Yesterday we took Elli to Montband to catch the train to Paris. We decided to visit Vezelay – one of those beautiful hill top villages – on the way. In fact I think it was voted the most beautiful village in France! First we checked out a small co-operative winery – Henry de Vezelay – in the village of St Pere, about 5 minutes from Vezelay. The co-op is made up of 10 different grape growers; the wine was good and the prices reasonable. Elli and Reg enjoyed tasting the local produce! A lovely little detour. Vezelay was full of little wine shops/caves, a bit on the touristy side but just gorgeous. The main street wound its way to the top of the hill where there was a huge church and a lovely lookout area. Beautiful views! Also one of those “squat” French toilets we have come across – this one was well maintained – not always the case!! Elli was our tour guide, sharing some of her local knowledge – always helpful. We dropped her off at the train station in Montbard before we continued on to Chablis.
The Chablis region is very famous for its Chardonnay, and is divided into tiny little sub regions based on soil type etc, each with its own distinct style of wine. It all gets very complicated trying to keep track of what is where. It is also expensive. We went off the beaten track and drove up to a little village called Prehy – again wonderful views over the vineyards. Reg had done some research on small caves/cellar doors in the area and had found one in this little village that sounded interesting. But there was no one at home! You probably need to ring these small places before you get there – live and learn!
On the outskirts of Prehy we came across a church completely surrounded by vines – it seemed to make some sort of statement about life, but I am not quite sure what it is. I could imagine the local people going there on a Sunday and feeling at home with the vines so close. Next to the church was quite a large winery called Domain Jean-Marc Brocard – not the little owner run winery we had come to see but we were there and they were open. The young woman who served us was very helpful and her English was good enough to compensate for our poor French – we are improving – the looks of bewilderment are getting slightly less! Anyway she had worked in McLaren Vale in South Australia a couple of years ago during vintage, so she was excited to hear we were from that area. She worked at the Tatachilla Winery and lived at Port Willunga. The wine was interesting. The company has 19 vineyards spread over the Chablis area, so they have a huge range. Each different bottle/label comes from a particular sub-region – you can’t mix them! We were told what vineyard the grapes were grown on, the type of soil and how much sun the vines got etc for each bottle we tried. For a company that produces a million bottles a year it was amazing to get such detail. We left empty handed – very expensive – but still worth the visit.
Next it was on to the actual town of Chablis. A really nice town, again full of little wine shops/caves. Quite trendy but not so upmarket that the locals can’t drive their tractor down the main street if needed – kind of gives the town a down to earth feel. We checked out ‘La Chablisienne’ to taste some wines. Very classy cave – we were looked after well and we even bought one of their cheaper Chardonnays! I got chatting to a guy from Texas – his wife works in Paris so he was filling in some time while she worked. Sounds like a good arrangement. He had been further south to see the Tour de France, but it was a flat race that day – no hills – and all the riders were bunched together in a big group. They whizzed past him in a few seconds. To drive so far for so little – he seemed a little disappointed. He had called into Chablis to taste some wine before heading back to Paris. We haven’t caught up with the Tour de France much at all, though I gather a few of you have been following it. Staying up all hours in the middle of the night if need be. Must make more of an effort – we are very slack!
We arrived home last night tired but happy. It had been very warm – over 30C – so a little taste of Aussie sunshine. House sit pets pleased to see us.
Cheers and much love
Di and Reg