Arles - Wine Adventrue

Kate and I went on a wine adventure guided by a nice dutchman named Mike.  He gives wine tours of the Cotes du Rhone region of Provence.

Here are some Pictures:

Kate and James in front of the chateau of the pope.  The Germans blew it up when they were pulling out of France.

View over looking the villiage.  This is Cote Du Rhone central.

This farmer is making a new row for some vines.  Notice large smooth river rocks.  These rocks will continue to bake the grapes at night once heated by the sun.  Grapes from these soils will have a stronger tannic kick.

These vines are just over the hill from the last picture.  The soil becomes a lot sandier which mellows out the tannic taste in the grapes.  You can tell these vines are Grenache grapes because they are grown in the traditional 'goblet' style.

Only Syrah grape vines are allowed to be trellised in the Cote Du Rhone. All wines are usually a blend of Grenache and Syrah in the southern CDR and a blend of mainly Syrah in the northern CDR.

 This is the first winery we went to, Domaine Le Pointu, is in the chateauneuf du pape appellation.  This winery uses grapes grown from the sandy and rocky soils to create awesome wines.

This winery had some old school fermentation tanks that they used for the chateauneuf du pape label.

We had lunch at this great little place in the hills of Provence.  There's no way we would have found this place on our own.  Thanks Mike!!!

Next we went to Domaine Les Goubert in the Gigondas appellation for a tasting.

Mike showed us the owners private collection of wines that he has accumulated over the years.

Notice some of the years - '78, '79, '80 ...  good stuff.

View from Domaine Les Goubert.

All in all this was one of the best days we had in France.  Almost all of it is thanks to Mike Rijken from Wine Safari.  He really knows how to mix history, food, science, and of course wine into a great day enjoying Cotes Du Rhone wines.  Mike, we hope that we become adequate Cotes Du Rhone wine 

ambassadors.  If you're in the area please look him up through his website http://www.winesafari.net/ or email him directly at mikeswinesafari@wanadoo.fr.