October 20-21, 2025 Chateauneuf du Pape  region The  Chateauneuf du Pape region is characterized by the large Rhone river rocks that force the vines to root deep and produced the characteristic mineral flavor of their wines. This time, we visited  Chateau Fortia winery  Chateau Fortia  is one of the oldest wineries in the region. This historic estate played a pivotal role in establishing France's first Appellation Contrôlée system (AOC), thanks to the efforts of Baron Pierre Le Roy. The winery is run by his granddaughter today.       Enjoyed at least 5 wines, the white was the surprising winner for me. I intend to drink it on the Nile in another 10 days.   Only 850 bottles of one of two white wines we tried were produced this year.  The  Chateauneuf du Pape  region is famous for their reds, especially the GSM blends: Grenache, Syrah and Mourvèdre.  Beaumes-de Venise region Beaumes-de-Venise  is not our fav...

October 20, 2025 Le Gite Tilia was booked with Booking.com. We chose Sablet for its central location to the Rhône wines of this region especially Gigondas & Chateauneuf du Pape.  By the way, I learned that g îte   is a furnished holiday house typically in the country     Gregoire serves dinner at Le Gite Tilia  starting with local white wine, peanuts and chips peach compote tomato soup added to sheep cheese garnish with homemade yogurt served with wine made here Chicken in wine, Camargue rice and ratatouille cream yogurt and apricot dessert Blooms in late October  Breakfast delivered to our apartment  1850 wine making tool that is cranked to blend wines This tree is 450 years old. This property has been in the family since 1500's and home built in 1650 Booking information:   https://www.booking.com/hotel/fr/chambres-d-hotes-tilia.html  

October 21, 2025  I admit that I only found out about  Vaison-la-Romaine  because I Googled restaurants near me and Restaruant Crisol had 64 5 stars and was 17 min from our apartment.  Thank goodness we made reservations because they were completely full.   It's an exceptionally beautiful drive from Seblet to  Vaison-la-Romaine.  Like everywhere in the Rhône region, there are many wineries to stop in for a tasting.   Domaine de Mourchon in Ségaret was  recommended by our host and stands out as our favorite not only for quality of the wine which you can see wine spectator highly regards, but also the quality of the experience and the beauty of the rural setting.  Continuing to Vaison-la-Romaine, we parked and walked around the outside of the Roman ruins because we arrived too late, after 5pm for our 7pm reservation at Crisol.  Roman theater  Roman city The Roman ruins of Vaison-la-Romaine  are among some of the mo...

 October 20, 2025 Avignon expected 2 inches today and I was awakened at 4am by rain overflowing from downspouts and pouring loudly into the courtyard below. Walked .5 miles to bus stop in rain, but not pouring until we reached the shelter that leaked only a little. #20 bus to TGV train station  to reach car rental at  Enterprise. on the bus to train station Headed to Orange. First stop was lunch at La Taverne du Salutant. The restaurant was 100% full and everyone knew everyone and would often go back into the kitchen to visit with the cook.  John had to park our car since we were in the heart of Orange's old city so I didn't have my personal translator present.  The only menu was mostly wiped off on a white board and the remaining wouldn't be translated by Google translate. Hungry,  I pointed to the plate of the woman sitting across from our table.  He understood. Portion was huge and I ordered one to share knowing I'd leave a substantial tip to compen...