So since we've been living here, I've been wanting to go to chateauneuf-du-pape as it is extremely close and full of wine! Somehow though, life gets in the way and every time we're thinking of things to do on a saturday afternoon it never comes to mind. Fortunately Alex and Dave came to visit and, as Alex loves wine, I thought we should head to Chateauneuf. Marc needed the car that day so I looked into alternative transportation methods. You would think that in one of the most popular tourist towns in France (Avignon), during the most heavily visited time of year (July, partly because it's summer, partly becasue of the theater festival), there would be transportation options to one of the best and most well-known wine regions in France (Chateauneuf-du-pape) seeing as how it's only 15km away. You would be wrong. Because we are in the period of "vacances scolaires" (school vacation) there is only one bus a day. Otherwise you have to take a bus to Orange and then wait for one of the two or three buses they have a day leaving from there - making the trip about an hour and a half each way. Because the only bus of the day left at something like 6:30 pm we thought, why don't we just bike? We rented a bike for Dave (a bit of a challenge since he's 6'6" or so) got some bike maps and headed out. The trip ended up being lovely - all back roads through the countryside - but much longer than we had anticipated. We ended up doing about 30km on the way there! We made it just in time because when we sat down for lunch the skies opened up and dumped tons of rain. We ended up going to two domaines: Juliette Avril and Chateau Fargueirol. They were both lovely. We went to Fargueirol as a friend of a friend's uncle runs the place - and we tasted a few very nice wines and had a lovely chat about motorcycles. Juliette Avril was across the street so we figured why not? The wines there were absolutely delicious including a delicious white, a rare find for the region. The man who ran the tasting seemed to be very excited to show off his English to Alex and Dave and thus may have made my record for longest tasting session ever. In my post-tasting stupor and in an effort to get out of there before he went off on another tangent, I accidentally left my credit card. Fortunately our host was kind enough to mail it to me a few days later. My favorite wine:
Cuvée Maxence
Châteauneuf-du-Pape Red
Soil: Argilo-calcareous
Surface area: located on the Farguerol plateau.
Grape varieties: Grenache, Syrah, Mourvèdre.
Harvest
From September 10th to 15th depending on grape maturity.
Manual picking and selection.
Vinification
Traditional vinification with partial stripping.
Temperature-controlled fermentation for at least 12 days in 100-hl stainless steel tanks.
Slight plate filtration during the bottling operation, as required.
Storage in demi-muid barrels for 12 months.
Lenght ot storage
10- 15 years
Red 2008
A highly expressive cuvée, built around aromas of well-ripened red fruit, offering a slight smoked note with a nearly ideal equilibrium between tannins and alcohol. The suppleness gained through maturing in oak casks allows the terroir to harmoniously express itself, between power and refinement.
Accompaniment and serving suggestions: Small game stews, meats in sauce, matured cheeses are wise choices.
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