An examined life?: Trip to France

Friday

And so our much anticipated trip to France has finally arrived. A week of long drives, wine buying, good food, a few sights.

An early start to get us to Portsmouth for 7:45. The crossing to Cherbourg is on the super-fast car ferry and only takes 3 hours. I still find this surprising given the long overnight crossings we used to make. The sea is pretty flat but there is a gentle roll to the ferry throughout and Linda struggles to get her "sea legs". In part this might have been due to wanting to sit by the window - which always produces a bigger movement. I spent the "voyage" reading a couple of chapters of Annan's The Dons

Pretty much the whole of the rest of the day is taken up with the drive to our first stop just north of Bordeaux. We have a break at one of France's typically great service stations where we both have huge slabs of lasagne to keep us going. It takes over 6 hours to drive the full distance and we arrive just after dark. Just as well that we had google map directions as the village we were staying in was not an easy find.

Our first location is the Chateau des Tours Seguy which we found from a French bed and breakfast guide. It is a working vineyard offering B 'n' B as very much a side thing. It is a suitably rustic place and should be very nice for the first two nights.

But they don't do evening food so it is off into the nearby town of Blaye for some dinner. We find a place called the "Auberge du Porche" which does us a great meal, though we would have been happy with just about anything by then.

Saturday
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Breakfast is in the main room of the chateau, with a big log fire going. Our hosts are keen on historical re-enactments and they pass round some photos of them at various events - most are connected to The Song of Roland, which I remember reading a version of when I was about 10. The three children are in the next room doing their music practice. This consists of various medieval pieces - a slightly odd accompaniment to breakfast. We are soon stuffed with home made bread and hot chocolate
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Linda in front of the vines of the Chateau des Tour Segay

Our planned day out is based on a drive to St Emilion and visits to some of the villages nearby. After yesterdays rather poor weather, there is a hint of sunshine this morning - just enough to be forced to stop the car at one point and try and take a picture with the sun steaming across the landscape.
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On the way to Bourg

Our first wine-buying stops is a co-op in Bourg. I buy two half-cases largely at random. Then a few miles later we stopped at a tiny direct seller and had our first wine-testing - a Chateau La Rose Garnier, 2006. So six more bottles bought there. Then on to St Emilion itself where our first stop, opposite the car park is at the little shop for the Chateau Petit Gravet. In a slight difference to other places I've been to previously, this one sold multi-vintage half cases so we picked up bottles of their '04, '05, '06, '07 and '08. After buying these, the guy in the shop asked us if we'd like to go on a visit round their vineyard that afternoon so, in a change of plans, we arranged to meet him at the shop at 3:00pm

One of the bigger St Emilion chateaus on the way in to the village

Chateau Petit-Gravet shop in St Emilion

So we have time for lunch in the village. I am feeling brave so have a huge salad of lardons and foie gras, etc. This is the first time I have had foie gras for years. I do have reservations about its production, but the taste is just amazing. Linda settles for omelette and chips

Linda outside Le Medieval - our lunch location

We are accosted in the street by a wine seller who has perhaps the most expensive wines in the village. We are shown downstairs to a correctly temperatured cellar. There he has a selection of Petrus for sale at around E1,000 per bottle. Also a complete collection of Chateau Mouton Rothschild with labels painted by famous artists - Picasso for instance. We avoided buying any of these but did break our self-imposed budget limit of E12 in buying a E25 bottle of Pomerol, which we plan to drink at Christmas perhaps. Our host - Phillippe Theze - gives us a taste of another Pomerol on sale at E30 each if we buy 12. Very nice it was too, but we are sticking to our budget for now.

Bottles of Chateau Mouton Rothschild with the artist labels

Petrus - behind a wire fence

We have time for a walk through the village eventually coming to the Maison du vin where they have a huge selection of St Emilion wines to buy. There is one for E18 with the most beautiful bottle but we don't buy it at the time - which now seems like a shame.

Just down from the wine place we stop for a drink in what turns out to be probably St Emilion's most expensive cafe - E8 for a coffee and a coke, we are not impressed

Possibly a former convent?

Linda viewing wines in the Maison du Vin

At 3:00 we are back at the first place and follow the guy from the shop down to the vineyard close to the village. It is a tiny place, just three or four old farm buildings and maybe 5 or 6 acres of vines. But the tour is very good, taking us through the on-going processing of the 2009 grapes to the barrelled up 2008. We have signed up for their mailing list and should receive some offers to buy each years vintage at a discounted price. Both of us feel that an annual purchase like this would be very nice.

Back to chateau via one of the local supermarkets. We had arranged a wine tasting with the owner at the Chateau des Tour Seguy and thought both of us were pretty tired, it was another interesting event. We have selected four half cases to take with us when we leave tomorrow.

Dinner is food in our room tonight along with two episodes of CSI, then an early night - another long journey tomorrow

Sunday

Another scrummy breakfast - we buy our four half cases of wine (one Rose) from what has been an excellent first location - http://www.chateau-les-tours-seguy.com/

We had hoped to take the Blaye ferry to Medoc this morning but when we arrive there the next ferry is not for an hour and we don't have the time free. A trip up the Medoc arm of land will be on next times list of things to do

It is a steady drive down to our next spot, mostly motorway. Our first big argument of the trip in the car - a shame given how nice it had all seemed yesterday; its like a good day produces some sort of a subconscious reaction that demands that things revert back to a negative.

One of our stops is at a service station near Carcassonne where I stopped overnight on the way back from Italy last year - the one where I remember reading Naomi Wolf's The Treehouse, having a nice steak at the restaurant by the canal basin, and, on waking at 4:00a.m seeing Orion for the first time that season, low in the east, despite it being August.

Carcassonne from the motorway picnic area

We exited the motorway just past Carcassone and make our way down towards the village of Lagrasse. This is a much wilder area than perhaps we had expected, and we are very pleased as a result. The hotel - La Fargo - is very out of the way and apparently relies on its cooking to attract visitors. We have a little house all to ourselves, there being about a dozen rooms in all. We very quickly confirm that we would like the "Gastronomique dinner" which turns out to be really excellent - more foie gras for me. We have some local wine from the large chateau that we passed on the way in and have asked to buy six of these.

Looking back to Lagrasse in the early evening

Amazing colours of the autumn vines

Our room at La Fargo, Saint Pierre des Champs, close to Lagrasse

Monday

Off on another long drive today, in the direction of Minerve, one of the main Cathar towns and then Carcassonne. First stop is Lagrasse for a brief look round in case we want food out tonight. Several shops selling local wine - Corbieres - and other local produce. Always a big favourite for me.

An usual shop in Lagrasse - not sure we ever found out what it was

Lagrasse from the road back towards the motorway

Just past Lagrasse we find another "regional products" shop which has bottles of the 2009 "Primeur" and red rice. We buy 6 of the former, plus another 12 corbieres reds, and half a dozen bags of rice. This particular delicacy is hard to find in the UK but is a key ingredient in our favourite fish meal.

Minerve is one of those Cathar "impregnable" perched on the top of a promentary and with gorges on all sides. A few years ago I read a number of books on the history of the Cathars. South-west France has certainly embraced the tourist possibilities of the Cathars, with signs up all over the place for things related to the local "Cathar tours"

Minerve doesn't disappoint at all - quite spectacular, and beautifully preserved.

Minerve from the car park

Totally unspoilt

The local bookshop, sadly closed

Linda examining the gorge that was supposed to protect Minerve from the Crusading forces of Simon De Montfort, but sadly didn't

From there to Carcassonne where we have lunch in the main square that is home to about 6 restaurants. Then to the gallary of the photographer Gerard Sioen that I had visited last year. We buy three posters - one of some grapes, another a view of Carcassonne in winter and finally one of the autumn coloured vines.

More autumn vines

We stopped off at Lagrasse on the way back and bought another half dozen bottles of local wines, plus some snacky food for tonight. More CSI watching and some reading.

Tuesday

On departure from La Forge, we buy six bottles of the local wine that we had enjoyed the night before last. Our wine buying is going very well it seems to me - approaching 75 bottles so far!

Today is mostly about the drive to Provence. Highlight is a picnic at one of the brilliant picnic sights by the motorway - something that France does so well. Tonight's hotel is in another remote hotel setting - the "Hostellerie Le Roy Soleil" in Menerbes.

Despite the long drive, we go out again late afternoon and visit a local olive oil manufacturer. Then a quick visit to a couple of local villages to look for possible restaurants, finally ending up in Gourdes, a village close to the Abbey de Senanque, one of the sights we hope to visit while here.

In the end, we dine at a small restaurant where none of the staff speak English. It is decorated like a 1940s French film set and isn't bad at all.