Provence Days 3 and 4: Chateau Neuf de Pape and Vergeze

I didn't mention this in the previous post, but once we finally sat down with Melanie in the Italian cafe, I actually got a phone call from another woman, Annette, offering us a place to stay for the night. Amidst the chaos, I told her we that we had found a place for the night, but what about tomorrow? She said she would send us her information and we could call her if we'd like. We decided to call her the next day, but first it was finally time to taste some excellent French wine! Chateau Neuf de Pape was only about a 45 minute drive from Nimes, so after a morning of walking around the small town, we headed for the hills once again.

Obviously, neither one of us had ever visited a vineyard in France to taste wine. I had been to one in Rhode Island, and that is my only experience at a vineyard. We are, however, well practiced in "enjoying" formidable quantities in the comforts of our homes and favorite restaurants, and do appreciate wine enough to justify stepping foot into a vineyard. We found a nice vineyard (one of hundreds) and walked in... to a near empty room, with only one woman who worked there occupying it. After exchanging "Bonjours" Andy asked if she spoke English. "Non, je parle Francais" she said quite matter-of-factly as she shook her head. We struggled for a few minutes attempting to speak less than adequate French with a woman who spoke no English. After a few awkward moments, we ended up with two pours of red wine, and a woman staring kindly but intently at us over a wooden counter. We mumble a few compliments about the wine in french ("mmm... tres bon...."), and skim through our French phrasebook for a feeble attempt at small talk.

Although the wine was delicious, the experience was painfully awkward. We attempted to pay for our tasting and move on, as we couldn't afford to pay the 50 euro bottles, but the woman insisted that the tastes were free. We left feeling confused and lost. We supposed that all of the vineyards would be a similar experience, and we wanted something a little bit more... relaxing. We drove back to the town center, where there was a multitude of wine shops also giving tastings. One woman who we spoke with was half French and half American. She was able to break down the whole wine tasting experience for us. She explained that the vineyards give all of the shops free samples, in hopes that someone will taste them and then purchase several bottles. They do the same thing at the vineyards themselves. They know that for every tasting bottle that they open, they will sell a certain number of bottles in return. They always hope to make a sale, but it isn't considered offensive not to purchase. We visited several other shops for tastings (we were still too embarrassed to go to another vineyard) and at the last one, we purchased a bottle to share with our host that night.

The plan for meeting up with Annette was to drive to the train station in Vergeze, and call her when we were there. I will summarize that horrible driving experience: We get on the wrong highway. We get on the correct highway... but in the wrong direction. Finally we end up on the correct highway in the correct direction. Annette sends us a text saying not to eat, as she is making dinner. Once in Vergeze, we cannot find the train station, even after many back and forth phone calls with Annette, and to top it off our gas tank is on empty. We arrive over an hour later than planned, but at least we have a nice bottle of French wine in hand!

Despite our tardiness, we are greeted warmly by Annette and Francis, a good friend of hers who is staying with her. Annette is a German woman from Berlin who moved to the south of France in 1990, the year after the wall fell. For the most part, she spoke English very well, but we did occaisonally have some trouble. I wanted to ask her more about why she left exactly, but I wasn't able to procure many details. The most I could get was that she came "for the sun and the sea". Francis, on the other hand, spoke zero English, so it was always an interesting and fun experience to be in a room alone with him trying to have a conversation. It was a lot of pointing, thumbs up, and charades. Over dinner (pizza for an entree, and a pasta alfredo with baguette for the main course) and wine (we really won Francis over with the Chateau Neuf de Pape, it was great, he was so impressed), we chatted and made ourselves comfortable. Of course there was also a cheese course before the meal was through, and several pours of wine. Eventually conversation drifted to French cuisine, and Andy's time cooking and my time as a serever at Pot Au Feu arose. We rattled off the various traditional French dishes on the menu, much to their delight. Francis lit up and expressed his sincere love for the dish Pot Au Feu, while Annette set her mind upon Beef Bourgignone. Over the next half hour or so Annette and Francis lightheartedly quibbled over wich would be a better dish to prepare for us, should we stay for another night. With the promise of Annettes homemade Beef Bourgignone and Francis' tarte tatin for dessert the next day, we opted to stay one more night.

I should also mention the smoking, or more specifically, the chain smoking. Of course we had both heard that the French smoke much more profusley than Americans, but I was not quite prepared for this. Annette was very kind and asked us if we minded her smoking inside, as she knew that Americans didn't smoke like the French. Clearly we aren't used to indoor smoking, but we weren't about to ask the woman putting us up and cooking for us for the following two nights to change her habits, so we told her to go ahead. I was shocked by the quantities they smoked. They both had several before pizza, two before dinner, a few between the pasta and cheese courses, and a few before going to bed. They must have each been nearing an entire pack each in the three hours that we shared with them that first night.

Although we noted the beauty of her house when we arrived, the next morning with the light of day, it was far more apparent. The house itself is a 200 year old stone chateau with vines snaking up the walls on the exterior, and old wooden crossbeams inside. The windows have shutters that actually close and the kitchen has an old stone fireplace that was in use during much of our time there. We ate figs picked fresh from the tree in her yard, one of the many different things that she grows in her sprawling garden, which also included a sizeable patch of tomato plants, eggplant, an olive tree, lavender, basil, sage, parsley, mint, and surprisingly, even a few cannibis plants. The barn attached to the home was nearly as large as the house and held a pool table, a bar, a ping pong table, several couches, beds and chairs. Everything was rustic, beautiful, and practical.

We had planned to visit a national park that day, famous for white ponies and a beautiful coast, but our plans were upheaved when we couldn't find gas. As I mentioned earlier, we were on empty from the night before. We drove to the main road, but gas stations were few and far between and the ones that we did find all seemed to be out of "sans plomb" or "unleaded". They did all have "gazole," whatever that was. Perhaps our little fiat would be happy with either? We call our rental agency to find out. Gazole is diesel, and no, the Fiat would not be happy, they explain. We ditch our plans for the National Park and head back to Annette's. Annette and Francis are both very kind and helpful, taking us to a hidden station down a sidestreet, and even offering her car if we still wanted to go to the park. We decide to relax and lay low for the day instead.

Dinner that night was amazing. Yes, I ate it. Beef Bourgignone was my favorite French food before going vegetarian and when offered it in a woman's French chateau, I couldn't turn it down. Tarte tatin is an apple tart that is baked upside down, so that when you turn it over all the sugar has carmelized on "top". It is a traditional French dessert and was wonderful as well. This night was truly one of our most vivid and special experiences to have so far on this trip. That night, we went to sleep with our bellies full and smiles on our faces.

The next day it was off to Paris!