When in France, Sample Wines!

Today is wine tasting day.  The day begins at Domain Pegau in Chateauneuf du Pape at a tasting organized by our favorite wine shop in the D.C. Didier explains their philosophy of natural wine making as we tour the facilities. Laurence, the winemaker passes by to apologize for her schedule conflict. The tour ends with a sampling of their full range of wines.

 

There is a castle ruins on the hill above CNDP. Near it one finds a vineyard with the typical rock "soil" of the region.

 

 

After a short walk through CNDP our next stop is our first visit to the village of Gigondas.  Although we have visited wineries in the area previously this is our first climb to this quaint village. The streets are very steep and very narrow.

 



 

Christian has arranged a tasting for us in Gigondas at Domaine des Bouquets.  The owner, Julian Bréchet discusses his art of extracting the best from each of his properties. His terrior consists of low altitude sandy soil and higher altitude limestone. There are three elevations of vineyards in the photo. The one in the forefront is the oldest vineyard in Gigondas. He opens "bottle samples" of the 2013 vintage. It will be released in April 2005 and we're drinking from the bottles set aside for members of the press.