Châteauneuf-du-Pape Blues: Monday, October 14th

The end of the human race will be that it will eventually die of civilization. -Ralph Waldo Emerson, writer and philosopher (1803-1882)

Marvin Angelo Mercado

First attempt at turkey dinner. Got a lot to live up to Michele Darrow-Sutherland

Hello everybody and Happy Thanksgiving to all my Canadians!! Love the LA crew!!

Hi all,
 

Happy thanksgiving!!!

Had dinner at Krissy and Marks saturday, Colin and Gails Sunday and Pam and Greg arrived today so will spend the day and night with them.

Sounds like everyone is having a great time (France /Greece)

But Vancouver is having incredible weather!! You are missing a beautiful fall, sunny and warm. Love Chloe and Mags xx

Lovely day here! 21 degrees c. Andre scraped our car this am backing out of their garage Enjoy cruise. Love Corinne

Oh my !! You will have to stay in France for the next year to work off the insurance . Wayne wants to know if you drank all the wine. Where are you now? Michele

Michele Darrow-Sutherland

"On the island of Mykonos, it's windy almost" Last night with Andre and Rosemary. I'm making thanksgiving dinner. We had great day in Chateauneuf du pape. Getting through 3bottles of wine a night plus Rosemary's white.Off to Paris tomorrow on train.How's the boat? Lv Corinne  Trust you are well! As chance would have it, Cora Lee and I are staying with Andre Mackenzie and his partner, Rosemary, in their fabulous place just outside of Valence. Andre asked if I happened to have your phone number. Since i didn't i looked you up on the UBC Library site.

Corinne and I are at the tail end of our European holiday. We left Vancouver on July 10th. Leave fro Paris tomorrow for two nights then to London, via Eurostar. to fly to Vancouver on October 19th.

Hope to pop by Koerner in late October to say hello in person. Must away as we are buying guinea fowl for our Thanksgiving dinner here and then Cora Lee and I will drive to Châteauneuf-du-Pape, about an hour and a half away, for a spot of wine-tasting. Cheers to you and Katherine! Patrizzio!

Pics: Andre in the kitchen. He is a more than a wonderful cook! Rosemary and Cora Lee on the patio. As you can tell, Cora Lee is already blind drunk and it is only early afternoon! 

Thanksgiving, Monday October 14th:

Andre had already left for his appointment with the local doctor, (He put a small scratch/dent in the driver's door of our rental car as he backed out of the garage. Guess he wasn't used to having anything parked behind garage and perhaps his considerable overhang was such that he might still have been in a bit of an alcoholic fog!), by the time we went upstairs for breakfast so after we'd had a light repast and hung up some of the last laundry we were doing, we set out for the closest Intermarché, the local butcher being closed on Monday. We were in search of Guinée volailles/Guinea fowls as turkey isn't available, typically, here in France. 

Once we'd found store, in next village north, and did what little other shopping we needed for our Thanksgiving dinner away from home, we headed back to Chabeuil to drop off our purchases and then made straight for Châteauneuf-du-Pape, on the toll road. Since one can zip along at 130 km/h were there about 12:30 pm. Tiny, charming village, wall-to-wall Caves, of course, so once we'd found some on street parking, we decided to have lunch before the grueling work of wine-tasting.


Happened upon La Mule du Pape, right off the tiny town square, and had a simple but stunningly tasty Boeuf Bourgignon for but €9, along with a truly remarkable local red, 2009 Domaine de la Cote de L'Ange, 15%. Wonderful service, wonderful food and wonderful wonderful wine! After our magical meal we strolled the streets, just following our noses uphill towards the local church. I suggested we start tasting at the top of the village and then work our way back, reasoning it would be easier to roll downhill when tipsy! As it happened we came upon a Cave that we thought was closed, sign announcing By Appointment Only. I had knocked on the door before I translated the sign and so thought we'd have to find another cellar. Had only just turned my back on the door when I heard someone calling from inside so I asked if place was closed. Woman answered in English saying that she would come around to back entrance as her boss had not left her the key to front door. A minute or so later she emerged from a door opposite a short wall over which we were afforded a gorgeous view of the surrounding countryside.

As we chatted in the sunshine, taking in the vineyards, we introduced ourselves. Her English was very good and I detected a South African accent. Turned out Iben is Danish but was married to a South African for about 10 years, I believe. At any rate we discovered she was from a Silkeborg, about an hour from Aarhus or Århus, both places familiar to us as we'd first visited there in 1997. Into the Cave, (a true cave with rough stone walls, ceilings and floors., stairways and floors, quite dark until our eyes adjusted), itself to taste, over the course of almost two hours, about 9 wines, all but two, local reds. (Whites account for only 3% of production here so are not very well known, although in our estimation they certainly deserve to be.) Person Iben works for, Guy, isn't a winemaker but rather represents about 34 wineries from the appellation. Pretty high end bottles, cheapest about €29 all the way to €59, so we enjoyed every sip between getting to know Iben and much about her life.
 

She was quite a character and she really enjoyed our company, I believe. I thought she seemed a bit "tipsy" when we first met and it turned out that she and a number of friends had "tied one on" the evening before. She readily admitted that she was suffering from a pretty serious overhang when she showed up for work that morning and so had hefty snorts of the wine she poured for us, telling us, quite frankly, that it was "the hair of the dog" that she needed. Over the course of the tasting we told her about the the wine we had enjoyed at lunch and she knew both the winemaker and his wife, Corinne! Iben has a ten year old daughter, as does Corinne, and this was first how they met, through school, etc. Although Domaine de la Cote de L'Ange isn't part of their portfolio, she spoke very highly of the wine and told us where to find the winery.


Really a terrific introduction to this incredible appellation so after buying a "cheap" bottle, (I was used to paying €12-€14 for an expensive bottle in Languedoc!), aforementioned €29, we thanked Iben and made our way back down hill. She had told us where her apartment was and said we should take a look at it from the street. Once where we thought it was, across the street from an Épicerie, I asked a chap standing on the corner if he knew where Iben lived. 

He replied that of course he did as he was her Brazilian boyfriend! (Can't, for the life o f me, remember his name!) She had told us about him. He is a journalist who works for the Brazilian government reporting on health issues. He has a son and a French ex-wife in Toulouse but not quite sure how he and Iben met in Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Extremely friendly, he immediately invited us upstairs to see the apartment. Quite a large place, on three levels, culminating in a decently sized, covered rooftop deck/patio. Place looked like a hurricane or twister had been through so it must have been quite a party. Nonetheless, fun to see how and where locals, or at least some of them, live.


Waving goodbye, we made for our car and following Iben's directions we were soon parked outside Domaine de la Cote de L'Ange. As soon as three other tasters had made their purchases Corinne conducted our tasting. Really liked their white blend but was even more infatuated with the red from lunch. Funnily enough, there is a different label for the wine which is exported to the US, showing 14.5% as the alcohol level. I knew our bottle had been 15% but couldn't quite figure out why one we tasted, same year, showed lower level. To fool the taxman! Anyway, it was simply a delight to find such a tiny operation especially when we had no idea of where to even start out tasting experience. Bought two whites, for Rosemary, to thank her for stay, and four of the lunch reds and, as a treat, a Mourvèdre, their most expensive wine, weighing in at €66!

Back to the toll highway and left Châteauneuf-du-Pape behind at just before 5:00 pm. Must say that I have found the speed limits to be intoxicating, (and I'm not a high speed thrill seeker by any means), so I zoomed along, often topping 140 km/h as we made our way back towards Valance. This being the case we were back in Chabeuil not much after 6:00 pm. Unloaded our wine and then headed straight for the kitchen to start dinner preparations. Cora Lee, with Andre's help, readied the Guinée volailles, while I chopped oniones and garlic. That task accomplished I prepared the potatoes and when they were ready to be put on to boil, I went back downstairs to finish my last minute packing.

When I was almost fully packed, Andre came downstairs and I helped him with my bike.  I had given the chain one last cleaning/oiling after my ride on Sunday. Earlier that day Andre had put two hooks into the ceiling of the large storage/workshop area and we suspended my Navigator above a workbench. This will keep bike out of the way as well as not having it rest on the tires. Hope to return to Europe next year but one never knows about the best laid plans Of Mice and Men! This accomplished, I had a quick shower and then rejoined gang upstairs. We enjoyed a truly scrumptious Thanksgiving dinner, above mentioned Guinée volailles, done poifectly, tender and succulent and ever so tasty, Butternut squash from Andre's garden, tomatoe/basil, (again, all from Andre's garden), and fresh Mozzarella salad.Two bottles of the Domaine de la Cote de L'Ange for the red drinkers, more of their white for Rosemarie!


Dessert was an agonizingly delicious array of delectable cheeses and grapes, both red and white, from the vines twining up the front balcony of the three story house and the summer kitchen walls. Life at Le Colombier, the name of the former, grand farmhouse, is pretty damn good, let me tell you, Dear Reader! More malt to make everything blend in and then it was time for bed. During our visit in 2010, apparently I'd used too, too much dish detergent so I'd been banned from washing up. Consequently, I only had to worry about brushing and flossing so once I'd set alarm for 6:00 am I put my head on the pillow and was nodding off when Cora Lee finally turned off her bedside lamp.

Ciao Patrizio--Hope all's well with you (and Cora Lee) wherever you happens to be. I is just fine here in "The Naramata" but still recovering from all those time zone changes across the Pacific. I think I am somewhere in Hawaii now! And, I'm missing my Petey especially since there is vineyard stuff to take care of! We had a wonderful trip and will regale you with details when next we see you or anon, whichever comes first. I just wanted to catch up with you with some info about Jocelyn and Jim as you asked about them in one of your emails. (Loved the one about Jack Foster BTW. I remember him fondly and with some amusement as he thought he had a crush on me at one point ...)

According to ABP and Debby and Peter Simmons, Jocelyn and Jim are back in Vancouver and still sorting themselves out with respect to getting settled in their old Vancouver house. It did not take too well, apparently, to being filled with renters for so long. Can't say that I'm surprised. Cheers for now. Love to you both. "LL"

Hi Patrice,

I’m thrilled that you are having / have had such a wonderful time. What a great experience and wonderful memories, again sorry we weren’t able to join you but perhaps we can revisit together at some point and retrace and break new ground. 

We have a had a really nice relaxing thanksgiving up at the cabin. very glad to be here as we haven’t been up in 4 weeks due to school and work etc. . I can’t remember when you said you were coming home but I think it’s soon so we will look forward to catching up in person. have a safe trip back! xo Al and fam.