France trip October ’11 Part I: “Third Exit at the Roundabout”

Posted at October 16, 2011

 

Well, here we are in France, and so far our lodgings have been comfy, the scenery delightful, the wine ubiquitous and for the most part very good. Vineyards are everywhere. So are traffic circles, which replace all major and most minor intersections. We have a GPS that can’t tell the difference between a major road and a cowpath (hence our title, above). And access to wifi (“wee-fee”) has been intermittent, with few opportunities to post here for you.

We are continually thankful for Ryan’s great French class the last couple of months at the wine shop; it has been invaluable in meeting the everyday conversational challenges that continually arise. Bien fait, Monsieur! We hope you are all joining him at the wine shop Fridays and Saturdays while we are gone!

As I write this we are finishing three days at a sort of B&B near Sommieres that is a restored old stone farmhouse and outbuildings surrounded by beautiful fields of garrigue. (see link; the photo above is the vineyard at the Bertrand Stehelin winery in Gigondas, where we had a wonderful tour and degustation of his delightful wines.)

The last couple of days we have toured and tasted wine in a small region called Pic St. Loup, for which I have long had a particular fondness…and it turns out to be beautiful in many ways as well—we could easily spend a week or two right here, but alas, tomorrow we are off for a week in Lagrasse, visiting the wine regions of Corbieres, Minervois, and St. Chinian, all in the Languedoc region.

Stay tuned, mes amis!

France trip October '11, Wine Tasting

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