France II - out and about

Dinner at Le Bec a Vin - the tower in the back

After just chilling out in and around town, we reclaimed the car to explore the surrounding area towards the Côte du Rhone, specifically to the villages of Chateau Neuf du Pape and Gigondas. Both wines are very well known, and hold a special place for us. Gigandas is Rance’s favorite and we served it at our 25th Blended Family Reunion, to our boys’ delight, and Chateau Neuf du Pape is the favorite of our dear friend, Frank. These boys have either excellent, or just plain expensive, taste. But, admittedly, the wine was really good, and the wine tasting fun with the sommelier mixing information with humor. I particularly liked a white desert wine – the last we were to taste during a visit at the most impressive Cave. For this particular wine we were asked to name in order of appearance, 6 fruits, 1 flower, and 1 pepper. Even working as a team with a young Irish couple we had begun to chat with, it was impossible! To identify the first of the fruit tastes, we were to sniff for 2 seconds, for the 2nd 4 seconds, etc. After 4 or 5 sniffs, taking the appropriate amount of time, the 4 of us recognized GRAPE and took a sip. In fact, grape was not one of the fruits, so we failed – but still got to sip our wine. Our sommelier then offered what he said was really the best that Chateau Neuf du Pape had to offer – a red which was quite expensive! He followed that by saying we should be able to taste, among other things, old leather and sweaty horses. He also said it went really well with pigeon, roadkill and the best cut of beef. I sipped and, although quite tasty, couldn’t get past the whole visual thing. Rance sipped – and bought.

Gigondas was a delightful little village on a hill. On the way into town, the vineyards were so laden with grapes that one of us had to check them out to prove that the wine was worthy of the name. Good grapes! Good wine! There was a little fair going on in the tiny town center, with a local band, merry-go-round etc. We climbed above it to the Vielle Ville to enjoy the panoramic view of the countryside. When we went to the wine tasting, we discovered that Gigondas likes to grow on hillsides, sort of like a Pinot Noir. The wine was excellent, and luckily we didn’t have to pass another test to enjoy it, or buy the three bottles we hope to enjoy before we leave – that will call for some heavy drinking!

And now a word about the food – we enjoyed it all, and particularly the atmosphere in the delightful restaurants we found both in Uzès and its surroundings. We made an early decision not to seek out the finest starred restaurants, but eat at the local favorites, a decision that let us walk where we wanted and return with heavier wallets. We had many good meals, and our favorite dishes were breast of duck, which we both had several times. I was disappointed in my steak pommes frîtes , because the steak on two occasions was a very poor sirloin, fatty and gristly. But at another restaurant the pave de boeuf was outstanding, so it depends. We would have breakfast in our apartment, after I had gone out to buy some fresh croissants and perhaps a sacristan almondes and the International Herald Tribune. Then we would normally go out for one of the other two meals, and eat the third chez nous, with a fresh baguette, some paté , cold cuts, tapenade, olives, and yes, JoAnne, some of those wonderful marinated onions I described. And oh yes, we’d try to drain our wine lake, while listening to some wonderful music and seeing the rhythms of our town outside our window.

View from Chateau neuf du Pape's old castle over the Rhone river towards Avignon