…or, what we did on our Spring vacation…
Here’s my entry to kick off a couple of months of wine exploration, where we’ll experience lots of French wines, as well as a few Italian ones thrown in towards the end. We spent an entire month based in a little “gite” (or rental cottage), literally in the middle of hectares of vineyards, and just on the outskirts of Vaison-la-Romaine in southern France, which I’ll write more about in another post.
When you end up renting a place based on some thumbnail photos and a flowery description on a website, the reality doesn’t always live up to the expectations. But without a doubt, this one exceeded the advance billing. Appropriately named “Le Cinsault”, this little gite was delightful. Small and cozy, but well-equipped, we enjoyed every minute here, from sitting inside watching the rain and wind, to warm days on the patio. Accessed via half a kilometer of gravel road, our most common visitors were the vineyard tractors, which at this point of the season were doing weekly vine maintenance.
One of the best features was the view from the hill immediately behind. A short stroll up the path gave a stunning view of Mont Ventoux, the Giant of Provence, with it’s white top and tower at the peak easily visible. Anyone who follows the Tour de France has seen epic stages that finish at the top of this 6000-foot peak. Shifting your gaze to the right, the medieval village and chateau were clearly visible on their rocky hilltop. The chateau at the top of the old village is mostly in ruins but is still worth a rough scramble up to the perimeter if only for the view.
As the season progressed and the vines matured, we were treated on each sunny late afternoon to a backlit show of the young vines’ leaves. It reminded me of the hundreds of lighters held aloft in anticipation of a concert performance encore.
