Author: lgsjr

Kunin Wines, Take Two

A few issues back, Power Tasting featured a winery, Margerum, that had moved from the refined area of Santa Barbara to the raucous Funk Zone.  Here, we report on Kunin Wines (www.kuninwines.com), which went the other way.  Some years ago we featured Kunin in their old digs (now occupied by the Santa Barbara Winery).  We are pleased to say that the wine is just as good, maybe better, and the vibe is way, way cooler.

We last visited Kunin in early 2017.  Tragically, the founder, Seth Kunin died later that year.  His widow, Magan, joined in time by their daughter Phoebe, took the reins.  Maybe we were just in a better mood in the new tasting room; maybe the vintages were better this time; or maybe Magan has just improved the wines.  Whatever the reason, we enjoyed the wines even more this time.

The new facility is in the Presidio section, once the center of Spanish colonial administration in Santa Barbara.  In fact, some of the old buildings are visible out the window.  It’s a storefront, with an adjoining cheese shop.  You can buy some cheese or sliced meats to accompany your tastes, if you so choose.  The tasting room is small and sparsely furnished, with a few stools at the bar, and a few chairs and tables in an open room.

The Kunin tasting room, with a server ready to pour.

Crowd control is not the problem it was in the Funk Zone, because there are no crowds.  Most of the uptown wineries have tasting rooms on the main drag, State Street.  Kunin is a few blocks away.  We hope that they attract dedicated tasters, because we suspect that foot traffic is sparse.

Kunin still makes Rhône style wines with Grenache, Syrah and Mourvedre taking the pride of place.  (We hate to hear them called GSM, but that seems to be the American way.)  But Kunin also produces wines from a variety of grapes not often found in the US.  These include Carignane, Cinsault and Counoise.  Whites are made from Viognier and Chenin Blanc.  Many are estate wines, but Kunin does have several single vineyard sourced wines.

Two wines available for tasting are somewhat different.  Kunin has two wines that they call Pape Star, which are their take on Chateauneuf de Pape.  The white is a blend of Grenache Blanc and Rousanne, which we don’t think any other American wineries make.  The red is made of Grenache, Mourvèdre, Counoise and Carignane.  These wines are a tribute to the great wines of the Southern Rhône.  But make no mistake; they’re unmistakably California Rhône-style wines  that don’t need to tip their proverbial hats to their French cousins.

There’s also a real oddball wine that they call MV Special K.  MV means multi-vintage; Special K doesn’t mean breakfast cereal.  Moreover, this wine is a blend of different vineyards from around Santa Barbara County.  It’s usually reserved for Kunin’s club members.  If it’s not on the tasting list, ask for it politely.  If they have it open, we’re sure they’ll pour you some.

If you’re wine tasting in Santa Barbara, make a point of visiting Kunin.  Don’t let them be lonely.

First Times

We are not original in noting that there’s a first time for everything.  In past issues, we’ve recounted our first times wine tasting in Napa Valley and other sectors of Wine Country.  Since those early days in our wine tasting career, we’ve been to many other winemaking regions and there is a commonality among visits to all of them.

Vines in Australia’s Barossa Valley.  Photo courtesy of Cluster Crush.

There is always an emotional thrill knowing that we’re about to embark on an adventure.  We know our way around Long Island’s North Fork, for instance.  We know what the wines are like and where the grapes are grown.  So when we set off for France, Italy, Australia or South Africa – or certain areas in the US as well – we know that we’re going to be seeing sights we haven’t seen and taste wines that we may never have heard of.

That can be a little scary, too.  How do we get to and around these parts of Wine Country, some of which are not as well mapped as, say, Sonoma County?  Which are the wineries not to miss (and which should be skipped)?  Are we going to get lost?  These fears can be overcome with some research and a guide.  But no matter how much can be gleaned on-line, the internet doesn’t know our tastes.  And if we’re going to be sipping wines made from unheard-of grapes like Corvina, Pinotage or Fer Servadou we have no idea what we’re going to get.  As for guides, we’re always worried that they’re in the pay of certain wineries, not necessarily the best ones.

In a way, every wine tasting trip is a first one.  Even if we’ve been to the wineries in a region multiple times, we haven’t tasted that year’s wines nor do they always have the same wines on the menu. 

The only sensible way to approach each visit is with an open mind and taste buds.  We’ve had the experience of being disappointed at a winery that we had previously enjoyed, but we’ve also been delighted to find that a label we hadn’t cared for in our local wine shop also makes some fabulous wines that they keep for their tasting room.

That sense of discovery is the rationale for wine tasting.  After all, we don’t have to spend the money on transportation and hotels.  We could take a virtual tour down the aisles of a store, buying and trying as our fancy strikes us.  Heck, we do that anyway.  But we don’t get to see the vines, appreciate the architecture, smell the country air and, most important, meet the people behind the bottles.

So when we set out for a trip, especially one overseas, we know we’re going to encounter people, places and foods that we haven’t experienced before.  As first-timers, we expect to learn a great deal.  The people of those places are generally friendly and eager to spotlight not only their own wines but those of the region. 

Once in Valpolicella we were offered a tasting by a winemaker who spoke no English.  Our Italian was very limited.  But the signore was able to say AMARONE and RIPASSO at the top of his lungs, so we got the point.  It’s little stories like that that make first-time adventures in Wine Country worthwhile.

Sanford Winery & Vineyards

Several years ago, Power Tasting published a review of the Sanford tasting room in Santa Barbara.  That space now hosts other vineyards, but interested wine lovers can still visit Sanford (www.sanfordwinery.com) at their facility in the Santa Rita Hills.  It’s a drive of an hour or so outside of Santa Barbara, and it’s a trip worth taking.  [Elsewhere in this issue we discuss the attraction of the locale; here we’ll focus on the winery.]

The interior of the Sanford winery, with doors leading to the vineyards and outdoor tastings.

When you get off the road at Sanford, you’re immediately surrounded by grape vines.  You are, in fact, in the midst of the Rinaconda vineyard and some of the wines you are about to taste were made from the same vines, just a few years prior.  That sense of being surrounded by great grapes stays with you throughout the visit.

The winery and its tasting room are housed in a handsome adobe brick building, with Spanish roof tiles.  It looks very much like a hacienda, an impression that is reinforced inside, with Southwestern décor.  It evokes the missions that once dotted California in its colonial times.  We suppose there are tastings in there on rainy or cold days, but if you can, have your tasting outside.

As we said before, Santa Rita Hills is a trip worth taking.

A capella tasting, at the “hacienda”

Visitors are seated at comfortable tables, spaced widely enough that you have the sense that you are the only ones there to taste Sanford’s wines.  The pleasure is doubled by the vista, all the way to the horizon, of vines.  Make that tripled pleasure, because the tables are placed within gardens of blooms and desert plants.

The server explains the history of the Sanford winery, which in brief is the history of wine production in the Santa Rita Hills.  Richard Sanford and Michael Benedict planted the first vines there in 1971.  Their first vineyard, called Sanford-Benedict naturally enough, was and is the most prestigious in the region.  Today, Sanford is owned by the Terlato family, who also have several other top wineries in California.

And then the wines.  They make Pinot Noirs and Chardonnays.  Unusually, they serve the reds before the whites.  When we questioned this practice, the server acknowledged that this is not the way others do it, but that the winery believes that the high level of acidity in the Chardonnays would affect the taste of the Pinot Noirs if served first.

The standard tasting menu includes their top single-vineyard wines, including the aforementioned Sanford & Benedict and the Rinaconda.  The former is emblematic of Santa Rita Hills wine; the latter is somewhat richer, to our tastes.  Also to our tastes, Sanford’s Pinot Noirs are among the most Burgundian of American wines made from that grape.

The servers are generous with their pour, which leads to a dilemma.  Yes, there’s a bucket, but the wines are so good that we didn’t want to pour anything out.  Still, we had to be aware that there would be driving ahead of us.  As dilemmas go, this wasn’t a bad one.  WE savored the wines but responsibly left some behind.

Santa Rita Hills

Generally, when Power Tasting recommends a place to visit, it’s a location near wine tasting, but not wine tasting by itself.  We make an exception for the Santa Rita Hills, because they’re just so beautiful.

Interestingly, we shouldn’t be referring to the Santa Rita Hills at all.  There is a large Chilean winemaker called Vina Santa Rita and they objected to the use of the same name as applied to wines.  So the official name is Sta. Rita Hills.  We don’t care; we’re sticking with Santa.

The area stretches from the town of Buellton to the east and Lompoc at the western extreme.  It’s roughly 17 miles wide and 10 miles from north to south.  And it’s in Southern California, which means it must be hot, right?  No, Santa Rita Hills has a very unique climate that makes it ideal for the grapes of Burgundy: Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.

South-facing vineyards, with the Sant Ynez mountains behind them, and fog trying to climb over the mountains.

That climate is made by an ocean and some mountains.  The ocean, of course, is the Pacific, which lies due south of the Hills.  Now, California runs north-south, so shouldn’t the Pacific be west of it?  But just to the west of Lompoc, the coastline hangs a hard left for about 75 miles, putting the Pacific to the south.  Paralleling the coast are the Santa Ynez mountains.  So when cool, moist air rises from the ocean in the form of fog, it is stopped by the mountains.  Some does get over them, of course.  You can see the clouds trying to make it past the Santa Ynez’ in the morning hours.

Because the southerly winds are blocked, there’s nothing stopping the east-west gusts.  Thus the Santa Rita Hills have ideal conditions: lots of sun, but cool and breezy.  The conformation of the Hills creates a valley with spectacular views wherever you look.  Words, even photographs, don’t do justice to the Santa Rita Hills.  We have enjoyed great vineyard vistas around the world: the Côte d’Or, Barossa Valley and Napa Valley closer to home, just to name a few.  The Santa Rita Hills are far less developed than any of those and the vineyards that patch the views make it even more gorgeous.

We should point out that the drive to the Santa Rita Hills is almost as dramatic as the Hills themselves.  There are two ways to get there from Santa Barbara, which is most likely the starting point for most wine tasters, or else from Los Angeles.  One is Route101, which we have written about before.  From Santa Barbara, it runs along the coast until the town of Gaviota, where it makes a sharp right turn.  As you drive, you pass through a gap in the mountains where suddenly the morning fogs lift, as though a curtain is going up.  Those mountain walls are quite a sight themselves.

The other route is via Routes 154 and 246.  The latter is the main drag of the Santa Rita Hills.  There are stunning views of the Pacific through gulleys in the mountains and equally spectacular views of Lake Cachuma on the inland side.  You also pass through the quaint but touristy town of Solvang before reaching the Santa Rita Hills.  We recommend 101 to go and 154/246 to return to Santa Barbara or back to L.A. 

Oh, did we mention that there’s wine in them thar hills?  If you go to admire the scenery, you ought to try some wine.

Let Us Now Praise Famous Vineyards

The sight of internationally famous vineyards in the course of wine tasting travels can evoke some contradictory responses.  The most obvious is the sense of understanding that that’s where some really great wine comes from.  But the other is that, “Oh well, it looks like every other vineyard, so what’s the big deal?”  To us, it’s not so much about seeing the famous vines; it comes when we open a bottle from one of those vineyards and can picture the exact location.

Some of these vineyards are right next to the building – let’s call it a château – where the wine is made.  Bordeaux law, for example, requires the vines and the winery to be in close contact.  In many other parts of the world, the vineyards are free-standing.  We have been fortunate enough to have seen many of these unique properties.

Sanford & Benedict vineyard.  Photo courtesy of Sanford Winery.

Since this issue is focused on Santa Rita Hills, there are two vineyards that have enormous reputations.  Sanford & Benedict is the flagship vineyard of the Sanford Winery and we suppose they keep the best grapes for themselves.  But there are many other labels that boast wines from that vineyard, including Fess Parker, Au Bon Climat and even Gary Farrell from way up north in Sonoma County. 

The other renowned Santa Rita Hills vineyard is Fiddlestix, which is virtually across the road from Sanford & Benedict.  There is no Fiddlestix winery, but the grapes are widely sold.  We’re most familiar with Etude’s wine from there.  And speaking of Etude, their Heirloom vineyards are pretty special, too.

To Kalon Vineyard, with the Robert Mondavi winery at the rear.  Photo courtesy of the winery.

The most famous Napa Valley vineyard is undoubtedly To Kalon.  Although there is a To Kalon Vineyard Company, the vast majority of this vineyard’s production is owned by Constellation Brands, which in turn owns Robert Mondavi.  Mondavi’s To Kalon Reserve helped establish Napa Valley as capable of making world-class wines.

The most famous European vineyards are in Burgundy.  Due to the history and laws of this region, almost all vineyards are split among numerous growers, with individuals sometimes limited to a single row in a single vineyard.  So, for example, the Clos de Vougeot in Burgundy (of which we have written before), is shared by many wineries including Jadot, Faiveley, Drouhin and many other smaller producers.  They can all claim to have a Clos Vougeot wine, which by itself is a mark of quality.

Two other Burgundy vineyards stand out.  Power Tasting has written about Corton-Charlemagne before.  Supposedly, Charlemagne owned it back when.  Today, it’s the only vineyard in the Côte d’Or that produces both red and white grand cru wines.  And we can’t forget the Puligny-Montrachet vineyards.  One right next to the other, there’s Montrachet itself, and Chevalier-Montrachet and Bâtard-Montrachet, plus several others.  Connoisseurs differ as to which is the greatest.  We’re not connoisseurs but we have walked in those vineyards.

Discovering New Places

There are two kinds of places: those you know and those you don’t.  And every place you do know was new to you at one time.  And some of those places you don’t know make wine, some of which you don’t know anything about either.  This was our situation when we set off to visit the Santa Rita Hills, but the same could be said for our first times in any of the world’s winemaking regions.

We had a great time that day, as we have had on numerous other occasions when we have discovered new corners of Wine Country.  There are certain tips that should be considered if you are going wine tasting somewhere you haven’t been before. We have written before about planning for such a trip, but these tips are about maximizing your pleasure while you’re there.

The Santa Rita Hills.  Photo courtesy of Wine Spectator.

  • Getting there and coming back are parts of the trip.  Pay some attention to the scenery, the homes, the stores, even the industrial sections.  (Of course, pay more attention to the road, if you’re the driver.)  The places you pass are the places where the wine people live.  Part of the pleasure of visiting Wine Country rather than opening bottles at home is to get a sense of the people who live there, not just tasting the wine.
  • Geeting a little lost is okay.  The only way you can have serendipity is if things don’t quite go as planned.  Note that we say, “a little lost”.  You might discover a great little winery just down the wrong lane.  But if you find yourself on the highway with no vineyards in sight, maybe it’s a good idea to turn around.
  • Factor in the weather.  In some ways the coldest, nastiest months are the best time to visit someplace you’re already familiar with.  There are no crowds and tasting rooms have lots of space for walk-ins.  If one of those months is when you are discovering a new place is in, say, January, make the most of it.  Snow on the vines can make a pretty sight.  Of course, you’d rather be there when the sun is bright and fruit hangs from the vines, so make every minute count at those times. 
  • Open yourself to that particular experience.  There’s no need to compare what you are seeing to what you have seen before.  The Santa Rita Hills, for example, have their own beauty just as does Chianti or the Barossa Valley or St. Emilion or… Enjoying what you see and taste for its own merits will give you more pleasure than thinking that somewhere else is better.
  • Think about how you will tell the folks back home about your visit.  Attempting to verbalize what you are seeing, feeling, tasting and doing helps to lock all those things into your memory.  It is certainly the technique we use in writing the articles in Power Tasting.  Try it out when you’re doing something fun in your own neighborhood.  You’ll see how much more vivid it makes every fun thing you do.

Beaumes de Venise

We recently attended a trade show for the wine industry, which happened to be dominated by wines from France.  Among them was a kiosk for Beaumes de Venise, which is a small, centrally located village in the Southern Rhône region.  Tasting the wines from there brought back quite a few memories.

Beaumes de Venise a nice village but no more so than its neighboring villages, Vacqueyras and Gigondas.  Red wines are made there, good ones but again no better than others made nearby.  What distinguishes Beaumes de Venise is the luscious honey-flavored wine made there from the Muscat grape (or to be more specific, the Muscat de Frontignan). 

[A few words on the name of the village.  Literally, it means “Balm of Venice”, but there is nothing about either balm or Venice in the origin of the name.  Beaumes comes from the Provençal word for caves, “baumo” plus the name of the county, many centuries ago, “Venaissin”.  The caves of Venaissin became the “Balm of Venice” over the years.]

For many years, American wine lists were rather sparse when it came to dessert wines, and they still are.  One that was featured the most frequently back then was the rather light but fruity Muscat from Domaine de Durban.  So the first time we visited Beaumes de Venise we made a point of visiting that winery.  It’s a drive from the center of the village, up a narrow, windy road to the top of what seemed like a mountain to us.  After all that, we discovered that, like all French enterprises, Durban was closed for a two-hour lunch.  We never did get to taste their wine on the premises.

The Domaine des Bernardins.  Photo courtesy of Ventoux Provence.

Some years later, we were vacationing in Provence and we had a fancy dinner in the especially charming town of St. Remy.  We ordered foie gras as a starter and asked the waiter for the usual accompaniment, glasses of Sauternes.  As only a French waiter could, he told us “Non!”.  Startled, we asked why not.  He told us that in this region of France the wine of choice with foie gras was Beaumes de Venise and recommended one in particular, Domaine des Bernardins.  (He did say that if we were dissatisfied he’d find us a glass of Sauternes.) 

Not only were we satisfied, we were blown away.  We loved it so much that we drove to Beaumes de Venise the next morning, located the winery and bought a case to be shipped home.   

Our Provençal friends drink Beaumes de Venise as an aperitif which is rather enjoyable sipping it under a chestnul tree or in front of the fireplace.   “Un petit Beaumes” as our friend Catherine would say.  Of course, you can drink it with (or as) dessert, too.

A word to the uninitiated.  Domaine des Bernardins, like many dessert wines, has a lovely golden color and is fresh with good acidity when it is young.  Over time, it turns brown and has a more profound flavor.  Keep it too long (a decade or so) and it just deteriorates.

The Dentelles de Montmirail.  Photo courtesy of Provence Guide.

One feature of Beaumes de Venise that you cannot fail to see if you visit the village: the Dentelles de Montmirail hover over the vineyards.  These are a row of jagged rock mountains that form a wall to the east of the Rhône valley.  They reflect the afternoon sun and give the grapes below an extra dose of warmth.  This is especially useful for grapes with a high sugar content, such as Muscat. 

They have been making sweet wines here for millennia, and if climate change doesn’t mess up everything, they will continue to do so for centuries to come.

Champagne Mercier

In the city of Épernay, there is a famous street called the Avenue de Champagne, which Power Tasting has featured in the past.  It is lined with Champagne houses where you can taste all day long.  At the far end, away from the center of town, is Champagne Mercier (www.champagnemercier.com).  They may not make the best Champagne in France (we’ll leave it to others to choose which one is) but it is the most popular one in that country.  Considering the combination of quality and price, that’s understandable.  Their top Brut Rosé costs about $38 a bottle.  Alas, it can’t be found in the US and wouldn’t be that inexpensive if it were.

However, the price of a bottle isn’t the attraction at any winery, it’s the enjoyment of the visit and the tasting.  And here Mercier excels.  As you approach the entrance, there’s an antique truck that evidently was once used to deliver Champagne.  It’s a way of telling a visitor that Mercier has been around a long time, since 1858 in fact.  The current facility was erected in 1871.  When you enter, you are confronted with a massive, decorated wine barrel, that holds 200,000 bottles worth of wine.  It was built for the 1889 Paris World Exposition.

Viewing the artwork from the train at Champagne Mercier.

The actual visit begins with a tour of the cellars.  Groups are taken together onto a glass elevator that descends slowly down 98 feet.  The walls of the shaft have paintings, to get you into the spirit right away.  At the bottom you are ushered into an open train, sort of like at Disneyland.  It winds its way through parts of the 11 miles of chalk tunnels.  Evidently the founder, Eugène Mercier was concerned about the cultural well-being of his workers, so there are carved works of art throughout the cellars.  And of course you get to see where Champagne bottles are stored, riddled and aged.

There is a recorded guide as you progress through the cellars, which is available in English as well as in French.  Be sure to bring a sweater.  The whole reason for cellaring Champagne is to age it and concentrating the sediments in a stable, cool environment.  Rolling along in an open train, you definitely feel a little chill.

At last, the tasting.

At length you return to the surface and have the chance to taste.  Tours include either one or three Champagnes to try.  At this point you’re so eager and thirsty that of course they seem quite good.  It takes some taste memory to summon up how you felt about better-known labels you’ve had in the past (or an hour ago elsewhere on the Avenue de Champagne.  If you wish, you are free to wander around the public area, admiring that big barrel and taking in the modernist interior architecture.

When you step outside at last you find yourself in a vineyard.  We think it’s the only working vineyard inside the city limits of Épernay.  Once you’ve seen the hectares after hectares of vines in Champagne, you may not be surprised by the size of this vineyard, but it’s mere existence is another reminder of what Champagne production must have been more than 100 years ago. 

Mercier is among the most fun tours we have taken at a Champagne house.  It is worth the visit.

Comparing French Wine Regions

If someone were to ask, “Where should I go to taste the best California wines?” most of us Americans would probably point the questioner to the Napa Valley.  But if that question was applied to France, the only reasonable answer is “It depends”. 

Virtually every part of France produces wine.  Burgundy is renowned for wines made from Pinot Noir and Chardonnay.  In the region around the city of Bordeaux, the grapes are Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Semillon.  The Rhône Valley produces Grenache, Syrah, Roussanne and Marsanne grapes.  Which is the best?  Well, it depends on what you like.

The town of Gaillac in Southwest France.  Photo courtesy of Ville de Gaillac.

And we could complicate matters by pointing to Riesling and Gewurztraminer in Alsace, Gaillac (made of Duras and Fer grapes) in the Southwest and Malbec in Cahors (known locally as Côt).  If all of this is confusing, it needn’t be.  Winemaking in France arose from many different histories and ecosystems.  If you’d like to travel around France, just enjoy whatever you find that’s produced locally.

We Americans are used to a lot of these different grapes grown in the same general vicinity.  (Well, maybe not Duras or Fer.)  But the differences are not as deeply rooted in the culture of each location.  So if you’re wine tasting in France, keep a few things in mind.

  • There are laws in France requiring certain regions to make wine from certain grapes, and in certain blends, if they want  to be able to claim AOC (appellation d’origine contrôlée) status.  So, while you will find some Cabernet Sauvignon in Russian River, you won’t be able to do the same in the Burgundy’s Côte d’Or, for example.
  • There are regions where vignerons (French for winemakers) grow the “wrong” grapes.  For example, Château Canet in Minervoix makes Merlot and Malbec (but can’t label them Minervoix, because different grapes are required there).  For another example, Mas de Gourgonier in Les Baux de Provence has a Cabernet Sauvignon/Syrah blend, which is fine in Australia but not in France.  If you don’t get hung up on the rules, you can enjoy some interesting alternatives while you are in various parts of France.
  • You can take a chance with some grapes you’ve never heard of.  We’ve already mentioned the virtually unknown grapes in Gaillac wine, which is readily available in Toulouse.  There’s Melon grapes in the Jura mountains, Auxerrois in Alsace or Chasselas in the Savoie.  You may never get another chance to taste wines made from these grapes, so if you’re in the area, give them a try. 
  • On the other hand, you might find a familiar wine by a different name.  In the 1860s, Francois Durif, a French botanist, had a vineyard growing Peloursin and Syrah.  The two cross-pollinated and he found himself with a different grape entirely.  He made wine from it and named it after himself.  If you happen to find a bottle of Durif, it may seem familiar, because in the US we call it Petite Sirah.

The overall messages are that a) If you travel in France you’ll encounter great wine wherever you go.  b) Enjoy what each region is famous for, but keep your mind (and your mouth) open for new and unexpected experiences.

Avignon

Philadelphia is still bragging about the Declaration of Independence and the Liberty Bell.  Boston hasn’t gotten over the Tea Party.  Those things happened around 250 years ago.  There is a place in France where they’re still identifying themselves with something that occurred more than 700 years ago: Avignon, in the south of France.

From 1309 through 1417, the Pope decided not to live in Rome but rather took up residence in Avignon.  This all had to do with conflict between the Papacy and the Kings of France and is way too complicated to be explained here.  The point for contemporary visitors is that everywhere you go in Avignon you’ll see the papal insignia of the Triple Crown and the crossed keys. 

The Papal Palace in Avignon, with the cathedral to the left.  Photo courtesy of Horizons Provence.

The most impressive and important site should you visit Avignon is the Papal Palace.  It’s actually two joined buildings, erected by different Popes.  It is one of the largest gothic edifices ever built.  Its massive walls and battlements give witness to the perilous nature of the Avignon papacy, with the constant threat of attacks by the forces of various kings and church factions.  As the center point of medieval western Christianity, the palace, and Avignon more generally, it became the administrative hub of Catholicism.  It was the precursor to St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, which was built 100 years after the return of the papacy there.

At the same time, Avignon is very much a living city.  It is famous for its annual festival of the arts.  There are performances in the courtyard of the Papal Palace and in theaters (and in the streets) around Avignon.  Of course, most of the theatrical works are in French, with an occasional Shakespeare or other classic piece presented in English.

Saint Benezet’s Bridge, with the bell tower of the Avignon cathedral behind it.  Photo courtesy of Provence-Alpes- Côtes d’Azur Tourism.

Of course, there’s a cathedral, Notre-Dame des Doms, next to the palace.  Over the centuries, this church has collapsed, been reconstructed, abandoned in the Revolution and restored in the 19th century.  Its bell tower hovers over the city and it is topped by a golden statue of the Virgin Mary that can be seen for miles around.  There are also gardens worth visiting.  The Doms is the rock on which Avignon was founded.  Visitors can climb up to it from the cathedral, enjoy the greenery and the views over the Rhône and pretend to be Avignonais.

Avignon is the capital of the Vaucluse region, which contains most of the Côtes du Rhône vineyards.  Nearby is a town wine lovers have heard of: Châteauneuf-du-Pape translated as “the Pope’s new castle”.  (One of the Avignon Popes built it as a refuge in case of attack on the palace.)  Avignon is a bustling little city ,  modern amongst all the antiquity.  After seeing the Papal Palace and the cathedral, the best thing to do (other than wine tasting all around the city) is just to walk around, taking in many beautiful sectors and sights.

Finally, don’t miss Saint Benezet’s Bridge, or what’s left of it.  If you remember the childhood song Sur le Pont d’Avignon (on the bridge of Avignon), this is it.  Half of it collapsed centuries ago, but you can still dance there today, if you’d like to.