Friday September 14th, 2018

Spent a good part of the morning today working on travel arrangements. Got an AirBnb for Nice, then went to the train station and got a ticket for Arles in the morning and then a ticket from Arles to Nice on Monday. After a quick lunch, it was off to meet the afternoon tour of Chateau Neuf du Pape, one of the great AOC of the Cote du Rhone. The guide took us to a couple of tasting rooms and to the ruins on the Chateau. We stopped in the vineyards and saw the grapes as well as the “Soil” which is actually pretty rocky. The rocks hold the heat at night and keep the grapes at an even temperature. CNP is mainly Syrah and Grenache, but there are a total of 13 grape varieties allowed to be included. Also, all grapes must be harvested by hand. We went to Chateau de Vaudieu and Domaine Pierre Usseglio. Tasted some whites and some reds in both places, CNP doesn’t make any rose. We got to taste one wine that is rated at 100points. As the guide pointed out a lot of this is about its aging potential, not it’s unaged flavor. It was really interesting to see how rocky the soil was, and that the vines are kept very low to the ground. That’s Mt. Ventoux in the distance. Check out the rocks…

Three types of rocks that represent the CNP terroir, River, Limestone and a third type.Concrete holding tanks, lined with epoxy.

Unfortunately out of focus, but one of these was rated 100 points!

Pope’s Palace in the distance.