Saumur wine tasting

Celebrating Zanny's birthday in Saumur! (A famous wine-growing city nearby Angers.) Instead of just going to the different domaines for dégustations, I thought it'd be fun to go to a winegrower's vineyard and see the vines and the process that goes along with it. And then the dégustation :)

  

So we walked around the vines and learned a little from Gérald, the manager's, fast rambling on grapes, vines and soils. It was cool to go down in the 5 mile cave under the vines where champagnes ferment for 18 months and are rotated in their bottles 3 times a day, as well as where other wines are stored. In these pictures you can see the limestone the vines grow on, which has a big effect on the wine (for more info ask Suzanne, she's supposed to remember that part;) Or see these links if you're curious... Vineyard soil types / Why limestone matters / Saumur wines

An old contraption for crushing grapes

 

Trying the bubbly... We learned to tap the glass on the table three times before the first sip- that way you can see the very fine tiny bulles make a tiny corkscrew up the middle of the glass, evidence of a quality bubbly wine.

 Driving past lots of vineyards back into the town of Saumur, below. The workers in the vines we learned all live within a 5 mile radius of the vineyard. That way the domaine doesn't have to feed them a three course lunch every day. In the past, everyone would have shared a big pot of whatever was on the menu that day, but laws have changed and now they would have to have individual servings of a starter, an entrée and dessert and blah blah blah. French bureaucracy. So Gérald said to avoid this, they have to employ people who live within a certain radius.

Another fascinating thing we learned from Gérald was about the caves that are all over the area. We passed some on the train and noticed that people have attached houses to them, or houses seem to be a part of mountain like walls. Well under one of the Louis, the poor country people who didn't feel any allegiance to the king, dug these underground caves to live in, and to hide from the rest of society in order to avoid paying taxes! Gérald found such a cave on his property and dug it out, finding a kitchen and more. Eventually he stopped digging because of another French law that changed and said that if you're aware of such a cave on your property and there's an issue with a road above it, or an accident on the road due to that cave, then you're liable. But before that, he said it had been so addicting, he'd wake up in the middle of the night and go dig out more of the cave and discover a lot of objects and rooms. So interesting!

We ordered a salad for lunch, which turned out to be a plate of lardons (a fancy word for bacon?) marinated for 48 hours. It wasn't exactly the light lunch we had envisioned but it sure was tasty. 

Pretty Saumur chateau overlooking the town and confluence of the Loire and the Thouet.

le Marché + les Fleurs

On to the Chateau we go!

My dinner memories got mixed up, artichokes featured on the second night's menu with baguette and cheese. All extra delicious in France it seems to me.

 

Out of the practically endless possibilities for places to go and things to do, we chose visiting Chateau Chenonceau as one of our first trips. So that Tuesday we took the train up to Tours. Here's the city hall in Tours (l'Hotel de Ville.) 

 

We had a bit of time to walk around the city and then it was back on a quick train ride to Chenonceau. 

I loved the area from the first step off the train, right down to the simple sign pointing to the chateau, below.

The land around the chateau was simply b-e-a-utiful on that afternoon, and struck me as just quintessentially French.

The chateau was a gift from King Henry II to his mistress Diane de Poitiers. She had the bridge built over the river Cher in 1555. The chateau has a really fascinating past and went through many different hands over the years, including Catherine de Medici and George Sand's grandmother (who saved it and even the chapel during the French Revolution with her cunning and intelligence)... just up to today's owners, the famous chocolate family Menier.

The painted tile floors fascinated me.

Here is the chapel that Madame Louise Dupin saved by saying it was for storage (was it wine storage Suzanne?) And the chateau she said was indispensable for crossing the river, so thus she saved the chateau too! 

 A classy way to cross the river : )

One fact I've taken away from the novel about the French revolutionaries I'm reading: there wouldn't have been a French Revolution if the price of the baguette hadn't kept rising. This country is serious about bread. Below, a baker's oven in the chateau's kitchen.

Besides the fading painted tile floors, I was slightly obsessed with the windows. And taken pictures through them.

A moment's hesitation crossing this hallways hanging from the bridge. 

Tiles! 

Windows! 

And tied for third with tiles + windows: the stairways! I think Zan and I both agreed these were our favorite "rooms." But that said, it was really neat that the chateau is furnished true to its days of former glory, and soirées. 

This kid loves the stairways too! ^^

Phew lots of pictures, thanks for hanging in there! :)