Another lovely sleep with a morning reward of lots of hot water in the showers. Now that we've figured out the rain head from the spa jets from the hand-held spray, we are putting much less water on the rug outside the shower. Dave walked into town to buy our morning croissants at "Au Feu du Bois," a traditional style boulangerie. They were 7 inches long and light and airy as a good croissant should be.
Once back, the rest of us made our leisurely way out from our rooms to the smell of coffee followed by breakfast of scrambled eggs and croissants. Another full day planned, although in a loosey-goosey sort of way. First order of business was the Carpentras market. (We learned you pronounce it Carpentra). This market is listed in the guide books as being really good. What we learned is that it's really BIG and you can't get within a half mile to park. After driving in circles for half hour, Dave squeezed into a place (remember we have a large SUV this time) that required him to exit via the lift gate in back. We're just glad the folks on either side didn't come back before us because they could not have gotten into their cars either.
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| Carpentras market - lots of people going every which way |
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| Carpentras market |
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| Dave buying cheeses at Carpentras market |
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| the cheese vendor at Carpentras |
I used my mobility scooter which worked really well, all things considered (that is, people going every which direction at every opportunity. We weren't impressed with the amount of produce, but there were endless stalls of every household good imaginable - leather goods, clothes, table linens, olive wood, shoes..... Our take away - 1. Go early if you want to park somewhere within walking distance of the market. 2. Not our kind of market. Try the Sarrians market next.
Back home for lunch on the patio which finished off our last rosé (deliciously, I might say). The weather has warmed considerably since our arrival and we were able to eat outside while making plans to do some wine-tasting in the afternoon.
A short drive to the wine town of Gigondas provided views of a cool town under the shadow of "Les Dentelles de Montmirail" - some sharp peaks sticking up off the top of the "mountain" like teeth.
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| Gigondas |
We were looking for the Domaine de Cayron winery in Gigondas. We had read that the owners (3 sisters) were very friendly and made a very traditional Gigondas. Check their website here:
http://www.domaineducayron.com/en/domain.php
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| Domaine de Cayron |
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| Delphine helping us understand their wine |
And true to form, we drove into the courtyard of Domaine de Cayron and there was no indication of where to sample the wine ("dégustation"). After wandering a bit aimlessly in the courtyard, a woman (Delphine, one of the three sister-owners) came out and took us down a flight of stairs to their shipping room with a stand-up bar where we tasted the one and only wine made by this winery. Always the same proportions, variation only occurring due to the happenstance of weather. The winery was begun in 1840 and Delphine and her sisters are the 5th generation to own/run it. They do ship to the US - mostly the coasts - as well as Europe, Australia and ???? We left with 6 bottles of their 2016 vintage.
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| US label - left; rest of the world label - right |
With a bit of time to kill, we wandered by car up the gravel mountainside road toward the Dentelles. While they look a bit like teeth, "dentelles" is actually the word for lace in French. These craggy, thin limestone peaks were forced up millions of years ago when Africa was bumping into Europe folding the crust into the peaks that would become the Alps. Fabulous hiking opportunities, hint, hint, Katie and Christie. Beautiful scenery. Vineyards up a long ways on the hills. Lovely gravel paths for basic hikers. And lots of French out enjoying the day.
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| Les Dentelles |
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| Lynn, les Dentelles, and a Gigondas vineyard |
Heading home, we must pass through Vacqueryas, another village with its own AOC in the region. It's only 4 pm and the local wine coop is open until 6. So wine-tasting it is. A couple rosés, several reds, a sparkling and a dessert wine later, and we left the coop with 13 bottles of wine and a promise to be back.
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| Vacquéras-Beaumes-les-Venise wine coop |
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| Janis with some of the wines we tasted |
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tasting wine at the Vacquéras coop - our wine guide on the left -
Clark, Nancy, Janis, and Lynn. And some of the wines we tasted. |
Luckily, the drive is less than 10 miles so we still have time for aperos on the pool deck. The cloud-filtered sun required that we wear jackets, but that wasn't a hardship. We had lucious cheeses, olives, local dried sausages and a local white wine to keep us warm.
And now Dave is grilling sausages for dinner to be accompanied by French green beans (those little ones that are so sweet) and a large salad. Life is good here in Provence, even if not yet as warm as we'd like it to be.
A bientôt. (See you soon.)
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