Our 2006 Loire Trip Revisited!!

The Trout here, posting again about Chateaus and the wine of the Loire.

We chose the Loire region  for out first week of touring in France with a second week in Normandy for 2006.  I have loved  castles way back when we were stationed in Heidelberg in 1968, when we would tour 1-2 castles a weekend it seemed, for most of the year.  France certainly has its share of great chateaus like Chateau Chenonceau above that seem to be used more for a King's residence rather than for taking shelter from marauding pillagers!

The Loire is also the home of Joan of Arc who supposedly performed miracles as a 13-year-old warrior way back when she led battles to drive the British  out of France.  She is memorialized  throughout France for her heroics in battle!

We chose this dovecote gîte near Chinon for our Loire stay.  It was once home to hundreds of pigeons who were kept for food and fertilizer.  The gîte was well restored for humans and very comfortable.

The dovecote is part of the Chateau de la Vauguyon which was build way back in 1340-50!  It has been owned by the same family since the '30's.   The chateau has seen better days, but is being slowly repaired to its past glory with a second gîte now available in the main building.

The current owner is the son Celian Duthu who is a wonderful host and tour guide for enjoying our week in the Loire.  One day, he wanted to take us to visit his favorite wine producers for white and red wines.

This is Celian and Susan in the vineyards of Domaine de la Noblaie, home of his favorite Chenin Blanc white wine.  Chenin Blanc is not my favorite white as I find it a bit flabby and soft vs. Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc like a Sancerre.  We did buy a couple of bottles for our later evening repasts at the Chateau.

While at the Domaine, we were introduced to a lovely lady who owned and ran the Auberge du Val de Vienne.  She was selecting wines for her cellar to offer to her guests.  We later had lunch there which was  supurb and what a wonderful dining room.

Our next stop was at the Chateau de la Grille, Celian's favorite red wine producer.  It has been sold to the Baudry-Dutour group of 3 wineries in the Loire.  Reds are made from the Cabernet France grape which is pretty much isolated to the Loire for making wines solely from this varietal.  It is used a lot for blending with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot in the Bordeaux and in the Napa.  It is softer than its big brother and it adds finesse and perfume to the blend.  By itself, we found a wide range of like (nice, soft with lovely fruit and flower notes) to dislike (harsh green vegetal flavors and leaves to green bell peppers).

We tasted the 1996  and 2000 vintages of their offering which we liked enough to buy and bring home for the cellar.  We practically had to take an oath that we hold these wines for at least 6-8 years to allow them to soften and bring out their best finish.  Their wines were pretty tannic early in life and needed to lay down for several years.

We have faithfully let them age until I took both out of storage.  After finding a beautiful bone-in rib eye, I decided it was time to try the 2000 bottle.  After decanting for 3 hours, we were delighted to find this wine had indeed aged to a very nice wine of berry notes with a nice long finish perfect with the steak.

Thanks Celian for helping us enjoy the Loire region which continues today with the lovely wines we brought home 6 years ago!!  We look forward to trying the 1996 soon as well.

France planning and such

The above gite is near Carennac in the Lot region. This is a converted barn.

This is one of two gites in the Dordogne converted from a farmhouse, near Sarlat.

I have been at a standstill this week. Just can't think of what to post. The main reason is that things are a little boring right now around here. The weather is horrible for Florida standards, we are still working on getting the weight down so any kitchen work has become boring.

Looking forward to the winter Olympics and getting to know Canada a little better. We spent some time in Vancouver a few years ago. It is a beautiful city. Stayed at what was called a Bed and Breakfast on Vancouver Island. Of course, the area around us was gorgeous, but it was our very early days of researching bed and breakfasts and the 'room' we reserved was a bed in the laundry room of a house. I believe it was just a 2 night stay. The lady of the house made us a nice breakfast, but after this we really worked on our research a little more.

Our plans for our late April trip to Europe are just about complete. Only one decision needs to be made (take train or plane) back to Paris from Lyon for the trip home. This will be our sixth trip to France since 2001. We did make a short trip into Alsace-Lorraine in 1981 when we had our daughters with us and again in 1991. It is a favorite area for us.

Our first trip was a week in Paris in 2001. In 2005 we went to Burgundy and Provence. Wanting to see more of this wonderful country we were growing to love, in 2006 we were located in the Loire Valley and Normandy. In 2007, it was the Dordogne and Languedoc area. The Dordogne was a favorite so the next year we went back to the Dordogne and the Lot area. This year we will be in the Alsace-Lorraine area, skip into the Black Forest of Germany for a short visit, and then into central France, to the Auvergne region.

Each trip is planned around the wine and food and the beautiful scenery available to us. We totally submerge ourselves into living French. We rent gites, which are small apartments or homes or for a short visit, we stay in bed and breakfasts. So many wonderful places are available (44,000 in France alone) and the Trout is my researcher into possibilities in the areas where we are going and then we settle on a favorite.

I have mentioned in the early days of my blog that we lived in Heidelberg, Germany, in 1968-69 when the Trout was in the American Army. We learned to live like Europeans and eat like Europeans and it was a life changing experience for us. We learned to enjoy wine and fine food and the importance of walking (lots of walking on cobblestone streets).

So 10 more weeks of careful planning ahead. We travel very, very light. Lots of hand washing and we usually are fortunate enough to have a washer in our apartment. I am still learning how a French washer works. It takes a long time to do a load of wash. Like half a day. Translating temperatures from Celsius into Fahrenheit and then all the slots for soap, softener, bleach, etc. And because the loads take so long, I do try to mix lots of clothes together. I remember one year in the Lot, one of the Trout's navy blue socks mistakenly slipped into a load of white things... like my underwear. I ended up with navy blue everything. Very fashionable, I'm sure!!

So have a good weekend. Kiss your Valentine!!