Scraping to get by in the Rhone

As I write this, in Aosta Italy, I look out on the clouds rolling over the top of Mt. Blanc (through which we drove a few hours ago, returning to Italy from France). It has been a monster snow season in the Alps--the snow still reaches pretty far down towards our valley.

Yesterday we were driving (a long way) from Carcassone, France to Belleville, north of Lyons, for our Beaujolais tasting today. On the trip I wanted to take a break and visit Gigondas, which is east of Orange and, after Chateauneuf-du-Pape, one of the best-regarded Rhone makers. (Rhones use up to 15 grapes, but most are mostly Syrah, Grenache, and Mourvedre--for me, a holy trinity of wine blends second only to Bordeaux's own blended varieties.)

Well, Gigondas was only open from 10-12 and we started as early as we could (after 8:15am breakfast at our wonderful Carcassonne B&B) and I drove the full 130kph (OK, I drove a bit faster) allowed on the AutoRoutes, and we rolled into Orange with just minutes to spare. But where was Gigondas? We had explicit directions, but, inside Orange, there were no signs on the roads to show how to get out of town headed towards Gigondas. Guess they don't get many visitors. We never did find the obscure city street that became the lesser highway we needed. At least we found other chateau with "degustation" (tasting), but they were all closed due to it being Sunday and the national elections.

Now, to the scrapping bit: We headed north to Mornas, where we stopped to hike up to a wonderful 11th Century fortress that sits on a tall, sheer rocky cliff and commands the entire Rhone Valley for many miles. On the way up we found a bar and I asked for a 250ml carafe of a local wine. On tasting it, it was excellent! Only 3E for a third of a bottle of wine; we poured most of it into an empty iced tea bottle and had it later with a picnic lunch. Lovely, lovely, Syrah blend. Often a place's house wine is a fantastic quality/price bargain.

Photos: 1. Parlaying a Rhone wine from a bar in Mornas, on Sunday, election day, when all the wineries were closed. We found Mornas on the drive up to Lyons.

 2. A typical northern Rhone vineyard: Note there are no trellises!

 3. Carcassone, arguably the best-preserved medieval walls and towers anywhere, though it is pretty commercial.

 4. Jane, and the view from the fortress at Mornas. Worth the climb!
5. The fortress, dating from the 11th Century.