Vino vino

#10. Tour a vineyard and do a wine tasting.

Having become a wine aficionado over the last couple of years, I knew one of the things I really wanted to do was learn more about this magical grape juice. There are so many places to do winery tours in Texas, but I wanted to see a true vineyard--and our France trip provided just that opportunity when we went to Chatenueunef-du-Pape ("The Pope's New Castle") in Avignon. We started by getting up REALLY early on Tuesday and driving an hour to Avignon where we were picked up by our guide Jean Baptiste (hereafter JB) at 9am in a minivan. We were on the tour with a couple from Houston, but there were only 6 of us which made it very personal and fun.

We drove to a vineyard in Chateneuef-du-Pape, about 25 minutes away, as JB spouted off all kinds of trivia about the vineyard, the region, and the grapes. We learned there are four different types of soil that the grapes grow in (at least in that region): limestone, river rock, sandy soil and gritty soil. There are 13 grapes that grow in that region, and the wines are made of blends of these. We were given a tour of the winery, including seeing all of the barrels where it ages and where they label the bottles.

Limestone and grapevines

Chateneuef-de-Pape vineyard

Lastly, we were taught how to taste wine! For the first tasting, we had 3 different wines: 1 white and 2 red. I felt like I could start to understand and actually taste some of the flavors described (currant, earthy, leather, etc). The family ordered 6 bottles mix and match to our house, and then we climbed back into the van. JB drove us to the top of the village, gave us 45 minutes to wander around and do more tastings in town if we wanted, and then we would meet for lunch.

More ruins at the top of the hill village!

Wandering down through town

Lunch was at a castle. No, seriously. We ate lunch at a castle-turned-chateau and I kept having to pinch myself to make sure I wasn't dreaming.

The view from our lunch table. Unreal!

After lunch, we drove to another little hilly village and walked through (just to sightsee--amazing!). I've definitely found my backup plan in life...or possibly my retirement plan...

At the next winery, we tasted 4 wines which were very different--I felt like I could actually taste the differences this time! We also got a tour of their facilities, which were very modern: they used metal caskets and gravity for making the wine. The third and last winery was Gigondas, about 10 minutes away from the second one.

I enjoyed the first winery the most, but the overall experience was just fantastic. What a great way to experience this on my list!

7.5 down. 22.5 to go!