Wine Tasting Day3 - Domaine Morin - Langara

We finally made it to our last winery of the tour! Seven wineries in three days. Not bad, if I do say so myself! 

A deceptively plain sign for a gorgeous winery

Our last winery is famous for the region's variety of 'house' white wine grape, Picpoul de Pinet. I had honestly never heard of the grape before, but in the two months since our trip I have seen Picpoul de Pinet on at least three separate wine lists. It goes to show the more you learn about wine, the more wine there is out there in the world. I hope to taste it all! :-) 

Morin - Langara Family Home

This winery was another old, family-run place with the owner's daughter heading up the wine making - Woohoo, another gal! It was located on the family's beautifully maintained land. The buildings weren't historic, but the gorgeous trees and flowers outside made up for a building that's only a hundred or so years old.  

Wine tasting room

In the middle of wine tasting we went downstairs into the cellar where papa was waiting for us. Papa didn't speak any english (his daughter had some English), but he cracked open a new French oak barrel of merlot and let us taste.  YUM!! Needless to say, no one pitched out their portion of this taster. 

Papa doling out samples of the not-quite ready Merlot

I picked up one black and one white label of the Picpoul de Pinet simply because I want Bill to try the grape. The bottles contain the exact same grape and were treated the exact same way, but the black label's grapes were grown in a chalkier soil than the white label. The winery says about 50% of their customers like the black label better, and 50% prefer the white. I preferred the white, but I'm curious to know what Bill thinks. Stay tuned...

Picpoul - black label

Picpoul - while label

Unoaked Chardonnay

Blonde prestige
48%Chard 48%Sauv 4%Muscat

Rose
100% Syrah

Rose Prestige
Syrah & Cincault blend

Cuvee Caroline
100% Carillon

St. Paul Coline
Grand Cru: 90Cab / 10Merlot

Petite Marie
Dessert Wine w/ Muscat & Viognier

The other thing I learned about on this trip was carbonic maceration. The Cuvee Caroline (which I did not purchase) is made with the Carillon grape and had gone through this process. While I have heard of Malolactic fermentation, I had not heard of this other method. Carbonic maceration is when whole grapes are fermented in a carbon dioxide rich environment prior to crushing. Therefore, the grape juice is fermented whilst still inside the grape. Pretty cool, huh? :-)  

OYSTERS!!!

After our wine tasting, the winery hosted a luncheon in their garden. With plenty of wine (of course) and raw oysters harvested that very morning. Those of you who know me well know how much of a picky eater I am. I won't eat hamburger because of the meat's nubbly texture. Normally I wouldn't go near an oyster, but you know, I'm under a giant walnut tree, in a garden, in the south of France and people around me are 'oohing' and 'ahhhing' because the oysters are so, so, so good. So what the hell; I dove in.  

YUM!!!

And I LIKED them!! I could almost hear my mom laughing in heaven at her picky eater as I gobbled up my three oysters. The wine makers kept passing around the oyster platter and I almost had more (there were tons!), but decided not to tempt fate and enjoy the three I had. Besides, there was plenty of charcuterie.

This was one of those afternoons that will be seared into my brain. The mediterranean breeze, eating oysters under the giant walnut trees, and lots of laughter. We sat there for well on three hours devouring everything in sight and having a grand old time. I didn't take any additional pictures as I was simply enjoying life far too much. 

Wine Tasting Day3 - Domaine Les Yeuses

On day three we made our way down to Domaine les Yeuses, an old, old winery where Peter, our tour leader & organizer, prepares his wine for bottling. I knew Peter was a wine importer, enthusiast, and teacher, but this was the first I had heard that he was also a wine maker. The man likes his wine! 

Gorgeous flowers at Domaine Les Yeuses

As the bus takes us to our penultimate winery, Peter explains that we've been to some really great wineries, but he's saved his favorite two for last. Great! I've already purchased how many bottles of wine?!?

Love the old signs

When the lead winemaker came out of the building, I was happy to see yet another woman! She was another delightful gal who told us all about their wine, winemaking style, and history. The main building (covered in ivy) was built in the 13th century by and for the Knights Templar. Holy crap! I keep forgetting how old the buildings—even unassuming buildings—can be in Europe.

Peter & wine maker in front of Ivy-covered Knights Templar building

13th C Knights Templar building

As we took our tour of their winemaking facilities, we spotted three stainless steel vats of different St. Felix varietals, which is Peter's wine label.  

Peter's St. Felix Rose (AKA Ass Rage?)

Another St. Felix

The last St. Felix

We saw the industrial side of the winemaking business, including lots and lots of vats of wine. 

Nuts & bolts of the operation

That's a lotta wine!

There were some locations where the vast building shows its age. For example, in the picture below you can get a feel for the age of the plaster-like wall (800+ years old!) over the arched doorway. I'm not sure what all of the rooms would have been used for back when the crusaders used them, but they sure were big with super-tall ceilings. 

Inside the Knights Templar building

Once we were done with the tour, it was off to the tasting!

Delic Yeuses / white
Viognier

Unoaked Chardonnay

Oaked Chardonnay

Rose
Grenache

Muscat Petit Grain

Delic Yeuses / Red
Merlot / Syrah

Syrah Les Espices

The wines were tasty, but at each location I tried to reign in my eagerness to buy, buy, buy! My rule was if I liked it and I thought Bill would like it, I bought one. If I thought we'd both love it and want to share it, I'd buy two. The bottles I bought two of are so that he and I can enjoy one bottle and take another to a dinner party or gift to someone. At this winery I purchased two Delic Yeusus white, two of the oaked Chardonnay, and two Syrah Les Espices. Yum! 

Wine Tasting Day 2 - Misadventures in Sete

Day two's wine tasting ended in the late afternoon and the bus took us back to the hotel. We had the option to either stay at the hotel and venture into town for our own dinner, or hop back on the bus in 30 minutes and go down to the mediterranean port town of Sete. Knowing that we'd probably never get to this part of the world ever again, Marianne and I chose Sete. 

After a quick freshening up in our hotel room, we headed back to the bus with about nine other people and made our way towards Sete. The bus dropped us off on a busy street near the harbor with the plan to come back at 9:30 to pick us up in the same location. 

The nine of us decided to find a beachside restaurant together for beer and dinner. We zig-zagged through the maze of streets until we met up with and walked along the harbor. 

Boat jousting

The harbor was beautiful! Not only was it warm and chock full of boats, but there was a boat jousting school (yes, a school to learn the art and skill of boat jousting!) with a class in process. We stood there for a good 20 minutes until we finally saw one of the boys get 'jousted' overboard.

Boat jousting - boy overboard!

The gals wanted to keep walking to find a beach-side restaurant. At this point Marianne and I knew we had to stay with the group because we'd never be able to find our way alone back to the bus pick-up location. So we walked with them to the sea, but there was a sea wall and no restaurants. There was a medieval fortress just a ways down the coast, so we walked to the fortress. The fortress was closed. Instead of walking back to the harbor, the gals wanted to keep walking; there were some apartments - see? On that hillside? 

So we walked. Uphill. Into the blazing sun. And the gals in the lead were setting quite a pace. 

I was getting winded. And hot. And hungry. And thirsty. 

We made it to the apartments, but there were no restaurants. Did we turn back? No. Surely they'll be something around the corner, over there - can you see it? There are shops and stuff. Let's go! 

So we kept walking. Farther and father away from the harbor, civilization, and the bus collection point. I was hot, tired, and now hangry. Marianne was concerned for me (I was probably beet red) and my heart, but I didn't want to make a big deal out of it, so I trudged on as best as I could.   

We finally made it to the shops and stuff. It was a weird, desolate plaza with every shop shut tight and zero people walking around. Our tour leader, Peter, stood in the middle of the empty plaza with us, rubbing his chin until he finally sighed, "Right. What now?" 

I saw a single woman walking across the plaza and I told him, "Please, go ask her if there's somewhere we can eat nearby." He did. We had to walk about three blocks inland, but there, in a mini-mall like complex of closed shops, was a single, bursting-at-the-seams restaurant with vinyl tablecloths and a view of the busy street. No one cared at this point that it wasn't beachside. We needed food. And beer. And seats. 

Thankfully, although slammed with people, they were able to accommodate a party of nine. We ate, drank, and cooled off under the umbrella'd tables. 

Marianne and her moules

Before you knew it, it was time to trudge back to the bus. By this time it was almost 9:00 and the sun was much less intense. The walk back was downhill and a lot easier, but we were still a bit late getting back to the bus. 

My FitBit told me that night that our walk in Sete was just under 5 miles round trip. 2.5 miles is a long way to walk when you're cranky and don't have an end game, but I'm still glad we went to Sete. 

I want to see the world so I push myself out of my comfort zone. Sometimes I push myself a bit farther out of that zone than others, and those times tend to make the best stories! 

Wine Tasting Day2 - Domaine De Roquemale

In my last post I said we visited three wineries on our second day. I lied, my bad! We only visited two wineries and had a big lunch in between. 

I'm not a big meat-eater; I tend to eat mostly vegetarian food simply because my body seems to respond better when I eat that way. Well, in France it was meat, meat, meat… oh, let's have some more meat! So after my (day one) charcuterie for breakfast, charcuterie for lunch, meat-heavy cassoulet in Carcassonne, (day two) charcuterie for breakfast, we had a platter full of duck and beef for lunch. I was so full I mostly moved the food around on my plate. Then we waddled back on the bus and rode off to Domaine de Roquemale!  

Another terrific winery! 

Aside from the tasty wine and adorable wee door to the wine storage, the winemaker was an absolute joy! She (another woman in winemaking - huzzah!!) was one of those people I could have talked to (and laughed with) for hours right out of the gate. Serious BFF-potential territory. 

Wee Jen in a wee door

She and her husband own the winery; she is from Spain and her husband from France. They are doing things the 'new' way, without pesticides and when possible, natural, letting the grape and soil speak through the wine. Her father, also a winemaker, things they're crazy, but they don't care. They're making wine the way they want to make wine, and it is TASTY! 

Tasty goodness

Sorry for the blurry poster, but this helped me remember all of the wines we tasted. Again, another long list of wines, but we had small pours and dumped out anything we didn't need/want to drink. So much wine but we all (mostly) drank responsibly, even though we had a bus and a driver. 

Blurry photo, but it's in French anyway...

I picked up a few of their wines. The San Filet is their most natural wine, made without sulphites, this wine is intended to be drunk fairly soon after purchase.  Both Marianne and I really liked it and bought two bottles each to share with our husbands and friends. We have each tried one of the bottles purchased, and sadly, because the San Filet has no preservatives, we don't think it faired well in the bowels of the bus. We think the heat and jostling of transport must have diminished the wine's quality as neither of our husbands liked the wine, nor did we think they tasted as good as when we were in France. You win some, you loose some...

2015 Rose
80% Grenache 20% Sancerre

2015 white
blend of 6 different grapes

Meli Melo
Red wine;
allegiant brushe grape (sp?)

Les Terrasses

San Filet (means w/o a net)
natural wine w/o sulfites

2014 Les Gres
un-oaked Syrah 

I also picked up one each of the Lema and Male & hope to save them for a few years. So, for our friends in the states, get your wine glasses ready when we come back home! 

Lema 50/50 Syrah / Grenache
Will keep 5 - 7 years

Male
Carbonic maceration then 2 years barrel aged
Will keep well

Wine Tasting Day 2 - Moulin Montarels

On our second day in France we attended three more wineries! The first one was a co-operative that worked with many small grape growers to make and distribute their wines. 

Cooperative wine bottlers

Moulin Montarels

This was one of the bigger operations we visited, and they worked with all of the different grape growers to blend wines that appeal to a broad spectrum of people.

Large bottling machine

We had another tour and saw an even larger bottling facility than at the winery the day before. We also saw a table of women peeling labels off wine bottles and hand-placing new labels. We were told that the wrong labels had been inserted into the machine - oopsies!

Vats of wine-y goodness

2014 Sauvignon

Delicious 2015 Viognier

2015 Chardonnay

St. Catherine deJury
80%Grenache 20%Syrah
100% Delicious

2014 Merlot and
2014 Vent de Collines
(60%Syrah 40%Grenache)

I loved that a lot of these wineries had a wine-filled gas-style pump that locals kept swinging by to fill up their house red and house white containers.  One of the gals in our group filled up her Nalgene bottle with wine just because she could! 

House red and house white - pump your own wine 'fill-up station'

I took a few photos as we drove to our next winery. I loved all the houses and their wooden shutters, closed at the peak sunshine times to keep the rooms inside nice and cool. 17th century air con right there! 

Classic wood shuttered houses

Typical French village street