01/09/2022
Before we left for France, we tried to find out as much as possible about how we could get the best experiences around wine tasting. It’s not as if you would easily know when you strike a tasting room, whether the producer is any good, or whether they produce the wines that you generally like. In doing this research, a friend in the wine industry gave us some good tips, and even gave us the contact details for one of the producers in Châteauneuf-du-Pape. With some hope, we sent an email, and very quickly got a response, with an appointment.
Domaine la Barroche is one of the smaller producers in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, with around 15ha vines, of which only 12ha are productive. And, similar to some of the other producers we have spoken to, they prefer to largely let nature do it’s thing. As the very knowledgeable lady explained – nothing is by the book. They figure out what nature has provided, and then act accordingly. But they certainly do not go against tradition either. We were very grateful for the opportunity to be able to have this tasting, especially seeing that we arrived slap-bang in the height of their very short harvesting time.
Leaving the busy winemakers to get on with their work, we followed further recommendations to visit the Commune of Gigondas. We were told that the wine from this area was also very good, but also more reasonably priced, so better value for money, and that the village was also worth seeing. They certainly were not wrong about the latter. While the wine was being tasted, I strolled around the village. Actually, ‘stroll’ is not really the appropriate word. Gigondas lies at the foot of the Dentelles de Montmirail, a small range of mountains with jagged-shaped peaks formed by ‘horizontal strata of Jurassic limestone being folded and forced into a nearly upright position and subsequently eroded into sharp-edged ridges and spikes’. In short – they are strikingly beautiful! This, of course, means that Gigondas is built on quite the steep include. And – of course they had to put the church right at the top. And yes – I did ‘stroll’ (with some heavy breathing involved!), all the way to the church. And yes – I did find myself looking for a shop that advertises properties in the area. And yes – I did feel like weeping when I saw some of the prices of the properties. Humph!
We promised ourselves that we would take things slowly this time round. And today felt like we did that. We took our time getting up, had a nice breakfast of croissants with ham that Niel put together, and eventually ventured out for our mini-roadtrip. And France responded with some of it’s most exquisite scenes.
