Team Cava in France – Day 6

Settled into Aix-in Provence for one night, we enjoyed the lovely Aquabella hotel, which is a spa-hotel built on an ancient Roman bath site.  The atmosphere of the hotel is very serene, with a beautiful asian-influenced garden and lobby.  The hotel offers breakfast in the Orangerie restaurant on the property, which is in a separate rounded glass building in the garden.  They have a full breakfast, and of course no French buffet is complete without the array of baguettes, croissants and other baked goods.  With evidence of ancient Roman history everywhere, the city of Aix makes for scenic strolling in the heart of town – plenty of piazzas and fountains, with its public spaces seeming a lot like a mini-Rome.  Aix is a vibrant university city, with plenty of interesting nightspots and shopping.  Beautiful as it is, we are to enjoy it only briefly, since no vines grow in the city! 

Our hosts for the next two days are Robert and Oliver from Marrenon wine co-operative, a large group producing wines in the AOC Luberon and AOC Ventoux wine regions.

Robert and Oliver picked us up from the hotel and off we went to tour the entire two wine regions – all in one day.  This is no easy feat – the two regions have the Luberon mountain range as its backbone that forms a sort of climate wall, a boundary between the warm and dry Mediterranean climate of the south and the cooler alpine influence on the north.   To the south of the mountain is the AOC Côtes de Luberon and to the north, the AOC Côtes de Ventoux. We shall find out what differences the wine has from each region!

So up through the spiralling mountain roads we go.  Our entrance point to the region was the D543 road, crossing the Durance river. The grapes from the region for red wines are 90% Grenache and Syrah, and in general give lush, fruity, dense wines with blackcurrant and spice flavours. For the whites Vermentino, Grenache blanc, Ugni blanc, Roussanne, Clairette, and Viognier make up the AOC white wines, which are produced in a wide range of dry styles.

Our first stop is one of several Marrenon wineries, this one in the town of Apt. Here we see in the morning the arrival of the start of harvest: red grapes being brought by truck while the air is coolest.  By rule, growers cannot bring fruit after 10:30am to the winery, or it gets too hot for the grapes.  In most locations, harvest is done by machine, but in the older vineyards (one of their old vines Grenache vineyards is 103 years old!), harvest is done by hand. We met with winemaker Genevieve, who took us on a tour that followed the arriving grapes and their juice-to-wine path.  

After lunch we packed back into the car for a twisty ride.  The countryside is stunning, and we paused at several points to get a panoramic overview of the region.  Dotted with vineyards, olive trees, cherry trees and lavender fields, the patchwork valleys between the mountains show a rural farming life around the bounty of the Luberon.  Small hill towns are nestled at varying heights, showing off either ancient forts, Romanesque churches or commanding views.  Two beautiful stops we made were at Roussillon and at Gordes.  Roussillon is famous for its red-ochre earth, which was used for dyes and paints.  Now it seems to be quite the artists’ pilgrimage spot. And at Gordes, it is an incredible example of hillside towns being build out of the rock faces.  Plenty of tour buses here, despite the very narrow streets!

Robert managed to show off his would-be-Formula-One driving by getting us around to all the hill towns and hair-pin turns in one day. Made for a very exciting adventure! A final stop at the main Marrenon winery in Tour D’Aigues showed us a top notch facility and bottling line.  And of course, this was followed by a full Marrenon portfolio tasting!  We are happy to now know so much more about the wines from this region~ since Cam, Sandra and I are among the few to visit Marrenon from all of western Canada, we are almost Luberon/Ventoux experts!

 Dinner in Tour D’Aigues was at an art-decorated bistro.  The menu was simple but very classy, each fixed menu offering a sample of regional traditional foods.  Perusing the menu, I said in my amateur French “I didn’t realise that wolf was a common dish around these parts,” since Loup was on the menu, which is French for wolf. Our hosts could not resist bursting out in laughter, since the menu was actually referring to a specific fish of Provence, Loup.  Good thing I asked!  I opted instead for the rack of lamb.

After a long day of travel and wine, we were happy to rest at the Domaine Saint Victor, a rural guest house that would make a fantastic get-away if we had another week! 

Websites for today’s adventures:

http://www.aquabella.fr/

http://www.marrenon.com

http://domaine-saint-victor.com/accueil