{"id":690,"date":"2017-08-30T21:56:51","date_gmt":"2017-08-30T21:56:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=690"},"modified":"2017-08-30T22:16:43","modified_gmt":"2017-08-30T22:16:43","slug":"une-degustation-monsieur","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=690","title":{"rendered":"Une d\u00e9gustation, Monsieur?"},"content":{"rendered":"

If there\u2019s anything better than a good wine, it\u2019s a good story.\u00a0 And a good story about a good wine is even better.<\/em><\/p>\n

Many years ago, Steve was vacationing in the south of France and of course he had to go wine tasting.\u00a0 At the time \u2013 this was a long while ago \u2013 he hadn\u2019t had much experience with Rhone wines.\u00a0 Being in the Rhone valley, this trip was in fact his real introduction to the wines of the region.\u00a0 He asked the hotel he was staying at for recommendations of wineries to visit and they handed him a list of their favorites.\u00a0 Thus informed, Steve set out for wine tasting adventures.<\/p>\n

Adventures indeed!\u00a0 The hotel didn\u2019t mention how small and convoluted the roads are in the southern Rhone valley and he got thoroughly lost.\u00a0 But little by little, he did locate most of the wineries on the list.\u00a0 Of course, in France they are all closed for lunch, so many of Steve\u2019s finds did not lead to wine tasting.\u00a0 Near day\u2019s end, he rolled into the village of Vacqueyras (va-KAY-rass) and asked about one of the places on his list.\u00a0 His French was good enough that the local folks knew what he was talking about (okay, maybe they read it off his list) and with some finger-pointing and sign-reading, he eventually arrived at Clos de Cazaux.<\/p>\n

What he saw was a farm house, surrounded by a vineyard, with a few outbuildings scattered around the house.\u00a0 A very small, frail, old woman came out of the house, looked Steve over, and figured out that he must be a wine tourist.\u00a0 What ensued was a conversation in Steve\u2019s barely adequate French; fortunately the old lady spoke very slowly so Steve could understand her.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what ensued:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Entrez dans ma cave, monsieur.<\/p>\n

Come into my cave, sir.\u00a0 <\/em>This was one of the outbuildings.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em>Nous avons quatre vins, deux Vacqueyras et deux Gigondas.<\/p>\n

We have four wines, two from Vacqueyras and two from Gigondas<\/em> (the next village over, also well known for its red wines.)<\/p>\n

Les vins de Vacqueyras sont traditionnelle, fait de Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre et Cinsault.<\/p>\n

The Vacqueyras wines are traditional, made of Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre et Cinsault<\/em>.\u00a0 Steve nods.<\/p>\n

Un de Gigondas est traditionnel aussi, mais l\u2019autre est fait juste pour les Anglais.\u00a0 Syrah pur.<\/p>\n

One of the Gigondas wines is traditional too, but the other is made just for the English.\u00a0 It\u2019s pure Syrah.<\/em><\/p>\n

Steve realized that by \u201cles Anglais\u201d the woman meant him.\u00a0 And so she poured him the first taste he ever had of a Rhone wine that\u2019s one of his favorites even today, Cuv\u00e9e des Templiers.\u00a0 The Templiers, or Knights Templar in English, were an order of knighthood in the Middle Ages who (supposedly) kept themselves pure to fight the Crusades.\u00a0 They were and are well represented on the label.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Photo courtesy of wine-searcher.com<\/em><\/p>\n

Now roll forward some 25 years.\u00a0 Steve and Lucie are vacationing in the southern Rhone valley.\u00a0 Steve has learned quite a bit about Rhone wines in the intervening years, but Lucie is an expert, a Chevalier de la Commanderie de Costes de Rhone.\u00a0 They are in Rasteau on a Sunday and all the wineries are closed.\u00a0 The only place in town to buy wines is the Tourist Information Bureau.\u00a0 So they go, buy a few bottles and chat with the young woman who is staffing the bureau.\u00a0 By now, Steve has forgotten the name of the vineyard but remembers the story, which he relates in his now much improved French, courtesy of Lucie.\u00a0 Can the information woman help them to find the winery again?<\/p>\n

She says (in French, of course), \u201cOf course I know the winery.\u00a0 The old woman is my mother-in-law and she\u2019s still alive.\u00a0 But Cuv\u00e9e des Templiers is not made just for the English.\u00a0 We love it too.\u00a0 And it\u2019s not and never was pure Syrah.\u00a0 I\u2019ll be working there tomorrow, so come by and I\u2019ll open a bottle for you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Small world, n\u2019est-ce-pas?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If there\u2019s anything better than a good wine, it\u2019s a good story.\u00a0 And a good story about a good wine is even better. Many years ago, Steve was vacationing in the south of France and of course he had to go wine tasting.\u00a0 At the time \u2013 this was a long while ago \u2013 he … Continue reading Une d\u00e9gustation, Monsieur?<\/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\/690"}],"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=690"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/690\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":706,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/690\/revisions\/706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}