Foot-treading has its merits! Douro Delight.

Foot-treading has its merits! 

Quinta do Judeu

A Cracking Douro Red.

Quinta do Judeu Corgo da Régua 2012 (Douro), 14%, €13.99 at Curious Wines, other stockists

If you thought foot-treading in wineries was a thing of the past, think again. It is alive and kicking, at least in the Douro region of Portugal. Chris Forbes of Taylor’s Port sang its praises - it maximises the juice and the flavors - at a tasting in Ballymaloe the other evening and, at the weekend, I had its merits beautifully confirmed by this bottle.

Colour is a dark red and the aromas are of red fruit. On the palate it is fresh and fruity and with a gentle mouthfeel. Tannins have their say but they are mild. Perfect with red meat, this is your everyday wine. And not just weekdays! Weekends as well. Very Highly Recommended.

While you might not expect the foot-treading, you won't be too surprised by the cork closure as after all it is a Portuguese wine. Grape varieties are local: Tinta Roriz 35%, Tinta Barroca 35%, Touriga Franca 20% and Touriga Nacional 10%. Decanting advised.

Domaine de Rochelin, Macon-Lugny 2012, 12.5%, €14.60 Karwig Wines

Must say I rather like the Chardonnays from this region and this is no exception. You've got a pale straw colour with tints of green and a nose of white fruits, peach and melon. It is fruity and fresh, with an almost plump feel and with a floral finish..

It is the result of sustainable cultivation, the aim being to create a style of freshness and exuding fruit aromas. I reckon they succeeded. Highly Recommended.

Bodegas Exopto, Dominio del Viento, Crianza 2010 Rioja, 13.5%, €15.99 Curious Wines.

Colour here is a light red and a bright one. The red fruit flavours are pleasantly obvious in the mouth while a mild acidity is enough to balance. Some spice too. All the delicious elements at play too in a decent finish. A well made rounded example of the type and Highly Recommended. It is made from 80% Tempranillo and 20% Garnacha and has spent 12 months in oak barrels.

Domaine des Geslets, Les Geslets Bourgueil 2010, 13%

Domaine du Raifault Clos du Villy, Chinon 2009, 12.5%

Not sure you'll find either of these two in Ireland (you will find similar) but if you are in France during the summer, do watch out for them. I have been praising the reds of Chinon and its neighbour Bourgueil recently and these are two really excellent examples.

Two Excellent Reds. Well priced also! And two from the Loire.

Quarisa Enchanted Tree Pinot Noir (South East Australia) 2012, 13.5%, €13.99 Curious Wines

Wine is the colour of this excellent Pinot Noir. Didn’t know there was a colour with that name but apparently it has been in use since the early 18th century!

The wine itself is juicy and fruity, a silky medium bodied feel, well balanced with no alcohol burn, and tannins that shake hands without too much of a grip, and good length also.

Liked it (and the colourful label) at their pre-Christmas tasting and liked it even more when I brought a bottle home. Very Highly Recommended.

Beso de Vino, Seleccion 2011, Cariñena (Spain), 13.5%, €11.99, Wine Alliance stockists.

This was not supposed to be the Valentine’s Night star. That role went to a Montepulciano d’Abruzzo and the Adriatic ace didn't disappoint.

But then the Beso, the supporting player, took to the stage. Took its chance. Grabbed the taste buds’ attention with the initial friendly approach, strong and spicy and all things nice-y. This pleasantly potent blend of Syrah and Garnacha, soft and dry and with a fine finish, proved itself a class act and comes with a price tag that won’t worry the bank manager. Very Highly Recommended.

Vincent Gregoire Domain des Geslets, L'Expression 2009, Bourgueil (France), 13%, €8.80 Syndicat des Vins Bourgueil.

This dark red Cabernet Franc has aromas of dark fruits with some spice. It is smooth, fruity and refreshing and an excellent example of what they do with the grape in this area.

All the grapes used have been raised under the “Sustainable Agriculture” method and come from old (65 to 80 years) vines. It is matured in 400l casks for nearly 12 months, “gaining black cherry, vanilla and spicy aromas”. If you do get your hands on a bottle, be sure and decant! Very Highly Recommended.

Domaine du Clos d’Epinay, Vouvray Brut, Methode Traditionnelle, 12%, €9.00 at the estate.

Well, unlike Dom Perignon, you won’t be tasting “the stars” when you open a bottle of this Clos d’Epinay. But there are lots of bubbles, maybe not the smallest, and the wine itself has many of the elements associated with champagne. Indeed, it is quite a lovely substitute for the real thing and at a fraction of the price. Recommended.

It is a small vineyard and when I called there in the late summer of 2013, they reported that up to ninety per cent of the crop had been damaged by hail stones earlier in the year. “That’s nature.” Let us hope they’ll have a better summer this time. The grapes used are 100 per cent Chinon Blanc.

Really Old Vines and just about old vines! From the Loire.

Really Old Vines and just about old vines! From the Loire.

Have been doing a bit of work (drinking!) on the subject of old vines and, in general, it seems that, other things being equal, it is worthwhile paying something of a premium for the wines from the gnarled old vines. With that in mind, why not try a few and compare them with a regular wine from the same vineyard, which is often possible. I’ve been doing that over the years and have regularly come down on the side of the wine from the older plantings.

But what is old? Twenty five years, fifty years. The experienced wine commentator Mary Dowey reckons it has to be “forty years at least” and cautioned that not all varieties benefit from age. “It doesn’t do anything for Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot but Grenache is well suited.” The main benefit is an “intensity of flavour, really concentrated”. 

Pony on left is not interested in wine!

Vignes Centenaire de Minière, Bourgueil 2009, 13.5%, €19.00 at the château.

Colour is a dark ruby and the aromas are of dark fruit. It is refreshing and concentrated, with a strong element of dark fruit flavours; it is smooth, rich with hints of spice and has an excellent dry finish.

The local pony club, at least the adults on the party, were finishing an outdoor tasting when we pulled into sunny Chateau de Minière in the heart of the Bourgueil appellation last summer. After a pleasant hour, maybe two, we finished off our tasting under the shady trees with this wine made from the local stalwart, Cabernet Franc. Loved it then and love it now.

The fruit comes from vines that average more than 100 years old and it has spent two years in oak. The grapes are hand harvested and hand sorted, all under the direction of wine-maker Eric Goujat. Belgian couple, Kathleen and Sigurd, took over the chateau a few years back and have the vineyard in conversion to organic, a process that is almost complete.

Wines that are labelled VieillesVignes (generally more than 30 years old) can command a premium. This is the château’s most expensive wine but worth it, I think. Not all  vines are suitable for long age but Cabernet Franc seems to do well on it in this area!

In the cool cellars of Montplaisir (Chinon)

Domaine de L’Abbaye Vieilles Vignes Chinon 2008, 12.5%, €7.50 at Cave Montplaisir in Chinon.

Aromas of pepper and spices and dark berries are a feature here. On the palate it is refreshing and fruity, with engaging fruit flavours and a lingering dry finish. A very Cabernet Franc and good value too, at least in France!

According to the current World Atlas of Wine, the wines of Chinon are “absurdly undervalued”. That opinion is reinforced by the quality and price of this bottle.

The vines are single varietal Cabernet Franc over 35 years old. It is aged in the cellars in oak barrels for about 12 months depending on the vintage. 

Find out more here 

Anjou Blanc Vieille Vignes 2009, €15.00 at Chateau Soucherie

A tasting at Chateau Soucherie saw us start with two classy wines, the Anjou Blanc Vielles Vignes 2009 and the more expensive Savennières Clos des Perrières 2010. Could have spent more time with these two but, on the initial tasting, put my money on the Vieilles Vignes (and even more of it on the Chaume that we came to later on).

The Vieilles Vignes was another winner  for the old vine brigade. “A unique wine from vines of more than 80 years, rich and round, delicious as an accompaniment to veal stew.”

Probably should have bought more of it as, on our way out to the car in the baking parking area, we were told that the 80 year old plants had been dug up and this was the last of the old stuff! So, if you do come across it, do buy some and include one or two for me! I have none left now and indeed I seem to have mislaid my notes on it. But it was a beautiful well balanced wine, another confirmation for me that wines from old wines are worth exploring!

You may check out the Château’s tasting notes (by Olivier Poussier, once voted the Best Sommelier in the World!) here.  

The Red Zone of the Loire

The Red Zone of the Loire

Underground in Chinon.
Read more about my 3 weeks in the Loire Valley here

Let me take you to the red zone of the Loire Valley. Let us start in Chinon, just west of Tours. Chinon (population c.16,000) is a lovely old town, full of history (Jean d’Arc, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Rabelais, etc…) and surrounded by vineyards, and is the heart of the appellation of the same name.

The appellation is situated mainly in the triangle formed as the Vienne and Loire rivers meet and also includes some communes to the south of the Vienne. And I’ve read in the latest Wine Atlas of the World (a terrific book) that some seven communes to the west of the Vienne are soon to be included.

Immediately north of the confluence of the two rivers you come to Bourgueil and appellations named after that town and its close neighbour St Nicolas. Wine is so important here that there is a huge wine bottle outside the church in St Nicolas and a huge bunch of grapes is a centrepoint on at least one roundabout..

The communes to the west of the Chinon appellation come under the general Touraine label and I’m sure that the seven mentioned in the Wine Atlas would jump at the chance to join up. Hopefully, Chateau du Petit Thouars will be included as they make some great wines from their Cabernet Franc, the red grape for both neighbouring Chinon and Bourgueil.

Domaine du Raifault, Clos du Villy, Chinon 2009, 12.5%, €7.60 at Caves de Montplaisir

Okay, let’s start at the heart of it, in Chinon itself. Along the bank of the Vienne on the road to the west, you’ll find the unusual wine cellar called Caves de Montplaisir.  The cellar, “unique in the Loire Valley, is a former underground quarry of over 2,500 square metres”. The tufa (a type of limestone) extracted was used to build many castles and manor houses in the region.

It is a pretty cool place in more senses than one! Indeed, there was one area where you need a brolly as the water drips through from the top of the town, many metres above. They were busy at reception when we arrived so we had our own little tour among the damp and mould inducing  “chambers”, passing much wine in storage including some 1977 Chinon and small lots dating back to 1947, 1921 and 1893.

But when it came to tasting and buying (they represent three growers), we came much more up to date and included this 2009 in our lot. It has excellent fruit flavours (with an almost silky mouthfeel) and well matched by a refreshing acidity, then a good long finish and overall is pretty typical of the Chinon reds. I've really gotten to like this grape and what they do with it where the Vienne and Loire meet.

Chateau du Petit Thouars, Selection 2009, Touraine, 12.5%, €5.00 at Chateau

This vineyard, situated in the area of St Germain sur Vienne, is outside the Chinon and Bourgueil appellations. It is owned by Sebastien du Petit Thouars - his winemaker is the experienced Michael Pinard - and is regularly regarded as a top producer (see High Johnson handbook 2014 for example).

This 2009 is quite aromatic, notes of red fruit evident. It has a lively refreshing palate with soft tannins and shows the ripe Cabernet Franc (in another good year here) at its best. And, at its best, it is a memorable glass indeed.

Domaine Thibault, Bourgueil 2005, 12%, €6.80 at Syndicat des Vins de Bourgueil.

After one of the quickest ever tasting sessions (about three minutes flat for six wines), we bought this Thibault at the local syndicate. From a good year, it is really smooth and velvety on the palate. Colour is light red and the nose is fruity with some spice. 

The domaine is certified biologique since the early 90s but organics have been in practice here since 1974. There are two types of soil in the area, one tuffeau (rocky), the other graviers (gravelly). This one comes from the rocky area but sometimes even locals find it hard to spot the difference in a blind tasting.

Domaine de la Closerie, Vielles Vignes, Bourgueil 2005, 13%, €8.00 at Syndicat des Vins de Bourgueil.
This was another purchase from the syndicat and another where the grapes were grown on the tuffeau. Another excellent buy, even if I say so myself! It is a "traditional wine of the estate, this is a very nice open nose and palate with aromas of red fruits". All that and more, underlining again the quality available in Bourgueil and neighbouring St Nicolas.

Not sure you’ll be able to find these exact wines in Ireland but Loire wines are widely available, more whites than reds admittedly. Still, my recent check revealed that Curious Wines, Karwig Wines, and Ballymaloe (at Brown Thomas), sell Chinon red.

* Read more about my 3 weeks in the Loire Valley here

Ferry Good Wines

Ferry Good Wines

Century after century. The work goes on in Pouilly sur Loire. 

On the way back from a recent trip to the Loire, I continued to buy wine. No, not in those harbourside warehouses. But in La Boutique on board the Pont Aven, the Brittany Ferries ship that regularly sails between Cork and Roscoff. Quite a good list of wines on board, with all the major French areas covered.

And what did I buy? More wines from the Loire, of course. Didn't get over as far as Sancerre so had a shortfall there. By the way, got quite a share of wine maps and routes while in the Loire and Sancerre does not appear on them at all as they just don't go that far east.

Michel Redde La Moynerie, Pouilly-Fume 2010, 13%, €17.20

In 1630, a man called Francois Redde was a winemaker in Pouilly sur Loire. Three hundred years later, Michel Redde was born and went on to continue the tradition and now his three sons are at the helm. Their ongoing philosophy: bring out in the most natural way the best expression of of the grape variety and terroir.

They sure know what they are doing. Great fruit flavours here with a terrific acidity. Very impressive and Very Highly Recommended. Serve with fish and white meats.

Domaine Christian Salmon, Sancerre 2012, 13%, €12.66.

This Sauvignon Blanc from the home of the grape, is fruity and dry and a terrific example of the area’s expertise. From recent practice, I can say it is a wonderful companion for fish and seafood. They also recommend it with Chavignol, the goat cheese of the area, so presumably it will go well also with the likes of Ardsallagh or St Tola.

Domaine Dutertre, Clos du Pavillon, Touraine Amboise 2011, 13%, €7.73.

Made by an “independent winemaker”, this is a local award winner and is made from the Chenin Blanc grape. It is lovely and fruity, with sharpish acidity. Well balanced and with a long finish. A bit more info than usual on the back label, including the grape variety and also that it may age well (perhaps!).

* You may well find it difficult to track down these exact wines in Ireland. Still, quite a few wine shops stock Loire wines and you could well get lucky. If not, you can always treat yourself to a trip to Roscoff. Just make sure it is on Brittany Ferries!

French Holiday Prices August-September 2013

French Prices August-September 2013
(based on recent Loire Valley holiday)

Shows are often included in admission prices to chateaus.

If you’ve ever driven in France you’ll know the best place to get petrol is at the larger supermarkets. This year, we got a fill in a Leclerc for 1.55 per litre while a regular garage up the road was charging 1.70. Another advantage of the supermarket set-up is that you put in your credit card and enter your pin and that allows you to fill up; once full, just drive off, no delays.

You may spend as much or as little as you like on eating out. A three course meal in a good quality regular restaurant costs about 23 euro but you will find an evening menu du jour there (with little choice) for 15 euro. If you move up in class, expect to pay between 27 and 30 euro for an excellent meal that may well include a cheese course.

Lunch menus can also vary quite a bit. In the busy tourist town of Azay Le Rideau, at the Creperie du Roy, we paid 21.10 for an excellent meal for two that included one glass of wine. At Sunday lunch, in a small village, two main courses, two coffees and a half bottle of wine came to 27 euro. 

We got a lovely two course lunch in Cafe au Coin in Saumur for €12.50 each. One day, in Vendome, we needed a snack and got it at a sandwich takeaway (a packed sandwich, a drink eg Coke or Orangina, and a big cookie) and the cost was less than four euro each.

Admission charges, especially if you have a family in tow, can be quite expensive but are generally worth it. Even the French are complaining and in some cases you should watch out for combination tickets or other discounts if visiting more than one attraction in an area.

Here are a few examples, without discount. The most expensive we came across was at the Chateau Close Luce and Park in Amboise which is dedicated to Leonardo Da Vinci. Normal entry fee is €13.50 but an extra fee to see a special enclosed exhibition on the great man brought the total to €18.50. It is an amazing place and I thought it was worth it!

The fantastic Abbey Fontevraud is €9.50, Saumur is €9.00, Chenonceau is €11.00 (13.00 if you add in the Wax Museum), Villandry is €9.50  (6.50 for gardens only) and Azay Le Rideau charges €8.50. Young children often go free and there are various concessions for students (up to 26 years!) but no discounts for pensioners as far as I could see! We all have our priorities!

Riverboat Trip as we Wind Down in Chinon

Day 20

Riverboat Trip as we Wind Down in Chinon

It is our last full day in Chinon. It is also very warm indeed, up and beyond 30 degrees. Just looked at the wall thermometer in our courtyard terrace and it is threatening to go off the scale that peaks at 50C. For these reasons, this is an easy day.

Baubles 'n bangles at Market

Got up a little later than usual before heading for the market. Made a bee line to the Asian speciality stall and joined the queue. Enjoyed the chit chat with Madame as we stocked up for lunch and evening. Also had a good look around and bought one or two presents.

Busy fruit stall. The grapes,
for eating, are Italian.

Got back around noon and headed straight for the pool. Cooled down and as we walked back to our gite we picked a few plums from the numerous trees in the garden. Did I tell you we have been living in a cave for the past three weeks? And I don’t mean a wine cellar.

Our suntrap! A "foot" of the cave
may be seen on the right (with flowers)

Les Cathelinettes is built on three levels.   The first building is the main one where the hosts, Sylvie and Roger, live and where they also have two B & Bs. Next level up is where we are, a 2/3 person gite built into the hill and an existing cave and termed Troglodyte. These kind of buildings are very common around here and also in the Dordogne. Another gite, a slight bigger one, is built above us.

By the way, you’d never know you’re living in a cave. It looks like an ordinary house but has the advantage of staying nice and cool in this very hot weather. All holiday makers here, and there could be up to a dozen at times, share the pool. In practice though, we’ve always had it to ourselves, often having to take the cover off. It has been fantastic facility the way the weather has turned out.

Chinon and its fortress from our river-boat today.

Chinon too – we can walk to the centre in 20 minutes – is a lovely and sometimes lively town, lots to see and do here and it is also well placed for touring to the east and west as there is a terrific road network.

We used the bigger roads, including autoroutes, to get to places like Vouvray, Amboise and Chenonceau and smaller ones most of the time. They take you through the fields. The landscape, aside from a few hills, is mostly level and quite often the roads are straight. 

A little riverside beach.

We enjoyed some lovely drives with the fields alongside. Crops of Corn on the Cob, Vines (of course) and Sunflowers are the main ones at this time of year. The sunflowers may be a disappointment to some of you. Now, in September, they look delicate, like faded golden paper dolls, all bowing to the inevitable and awaiting the grim reaper, the yellow of their vibrant youth long gone.

Roused ourselves in mid-afternoon and headed down to the tour boat dock. It turned out to be third time lucky. And, with a nice little (very little) breeze on the water, our mini-cruise on the flat-bottomed boat up and down the Vienne was delightful. Some nice views, especially those of the Fortress.

Big Heat Hits Loire. Two wine visits

Day 19

Big Heat Hits Loire. Two wine visits

Teach 'em young!

Super September continued in the Loire Valley with temperatures exceeding 30 degrees and boosting the hopes of wine producers such as Sebastien at Chateau Du Petit Thouars for a super harvest next month.  Rain, forecast for the weekend, will also be a help. Big juicy grapes!

We called back there after a couple of weeks to catch up with the news. Sebastien had been in Sligo for a wedding and his and Darcy’s daughter Elizabeth had taken her first steps and gave us a little demonstration. Great to meet up again with the trio and purchase some more of their fabulous wines, all destined for a trip to Ireland at the weekend.

Chateau du Petit Thouars

Back then to the gite and saw that the thermometer on the wall in the courtyard was getting up towards fifty – this is quite a sun trap as the general temperature is about thirty. Nothing for it but to tog out and take the few steps to the pool and soon we were cooling down.

Over a light lunch, we found we were a little short of Chinon wine, of all things. So we headed off to the riverside cave of Mon Plaisir, another one of those cellars built into the tufa, “free” cellars again, but very impressive even if many of the casks and barrels were covered in a fungus! Skipped the white and roses and went for the reds in the tasting and came away with some 2008 and 2009. 

Cave Mon Plaisir

Happy out but not so happy when we turned up at the opposite river bank for an expected boat trip up the river (Vienne). For the second time, we were disappointed as we were the only two that showed up. The boatman said he had twenty the day before.

Mould on bottles of Chinon 1979

So back to the car and up the river to Montsoreau, just where the Vienne and the Loire meet. Quite a lot of activity on the wide waters and we enjoyed a pleasant spell there.

Fun on the river

Amazing how many restaurants around here stay closed on Wednesdays and that was one of the factors, the heat another, in our eating at the gite this evening. On the way back from Montsoreau, we raided the traiteur and loaded up with pate, salads, main courses and a vegetable gratin. Over across the little square then to the baker and a nice little boule (it doesn’t always have to be baguette – there is a huge range here) and a couple of their winemaker tartlets!

Loire speedsters

Should be a lovely evening as the temperatures are still way up! A demain.

Winemaker's Rartlet - this evening's dessert from the baker.

Da Vinci Codex. Amboise throws the book at me.

Day 17

Da Vinci Codex. Amboise throws the book at me.

Parc Leonardo Da Vinci

Today, in the lovely Loire town of Amboise, they threw the Leonardo Da Vinci book at me. Learned a lot but probably have forgotten much of it already.

Not many people know that the famous Italian lived the last three years of his life here in Chateau du Clos Lucé and indeed died here in 1519. He came as a guest of his ardent admirer Francois 1, the king of France, who had his own Royal Chateau just a few hundred yards away.  There was even a connecting passageway between the two buildings to enable fan Francois talk to his artist.

Here's looking at you kid!

On an arduous journey from Italy Leonardo brought a familiar face, Mona Lisa, with him, though the painting that now hangs here is a copy by someone else painted soon after the original. Da Vinci happily lived here for three years, painting and working on other passions such as engineering, building design, and even producing entertainments for the court.

It cost eighteen euro to do the full visit here and that included the chateau, gardens, a 3D representation of his machines, a special and interesting Da Vinci expo (this accounts for five euro of the fee and you can omit it if you wish) and the enormous park with some 35 individual exhibits illustrating various aspects of the artist’s enormous range of works.

This armour is killing me. Francois I, King of France

The 1471 chateau is modest compared to some we’ve been at but it is attractive. We saw rooms where Da Vinci slept and worked and also the kitchen where the meals were prepared by Mathurine for the vegetarian Italian.

Some mist and sound effects have been added to the waters of the old garden where he walked, a pleasant place where we walked today, but the park is the big deal here, at least for me.  Canvasses hang from the trees to illustrate different themes. Those that caught my eye and imagination were the Light on Faces area and the Mechanics of Life section.

Out in the Parc

But lots more to grab the attention, including getting your hands on the works of the Propeller (precursor of the helicopter), the Paddle Boat, the Tank and more.  Basically, it is the kind of place that you walk around with your mouth open and admiration pouring out through every pore in your body.

This man was a genius of his time and would no doubt have been a genius in these times.

The Propellor (precursor of the helicopter)

It was a tremendous visit in the heat of the second day of September. Temperatures were around the mid 20s as we drove home on the A85 and we were keen to get to the swimming pool. When we reached Chinon, we found our traiteur closed and the only restaurants open were ones that we had already visited.

So, with the pool beckoning, we went a little downmarket and called to the little Carrefour (Carrefour City) in the town. I suppose downmarket might be the wrong term as the prepared meal we choose was by Chef of the Century Joel Robuchon, of Paris, London and Las Vegas.  The meal, titled Le fameux Parmentier de Canard, cost under a fiver each, and was excellent. The little bowls that it came in, suitable for oven or microwave, were cleaned out, not a smidgeon left.

Chateau du Clos Lucé

Saumur Sunday: Blood on the Sand. Mega Flea Market.

Day 16

Saumur Sunday: Blood on the Sand. Mega Flea Market.

A spectacular jousting contest within the walls of the chateau in Saumur and a massive flea market in another area of the lovely Loire town were our “lucky” highlights today. Lucky, because we didn’t set out to find either. Our “mission” was the Sunday market. We found one but it was miniscule and so we headed up the street to where we’d seen people gather, always a good sign in France.

They were gathering for one of the biggest flea markets (known in France as Brocante) I’ve ever seen here. Everything, it seemed, was on sale, except maybe the kitchen sink. There was also much fun and games around the event including a kind of go-kart racing.

We have been successful at some of these before but this time didn’t buy anything, despite checking out row after row. Did see an attractive looking green Tullamore Dew jug but couldn’t find it at second attempt! Some stalls were obviously professional while others were of the car boot variety. And the customers were of a similar mix.

 It was thirsty work in the sunshine (mid 20s) and we headed for the popular bar stand and got a couple of Oranginas (many of you will remember those) for two euro each. Two euro was also the price for a fouée here, ancient French "pocket" bread, typically paired with savoury stuffings such as goat cheese or a pork spread.

View over the Loire from the chateau.

I had rillettes in mine while CL enjoyed Apricot jam. Kept us going until we drove to that chateau which had terrific views over the Loire. Here another drink was required and must say I absolutely enjoyed an Iced Tea with Peach.

The Flea Market (well, part of it!)

Sipped that while waiting for the joust, the main event. A crazy commentator, dressed for the occasion, kept this show going as the two guys battled each other on horse and off. The good guy won of course. Very enjoyable half hour in the sun.

Anyone want a Dinky?

The chateau doesn’t have much by the way of furniture so you need to time your visit to coincide with something like this. It does also have a very good equine museum, at least to my amateur eye. In any event, we enjoyed our trip around the chateau (sometimes you can arrange for a tour in English but the timing didn’t suit us today) and especially the jousting!

All the action men you could want!

And, just now, another pleasant surprise. Just opened a bottle of St Nicolas de Bourgueil and it is a gem. Producer is Sylvain Bruneau and it is a 2011 from old vines. Santé!