his knowledge of wine and of the Terroir of the appellation. We stopped at a vineyard of 60 year old grenach grapes so he could show us the rocky soil. This soil is not just pebbles but full blown cobblestones that are natural to the region. The avignon pope in 1307 decided he needed a summer castle and a French wine to enjoy whie he was the head of the roman catholic church. He chose chateaneuf du pope region and had the vision that grapes would grow well here in the rocky soil. We went to a wine museum and winery, Chez Brotte. David took a great deal of time explaining how to
see the colors of the Wine, the nose, swirl and finally taste. We tasted red and white, The red was really good and we bought a bottle that was really cool looking too.
Next we headed to another family vineyard, Chez Roger Sabon. Here too we tasted white and two reds and bought a bottle of the reserve to enjoy. Next stop was a restaurant that was at the highest point in the region. At the site of the popes summer castle that was bombed and destroyed by the Germans in WWII. Restaurant Le Verger des Popes was wonderful. The 5 of us ate outside in the beautiful warm weather and enjoyed rose wine, veal and apricot tart and lively great conversation.
We headed out to visit another beautiful vineyard, Domaine de Nalys. The wine here was okay but we thought it tasted musty. This winery had a cave with the most beautiful large oak barrels, each one would hold wine of 2 hectares (4 acres) and were just gorgeous. Off we went to visit our 4th and final vineyard of the day. Clos Saint Michel was at a 125+ year old farm and family home. My dream
house if I were to reside in this region of France. The white wine was the best we had all day. We tasted a 2009 red then she broke out a 2006 red and my my my that was tasty. You cannot buy wine here and have it shipped to the US. Most of the wine stays right here in France. She ships some red only to some states distributed through www.totalwine.com. We will research if we can order some of this wonderful, smooth and tasty red wine.
David ran us back to our hotel where we promptly fell sound asleep! We intended to go back to town for dinner but decided to stay here, light dine, shower and get ready for our departure from Avignon, tour and drop off tomorrow in Arles and uniworld. Bye for today!
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