A Week In Wine Heaven

I Know, I Know – The French!

American disagreements with the French over any number of issues the past few decades are too numerous to cite in an article dedicated to wine but suffice it to say a lot of Americans have some reservations when it comes to embracing the French. In wine tastings I’ve conducted in the past, I’ve had a couple of people decline a French wine I was about to pour on the grounds that they “are not going to support France” in any way. While I understand the thoughts behind these actions I believe two things – number one, the French people are different than the French government, just like Americans and their government aren’t always in lockstep and number two – you really miss out on a lot by boycotting the French. No matter how you feel about their politics and culture it has to be said that they pretty much invented fine wine and great cuisine and if you are really going to gain knowledge of how fine wine came to be a part of our culture, I believe it’s important to start at the source which, like it or not is France.


A Day in Wine Heaven

On a recent trip through the Cotes du Rhone region of southern France we hired a wine tour guide name Francois. He arrived at our hotel in Avignon sharply at nine a.m. with cap in hand, an empty Peugeot van and a big smile. Having recently started the wine tour business after having been a maitre d’ in many fine restaurants in Europe and Canada for more than 25 years his enthusiasm to show us the vineyards of his hometown was palpable. Upon seeing the “Rick Steve’s Backdoor Guide to France” in our hands he became even more excited to find it was the 2009 version which he hadn’t seen yet – he had received a call from Rick informing him that, for the first time, his tour had been included on page 502 as a recommendation when visiting Avignon. What a coup for him and as it turned out, what a day for us.

Our first stop was a co-op in the town of Cairanne where all the local farmers brought their grapes at harvest and then the co-op vinified the different grapes (Grenache, Syrah, Mouvedre and Cinsault mostly but up to 13 varieties are allowed in a Cotes du Rhone blend) separately over the winter and following summer. When the time comes for the blending of the final product, the elected President of the co-operative and the chief winemaker and maybe a couple of other respected members of the co-op decide how much of each to blend together to get just the right taste and bouquet they are looking for. Having grown up in the farming communities of Montana myself I found the process interesting in that these agrarians were able to take their raw product and create a finished product eliminating the middle man in the same way the Wheat Montana people found a way to accomplish the same thing here in our area. An interesting scene unfolded while we were in the tasting room of their co-op. An older gentleman came in with a 5 liter plastic jug and went to what appeared to us to be a wine fill-up station which as it turned out, it was. The lady at the counter took his jug and asked what kind and price level of wine he wanted – he chose and she put the nozzle in his jug, which looked exactly like the nozzle of a gas pump and filled it up – he paid his 10 Euro and took it back to his car. A few more people filled ‘er up while we were there – you don’t see that every day in America!

Our next stop was a winery whose tasting room was built in 1371, the next another co-operative as Francois drove us around the beautiful Provencal countryside. His chatting told us about the history, the people, the traditions of the area along with how truly wine centric this part of the world is. Large majorities of the people in the area are involved in some way in the trade and consider it a central part of their lives. He also explained how the French people themselves are drinking less and less wine (down over 20% in the last decade – there is still a lot of wine being drunk however – 17 gallons a year for the average Frenchman compared to 3.75 for the average American) forcing a lot of the vineyards to be plowed under and new crops to be planted. A quick stop at a plot of land to explain “terroir” to us – the French concept that all things contribute to a bottle of wine – sun, rain, soil composition - stony vs. sandy etc., even how high the vines are trained. The most interesting part of the whole tour to me was in gaining the knowledge that in the end, these people are farmers. The wine business glitziness sometimes gets in the way of the product itself but I came away with the belief that these people loved their way of life, believed that they were creating something special in the bottle and that mostly - they love sharing it with the rest of the world.

Lunch time in France, as explained by our pal Francois is quite different than what “you Americans” call lunch time. To help us experience a “real” lunch he took us to a small town restaurant – in a village of not more than a couple of hundred people. We arrived a few minutes before noon and the place was empty – the chef and his wife who owned the place were just finishing up their lunch with the rest of the staff and they all welcomed us enthusiastically – it seems everyone in the area loves Francois and his guests too! Soon the place was filling up – the vine pruners, the local grape growers, the businessmen, a traveling cork salesman, a few government workers and a couple of road construction guys all converged for the cuisine of the day. For 15 Euro each, the entire restaurant ate the same thing – a nice pastry appetizer to start, a hearty beef stew followed, a few selections of cheese and finally an apple dessert to finish – all accompanied with wine of course. An anti-Applebee’s style happy birthday song sung by the entire restaurant to a local finished up the experience – two hours of conversation and relaxation by the entire town and then back to work – about as far from the grab a burger and a Coke and get back to the desk world we inhabit as possible. It left me wondering if the financial successes the rest of the world admires about America is really worth the stress we introduce into our lives.

After lunch a few more stops – a nice, young French girl who had just returned from working a few years at a tasting room in Malibu was telling us about the sweet wines of Rasteau, an unbelievable wine from the ancient, hilltop village of Gigondas from the small Moulin de la Gardette winery followed, another sweet wine from the Muscat grape in Beamues de Venise and the final stop at a great Chauteneuf du Pape vineyard, de la Jannasse where the wife of the husband/wife team just let us pour our own tastings of $100 bottles of the legendary blends from the land surrounding the 13th century summer home of the exiled Popes – how perfect!

Unfortunately, all great days have to come to an end and ours did as well – Francois’ hospitality was truly inspiring, his enthusiasm for his job was refreshing and with the traditional two cheek kiss for my girlfriend and an “American” handshake for me we parted ways. The thing I most love about traveling is meeting the people of the area and getting to know, in a very small way what makes their part of the world tick. The next time I sit down to enjoy a great glass of Cotes du Rhone wine I’ll remember the experience of “A Day in Wine Heaven” and offer a toast to my new favorite Frenchman – “Santé Francois”.