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Today was the last of our wine tasting experiences and was yet again a new and enlightening time. We were picked up by Alain at the crack of 9.30am and taken to our first wine maker - Clos des Cordeliers where we sunk our first tasting glass before 10am! The wine here is different again at the local appellation Saumur Champigny a very light red which would work well with both red meat and fish, which makes it a popular choice in restaurants. Sebastian the wine maker/owner was absolutely charming and we were very pleased to hear that he supplies to the Wine Society back in the UK too. Alain then took us off to a little Chateau which had been a hunting lodge dated 1655 but then a couple of turrets had been added to make it a proper chateau - apparently there are 40,000 in France. We tasted a beautiful semi- sweet dessert wine and ended up deciding that we really ought to serve this at every dinner party we had - so we brought a couple of small bottles to start our new trend. Unfortunately we might have to come back to get some more as they don't supply it in to the UK.
Our final visit was undoubtedly one of the highlights of our holiday. Eduard the wine maker and owner of Chateau La Trochoire was absolutely delightful. He was one of a kind, quiet and engaging when he showed us around his ancient cellar and explained how wine had been made in the past fermented in an open top vat- you wouldn't want to swim in it! Wine tasting with him was a privilege as he only produces 4,000 bottles and the same field, grape, everything each year. Yet we tasted three different years and they all tasted quite different. Makes you realise that taking this wine lark seriously is much more complicated than just going to Sainsburys for a bottle of Chardonnay.
So we were just writing this and we were purloined by the MG guys for a drink which then turned into an invitation to join them at Le Pot de Lapin for dinner. Great evening had with good company and banter and the food was good too. At 11pm when we decided to go back to the Chateau no cabs were available to take the 12 of us back so the chef and his staff drove us home- don't you just love France.
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