We had another absolute rip snorter of a tour to Southern France for the Tour Du Vin 2013. The club hosted 16 members for a 3 day tour of the Languedoc.
The touring party flew in to Marseille on Thursday morning, where we picked up our Citroen 2 CVs which were our transport for the tour. These were great fun and went down a storm with the french as we were getting beeped and photos taken all of the time.
Day 1 concentrated on wines closer to Marseille. After a quick lunch we assembled at Domaine de Trevallon – which undoubtedly has some of the finest wines in the Languedoc.
After a quick tour of the vineyard and a tasting in the cellar, we head off to Costieres de Nimes for a tasting at Chateau de Nages. You will recognise the name of Chateau de Nages as we had the Butinage red and white from this vineyard in our April taster case, as well as the Nostre Pais, which is from the same vineyard.
We stayed in the centre of Nimes at Hotel Jardin Secrets – one of the most impressive and querky hotels I have ever stayed in. Many tourists enjoyed a dip in the pool before dinner.
On Friday we had a relatively relaxed start after breakfast and head to the other side of Montpellier to visit Chateau L’Engarran. Again, we have stocked their wines before, so it was nice to return to see them. We had a very interesting tour to understand the history of the chateau and family history. (we also managed to get a good snap of the cars outside the front of the family home.)
We then head south towards the coast and were in the region of Frontignan where we visited Domaine Du Mas Rouge, where they have an interesting selection of sparkling, red, white and sweet wine. These are definetely wines we are going to look to have on our list in the future.
In the true Waud Wine Club style, we saved the best until last. A tasting at Mas de Daumas Gassac in Aniane. We had an extensive tour of their vineyard and wine making facilities – then a tasting of their Sparkling Rose, 2011 Mas de Daumas Gassac White, 2011 Mas de Daumas Gassac red and finally their Mas de Daumas Gassac Red 2006. Head wine maker and Managing Director Samuel Guibert dropped in to say hello and talk us through the wines.
Our final evening was spent back in the idealic town of Nimes as we had a gourmet meal next to the amphitheatre in the background.
Another great wine club tour – and we look forward to start preparations for 2014 where we are most likely to tour to Burgandy.
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