{"id":2059,"date":"2022-03-29T15:43:00","date_gmt":"2022-03-29T15:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=2059"},"modified":"2022-03-29T15:43:00","modified_gmt":"2022-03-29T15:43:00","slug":"visiting-saint-chinian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=2059","title":{"rendered":"Visiting Saint-Chinian"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Languedoc is a big place, ranging from France\u2019s Spanish border to the south, wrapping around to the doorstep of Provence to the east.\u00a0 Approximately in the middle is the village (and appellation) of Saint-Chinian.\u00a0 (We Americans would spell it St. Chinian.)\u00a0 It\u2019s a sweet little town that exists in its current form because of the wine trade.\u00a0 As pointed out elsewhere in this edition, Saint-Chinian makes good but not great wine (that we\u2019ve tasted), so it doesn\u2019t have the lushness and wealth of, say, St. Emilion or Beaune or, for that matter, Healdsburg.<\/p>\n

What it has is a sense of French-ness, or better yet Southern French-ness.\u00a0 Add to it that Saint-Chinian is a typical rural market town and it all makes being there worth experiencing. As you arrive or leave, be sure to take in the ravishing views.\u00a0 Saint-Chinian sits at the edge of a mountain range (well, hills really).\u00a0 There\u2019s a real difference between the stony wines in the hills and the softer ones from the valley, which becomes apparent as you drive through. There\u2019s one main street leading in, the D177, that leads into another main street, the D612, that goes out to the vineyards.\u00a0 In the French naming system, a D-road means D\u00e9partementale (or regional, in English), which means it\u2019s not much more than a two-way street, so expect to go slow.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The village of Saint-Chinian sits at the foot of a range of small mountains.<\/em><\/p>\n

Going slow seems to be a way of life in Saint-Chinian.\u00a0 The only time you\u2019ll see any bustle is on market days, Sundays and Thursdays.\u00a0 Then the stalls and trucks fill the main square and people come from miles around to shop, socialize, argue (it is France, after all), have a cup of coffee and generally hang out.\u00a0 There are march\u00e9s<\/em> in many of the nearby villages, but Saint-Chinian draws people from those areas because of its size and perhaps because of the quality of the items for sale.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Selling tablecloths and carpets at the Saint-Chinian march\u00e9<\/em><\/p>\n

Sure, there are fruits and vegetables and, depending on the season, you\u2019ll find the same ones as at home (only better) and then some you can\u2019t find back there, like the late summer mirabelles<\/em>.\u00a0 But then there\u2019s a truck selling roast chickens just made right there in the seller\u2019s rotisserie.\u00a0 And another with a big pan of paella, ready to eat or for dinner.\u00a0 And salamis.\u00a0 And sausages.\u00a0 And, mon Dieu<\/em>, there are cheeses.\u00a0 There are also housewares, including the fellow selling mats and tablecloths that we couldn\u2019t resist.<\/p>\n

After the market, you can head home and eat what you\u2019ve bought.\u00a0 But if you\u2019re a tourist, you don\u2019t have a home to go to.\u00a0 So you just amble down the street to a caf\u00e9.\u00a0 If the weather is good (and it usually is) you sit under a tree and eat an omelette or a plate of local charcuterie<\/em>, with a glass of a Saint-Chinian wine, of course.<\/p>\n

From there, you can be at the wineries and their surrounding vineyards in five minutes\u2019 drive.\u00a0 But you might just choose to relax in town and go wine tasting tomorrow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Languedoc is a big place, ranging from France\u2019s Spanish border to the south, wrapping around to the doorstep of Provence to the east.\u00a0 Approximately in the middle is the village (and appellation) of Saint-Chinian.\u00a0 (We Americans would spell it St. Chinian.)\u00a0 It\u2019s a sweet little town that exists in its current form because of … Continue reading Visiting Saint-Chinian<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2059"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2059"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2059\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2062,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2059\/revisions\/2062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}