We came to France for a few reasons. One was MRB'S love of Bordeaux wines and especially St. Emillion. After Italy and we thought we had already enjoyed the best of great countryside, food and wine.When we arrived in St. Emillion we thought we had gone to heaven. What a beautiful town. MB had been here for a few hours in 1990, but to stay in the 'Hostellerie De Plaisance' hotel, was a great joy. A place where you could really enjoy beautiful countryside dotted with vineyards, and old buildings creating a wonderful atmosphere.
Our first night we had dinner at the hotel with the degustation menu, what an experience we ate everything and it was unbelievable, including the finale a mint leaf dipped in dark chocolate. Our maitre'd was a real treat and forced us to eat plenty and spend more on this meal than we spent on all our dinners so far in Europe.
The next day we started with a degustation breakfast. We then set off to explore but JB wanted to have her hair done, so MB got stuck with a wine merchant and was tasting St. Emillion wines for morning tea. His host was Ben, ( M. Benoit Gaillard of Ets Martin).
MB's new wine merchant in France.
What we learned is that there are four grades of wine in St. Emillion. First Grand Cru Classic, Grand Cru Classic, Grand Cru and lastly St. Emillion. Bordeaux left bank have there own grading (we need to come back to learn about this).
We had imported red wine from near this area last year with our friend Rob Stahl and through Rob we made contact with his friends who had the small vineyard in Capian where the wine was made . They are Herve and Suzanne Flipo.
We drove out from St. Emillion to Capian through beautiful country which was almost all vineyards. Their winery is
'Prieure St. Anne'.
Suzanne served us a beautiful afternoon tea and we tasted their latest vintage 2010. Suzanne had made cake and ice-cream using home grown produce.
Herve then showed us around his establishment, about four hectares, he is devoted to producing an outstanding red wine. They are lovely people and we had a wonderful afternoon.
That night we went to a small restaurant specializing in local produce and wine, about 90% cheaper than the night before!
Sunday we went to mass at the local cathedral they were celebrating a lot of christening's and the children did a lot of the singing. A beautiful 16th century church lots of stained glass and plenty of light.
We are off to the Loire valley city of Saumur. We have been enthralled by the extraordinary countryside of France. The people have been especially friendly and jolly, (of course MB left his heart and wallet in St.. Emillion with another investment in their beautiful wines, you can taste it later!). Viola!
JB and Mick