There are many wonderful places in the United States where wine is made and tastings are available. Most are located in small towns, often near large cities, such as Sacramento or New York. What we don’t have in the US are villages. Oh, certainly some of the towns are small and picturesque but they lack the atmosphere that only comes from centuries of families living near each other, with only a few roads (or only one), with homes nestled along the roadway. For those, we have to go to Europe or in Quebec.
We are not immune to the pleasures of Europe’s great cities, so we often take our vacations in the great cities such as Paris, Rome or London. But every few years we choose to stay somewhere where the pace is slower, there are no famous sights to see and there is no traffic on the streets. And where the grapes are growing right outside our window. In this article, we will use the tiny village of Poilhes in the Languedoc as an example, but it could as easily have been San Leonino in Italy, Nyons in France or Widdicombe in England. (Okay, there are no grapevines in England, but the feel of the place is the same.)
By the way, Poilhes is pronounced something like POU-yeh. Close enough but not exact.
There is only one road in Poilhes and we were lucky enough to rent a house along it. It was well equipped and had air conditioning, which is becoming increasingly important for any travels in Europe between May and October, the best times to be in Wine Country of course. There is a tiny church, whose bell announces the hours and serves as a sometimes unwanted alarm clock. It’s amazing how quickly we stopped hearing the ringing.
We were about 100 feet from the historic and picturesque Canal du Midi, once used for commerce and now only for pleasure boats. On the other side of the canal from our house, there was the only grocery store in Poilhes, the Épicerie du Canal, which was only open a few hours in the morning and another few in the afternoon. Upon awakening, we’d throw on some clothes and head to the Épicerie for a baguette, croissants and a pain au chocolat (chocolate croissant in this country). Let us tell you, there is no better breakfast than freshly made French bread and pastries with country butter and locally made preserves that we bought in the weekly market.
What is there to do in a village such as Poilhes? We took walks by the vineyards. We went to the village farmers’ market and to the ones in neighboring villages. We befriended one of the cats that run wild in the backyards. We picked figs off the tree that grew in our backyard. We learned all about Languedoc wines at the rather superb wine store/tasting room, the Vinauberge. We snacked under a spreading platane tree at a bistro across the street run by a transplanted English couple, who frankly couldn’t cook all that well. We dined at a fancy restaurant that was a stopping point for the pleasure craft on the canal. And of course, we tasted the wines made nearby and all around the village.
We recommend to anyone who would like to get the feel of Wine Country as well as the taste, that they plan a stay in a village like Poilhes. It’s an experience that will generate a lifetime of memories.