{"id":2564,"date":"2024-01-28T18:35:34","date_gmt":"2024-01-28T18:35:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=2564"},"modified":"2024-01-28T19:00:42","modified_gmt":"2024-01-28T19:00:42","slug":"carpentras","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=2564","title":{"rendered":"Carpentras"},"content":{"rendered":"

There is a town 13 km south of Vacqueyras and 22 km east of Ch\u00e2teauneuf-du-Pape in the south of France, which one might think it would be the center of the local wine trade.\u00a0 In fact there are some nearby wineries, but they\u2019re only part of the generic Mont Ventoux appellation.\u00a0 The town is Carpentras and it is famous, but not for wine.\u00a0 It is the place to go for another French specialty: black truffles<\/em>.<\/p>\n

These delicacies are prized by chefs and home cooks for their exquisite aroma of\u2026what? Some say onions, others cabbage or forest floor.\u00a0 They are earthy, mushroomy, wild and ultimately indescribable.\u00a0 Some people like them in everything from salads to sauces; others don\u2019t like them at all.\u00a0 The people of Carpentras like them because they sell a lot of them, at rather high prices.<\/p>\n

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The Carpentras truffle market.\u00a0 Photo courtesy of See Provence.<\/em><\/p>\n

If you are in Provence on a Friday between late November and early March, you can visit the truffle market and then dine at any of the nearby restaurants all of whom, so it seems, specialize in three course truffle menus.<\/p>\n

There are other reasons to visit the town and its surrounding area the rest of the year.\u00a0 As noted, Carpentras is at the foot of Mont Ventoux (Mount Windy, in English, a name very well earned).\u00a0 If you ever drive to the top of Mont Ventoux, you will encounter a lot of goats on the road on your way up and on the top of the mountain you\u2019ll see the regional weather station. \u00a0One of the best known wines from this appellation is La Vielle Ferme, which has been internationally popular for over 40 years. \u00a0From what we\u2019ve tasted, there\u2019s been a great improvement in recent years and Mont Ventoux wines are a good value for the money.\u00a0 Wine tasting here is very special, with this mammoth mountain hovering over you.<\/p>\n

There are quite a few in-town attractions in Carpentras, but they are similar to many other spots in French Wine Country.\u00a0 There\u2019s a Roman arch, a former hospital (H\u00f4tel Dieu) turned library that has architectural interest.\u00a0 A cathedral.\u00a0 Boutiques.\u00a0 Interestingly, Carpentras was once a center of Jewish population and still hosts France\u2019s oldest synagogue, in use since 1367.<\/p>\n

Aside from the truffles, there are year-round markets featuring fruits and flowers.\u00a0 The town is also known for a hard candy called berlingots<\/em>, striped hard confections that were once thought to have medicinal value.\u00a0 Anyplace that\u2019s known for truffles, candy and wine has to be worth a visit!<\/p>\n

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A typical Carpentras Caf\u00e9.\u00a0 Photo courtesy of Booking.com.<\/em><\/p>\n

What sets Carpentras apart, in our opinion, is the lifestyle.\u00a0 It is what you would expect a Proven\u00e7al market town to be.\u00a0 The town seems dedicated to la belle vie<\/em>, with seemingly innumerable cafes and restaurants.\u00a0 In good weather, which is most of the year, the terrasses are always full with people having a coffee, a glass of (local) wine, a lunch, a snack, an aperitif, a dinner, a digestif.\u00a0 In other words, whatever time of year that you are there, you\u2019re welcome to take a seat and feel that you\u2019ve arrived in the heart of Provence.\u00a0 Because you have.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There is a town 13 km south of Vacqueyras and 22 km east of Ch\u00e2teauneuf-du-Pape in the south of France, which one might think it would be the center of the local wine trade.\u00a0 In fact there are some nearby wineries, but they\u2019re only part of the generic Mont Ventoux appellation.\u00a0 The town is Carpentras … Continue reading Carpentras<\/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":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2564"}],"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=2564"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2564\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2576,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2564\/revisions\/2576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}