Colin – Page 3 – Colin Harkness on Wine

OUR TRAVELS

PART FIVE

After Part Four of this blog (please see below) you may well have said – well, follow that!

We said it also, and were amazed to find that, in fact, we did – and some!

When we awoke in Campy in the village car park of Chateauneuf-du-Pape after our morning visit with Neil, co-owner of Domaine La Célestière, our afternoon tasting with Michel Blanc, Secretary of the AOC, and a Chateauneuf-du-Pape wine selected from the several bottles kindly given to us – we felt elated, rather than groggy. It had been such a magical day and night.

Our excited chatter was interrupted by a call from Neil, re-emphasising that he’d really meant his invitation for us to visit their other property, Domaine Dalmeran. We hadn’t wanted to impose further on their generosity so had said that we’d love to do some time in the future. Well, let’s be fair – even only 24 hours on was still ‘in the future’!

When we’d remarked how beautiful La Célestière was, he’d thanked us, but said – wait until you see Domaine Dalmeran!

We breakfasted sharpish, packed up and hit the road!

Well – Claire and I were completely bowled over by this magical, mystical, spiritual, truly beautiful part of the world, close to Les Baux de Provence. Neil’s casual, “Oh by the way, no need to sleep in Campy, there’s a house in the grounds for you, the heating is on and it’s yours for as long as you’d like,” bowled us over once again. Such generosity and kindness.

In the morning, a message arrived on my phone – ‘Bonjour, suggest you open your front door.’ I did, of course, and there was a tray with baguette, warm croissant, butter and homemade jam! How wonderful!

That morning we walked a little of this huge estate viewing the vineyards, small and large parcels of vines, some of which Neil had been pruning already, set against a backdrop of huge granite outcrops, surrounding us, along with the tree-studded hills and tiny brooks. Paradise! Neil told us some of the history of the property, pointing out some of the remains of the Roman aqueduct that had crossed the property two thousand years ago, parts of which were perfectly preserved. A medieval well, parts of various other Roman architecture, a chapel, wonderful grounds laid to lawn with multiple trees and so much more make up this amazing property.

And here, a Vinoborem, in its natural habitat!

We tasted some outstanding wine with Anna, a lovely Spanish young lady who works in the offices at the Domaine’s tasting centre, where we also met Neil’s French wife, Beatrice for the first time. We were told also that there happened to be another young couple staying at the Chateau, Liga from Latvia and Israeli, Doron, who were to be married in two days time, in the chapel in the grounds! Would we like to join the four of them for some tea and cake (Doron is an experienced Michelin restaurant pastry chef) in the Chateau the next evening?

What a beautiful dining room in what was essentially a stately home! We were intrigued as to how Liga (a jeweler who had been working in Hong Kong) and Doron had met, and when we heard the truly romantic story of their courtship and his incredible, amazingly elaborate proposal – well, it’s such a great story! We chatted and I told them all that Claire was an amazing soprano, at which point Claire asked if they might like her to sing a few songs as ‘our’ wedding gift on the day itself! They were so delighted with the idea that discussions ensued re their favourite arias etc.

‘Our’ gift to the newly married couple! NB video’s of some of Claire’s songs are/will be on her social media posts.

Needless to say, the small wedding was wonderful and Claire was a great success. We were invited onto the terrace for a glass of Champagne, and afterwards, perhaps we’d like to join them in the Chateau again for dinner?! We accepted with alacrity of course, though insisting that I brought the Spanish wine (Sparkling from Raventos i Blanc; Casa Cisca & Casa de la Vela from Bodegas Castaño; and Casa Boquera’s Selección Limitada – since you ask!) and Claire brought some Spanish style starters!

What a wonderful night we had!

I couldn’t leave out Elliot, who also enjoyed the wedding, and his own dinner later!

Claire and I knew that we were in for some wonderful experiences on our travels – but, really, this and Part Four, were almost unbelievable!

And, as the comic, said – There’s more!

Thanks for reading – please feel free to comment, by e-mail, or on Facebook/Twitter/Instagram please, rather than below, as I have over 2,000 spam comments, for some reason, and it’s very difficult to find genuine ones, which accounts for the probable fact(?) that I may not have replied to anybody who did send a comment. My apologies! Please do make comments as above!

Finally, as you know, this is not a wine blog, but I do know that there are those who would like more specifics about the wines tasted during these experiences. You can find these on my Facebook/Instagram/Twitter accounts – usually my Wine Reviews on Video!

Hasta ahora!

OUR TRAVELS

PART FOUR

Campy parked for the night adjacent to the HQ offices of the AOC Chateauneuf-du-Pape!

Social Media plays a part in the lives of most people these days, I guess. This can be a very beneficial phenomenon as well, unfortunately, as a rather unpleasant thing. Also, some of those who use Social Media can become rather obsessed with it.

Quite rightly, when I’m in danger of fitting into this last category, as I occasionally am (although my plea is that it is almost always for ‘professional’ reasons, i.e. ‘wine stuff’), Claire puts my brakes on for me. She’s usually right!

However, Social Media, does occasionally come up with some amazing ‘goods’, as it did when camped at the side of the Rhône in Avignon (please see Part Three below), I casually posted a Tweet asking if any of my wine colleagues and friends were able to recommend a winery not too far from where we were staying. A number of responses were forthcoming and overnight we had lots of options to consider.

One was particularly intriguing – a certain Monsieur Michel Blanc, Secretary (I think) of AOC Chateauneuf-du-Pape asked me to e-mail him with whatever my requirements were. It seemed an offer I couldn’t refuse – there may be the possibility of learning quite a lot about the AOC in general, rather than just about one winery, as would be the case were we to visit a Domaine, in either our actual location, AOC Côtes-du-Rhône, or in that of the very nearby Chateauneuf.

In fact, as it transpired, there was the opportunity to do both.

Michel was most helpful, inviting us to taste at the AOC shop where about half of the producers exhibit their wines, which are also sold there for the same prices as if visitors were to buy from the Chateau/Domaines, and where there are always three or four Chateauneuf wines to taste, free of charge. (When you are next there you simply must go here!)

He also sent me a list of wineries that would be happy to give us a tour and tasting – would I like to choose one, please? Well, there were quite a number so, to save time I simply opted for the first on the list – wow, that was a lucky choice, as you’ll see here, and in Part Five. Incredibly fortunate, to say the very least!

Michel wasn’t at all fazed by my enquiry – would it be ok to come in our campervan, park at the HQ and maybe plug in, too? It hadn’t been done before, was a little unorthodox, but was absolutely no problem, we were welcome!

We arrived in the morning to be met by the co-owner of Domaine La Célestière, one of the larger concerns of the AOC. In fact I hadn’t noticed when I’d opted, as above, for this Domaine that the owner’s name, Neil, seemed to be English. My French is dreadful, but Claire is fluent (so is Neil), and Beatrice, Neil’s wife, whom we were yet to meet, is French. Perfect. Not half – we followed Neil just outside of the city where we first laid eyes on their vineyards and then on the really beautiful winery.

Neil and Claire – not sure which language they were speaking, but the beauty of the landscape spoke volumes, in any language!

Domaine La Célestière makes mostly top class red Chateauneuf-du-Pape, but also white (sublime in my view!) and Neil kindly showed us around the whole wonderfully, wholly in-keeping restoration of the property that had started to become a little sad, as was explained.

This is what greets visitors as they enter the reception area – it shows the soils in which the vines of La Célestière are planted, particularly the famed ‘galets’, the large pebbles on the surface. These stones were deposited here millions of years ago when the whole area was submerged under the sea, and now serve as storage heaters for the vines, retaining the warmth of the daytime sunshine for slow release overnight, thus ensuring perfect ripening of the grapes!

The purpose of these Blog updates is not to rabbit on about wine, wineries etc – it’s to tell of our travels, which will of course include wine, but it’s our experiences on which I’d prefer to focus (bet you’re delighted!). So, I won’t give chapter and verse about La Célestière here. If interested in more wine detail, please click below (cool music too!)

https://soundcloud.com/user-789233062/the-wine-show-6-march

You amy also like to visit my facebook account where you’ll be able to see last Thirsty Thursday’s Wine Review which features one on Neil and Beatrice’s wines.

I couldn’t resist this photo though – a Célestière vine which has seen more than 100 summers!

After our visit we returned to HQ where Michel led us to the official shop where he, the sommelier manager and their intern assistant talked us through some of the wines, white and red. Really fascinating!

Grenache is one of the mainstays of Chateauneuf-du-Pape

That night we had quite a haul of wonderful wines from this world-famous area of fine wine production! All these wines were so generously given us by Michel and of course, Neil. We’ve absolutely loved them.

Our visit to Chateauneuf-du-Pape was wonderful – thanks to a chance Social Media Tweet. However, when we awoke in the morning there was another fantastic surprise for us!

Please read Part Five very soon!

Thank you for your time – all comments gratefully received!

OUR TRAVELS!

Part Three

Already I realise that I’ve placed these posts in slightly the wrong order – I knew I should have started writing this blog earlier!

No matter – just to say that it was Peñiscola from whence we made our ‘escape’ through Cataluña into France, not from our overnight stay at Bodega Flors. Quickly to point out, again, that all our travelling has been undertaken abiding by all Covid 19 rules/laws/protocols – it wasn’t an ‘escape’.

On speaking to Dutch, French and Norwegian campers in Peñiscola (a few days after Claire’s amazing busking beneath the iconic castle) we learned that campevans were allowed to cross the Valencia/Cataluña border as long as we didn’t stop overnight, making it into France, with an address to go to once there. Of course, we checked this with the appropriate authorities.

This we arrived in a rather quiet, frankly disappointing St. Cyprien, France at a campsite which we were informed was open over Winter. It was, but that was about it. We recharged our batteries (ours, not Campy’s as she was fine!) for two nights, leaving next for Avignon – Le Pont, of course, plus another wonderful experience, including a fabulous busking session from the lovely Claire!

Avignon has become one of my favourite ever cities! We were camped virtually on the banks of the Rhône, with the iconic bridge and beautiful city but a lengthy angler’s cast away.

As night fell I took this photo of the Papal Palace, the ancient walls etc – really, a wonderfully evocative place (though photographers amongst you will lament the quality of the shot, I know!).

We took several trips into the city on Scoots (yes, sad I know, but that’s our ace Peugot 125i scooter’s name!) visiting the excellent indoor market, viewing the outside (all museums Covid closed, malheureusement!) of the time-aged historical buildings, admiring the wonderful architecture and simply drinking-in the history of the old city. Magnificent!

We were also wondering where Claire might do some singing – by the palace, in front of the market, at one of the gates through the city walls? However, a walk one sunny Saturday from the campsite along the Rhône towards the Pont d’Avignon showed us where it had to be! There were lots of people sitting on grass and tree stumps alongside the river, walking the dog, exercising, chatting, enjoying picnics etc. It was really beautiful, and nicely busy.

Here an inquisitive girl stops her bike-ride to listen to one of Claire’s first songs – soon there was a well socially-distanced crowd gathering! A couple of ladies danced, everybody clapped each song, Claire’s hat almost ranneth over. Another truly moving, wonderful and beautiful event.

To see some of Claire’s video’s (shot by me, so don’t expect Hollywood!) of her singing please click here https://www.facebook.com/clairemarie.soprano.7

Also, you may want to visit this very brief video of the two of us dancing, not sur le pont, but sous le pont (as one old story would have us believe was actually the case, but this time largely because the pont was closed!) – please visit https://www.facebook.com/100009478376720/videos/2916674995325084/, when you have the chance!

So, that concludes Part Three of Our Travels!

All comments very welcome – we hope you enjoyed reading and viewing!

Colin and the lovely Claire!

OUR TRAVELS!

Part Two

22/02/2021

Well, thank you so much for all the positive comments you’ve sent me regarding the revival of my Blog, telling of our adventures on our travels! It really is appreciated!

Although aiming for Italy, we also wanted to see some of the parts of Valencia that we didn’t know. Also, of course, we had to take account of the changing Covid rules etc. So, when we left Benicàssim we were delighted to have been invited to visit Bodega Flors, a leading winery of the IGP Castelló.

This all came about via a Tweet I posted asking wine friends to recommend a winery to visit not far from where we were. Three respondents recommended the same bodega – photo above!

I contacted the winery and spoke to founder and owner, Vicente Flors, who wasn’t at all fazed by my asking: a) for a visit and tasting , b) for an overnight stay – in our campervan, c), if possible the use of a toilet overnight (I’ll be in trouble from Claire for including that!), and d) maybe to plug in our electricity! Yes, I know – I’ve got a cheek!

Well what a character Vicente is! The three of us hit it off harmoniously, rather like a fine blended wine! We tasted several wines, all real quality, with Vicente telling us the story of how he left banking to take over and completely change the family wine business, from local bulk wine producer, to fine quality bottled wines – served in Gourmet and Michelin starred restaurants!

You can read the story of our visit and the story of the bodega on the 5Barricas articles page on this site – please do, the wines are well worth seeking out. Plus, when life returns to normality you may well want to take advantage of the special dinners he arranges at Bodega Flors, accompanied by his wines, of course, with music, and finally – an astronomer who guides us through the sky at night!

We really want to attend one of these wonderful, unique events!

Look out for Bodega Flors wines – and you can order online. I recommend you do!

Many thanks for reading Part Two – all comments are most welcome!

Ciao (that gives you an idea of where we are right now!)