Dentelles de Montmirail, Gigondas and more Chateauneuf

Two families checked into the B&B yesterday while we were out. We met them at breakfast this morning- a German family and a Swiss family. We finished up and went to the market in Orange. It was a very windy day, and we didn’t get anything but David really enjoyed seeing another little piglet for sale.

After the market we drove to the mountains and the limestone spires of the Dentelles de Montmirail. They are foothills of Mont Ventoux and their name (dentelles means lace) refers to the jagged shape of their peaks. Formed by horizontal strata of Jurassic limestone being folded and forced into a nearly upright positions, the highest peak of the Dentelles is St-Amand, at 734 meters (2,400 ft).




We drove the entire length of the range- along farmland, lavender fields and vineyards before arriving in the town of Gigondas. In Gigondas we had an interesting lunch on a restaurant’s enclosed patio. We ate a little and learned that David doesn’t like pigs’ feet while listening to the wind slam into the thin walls.

After lunch, we went to the village cave and tasted a few wines. This is the tow’s cooperative cave, so they basically give you a list of 75 wines and tell you to pick whatever you want without instruction of advice. So we had a few pretty decent wines (as a warm up I guess) before heading back to Châteauneuf-du-Pape for some more wine.
We first tried to go to Clos de Caillou, but nobody was home so we found our way to Domaine de Nalys which co-brands itself with Costco’s Kirkland brand. The wine there was pretty good. If you want to pick up a bottle of Kirkland Signature Chateauneuf-du-Pape Cuvée, it is produced here at Domaine de Nalys.
We then went to visit the other Osseglio, the Domaine Raymond but he had just moved his cave and we didn’t feel that into finding it. We were however, really into discovering the cave of Domaine du Pegau in the old city of Chateauneuf. Delicious.


We went into a few more caves (actual caves!) and tasted a few more wines. My favorite place was the vinoteque.
Then it was off to the much anticipated Domaine du Vieux Télégraphe which gets its name from an old telegraph station, one situated where their domaine now stands. The station was one of Claude Chappe's optical telegraph relay towers, erected in 1792, part of a system of such stations spanning all of France.



We had some wine, took some pictures and left to go visit to Chateau of the Pope. Built in 1317 as a summer residence for Pope John XXII, it was burnt during the wars of Religion in 1562 as well as WWII. Not much of it left today, we were still excited to see the actual building depicted on so many bottles of wine we’ve enjoyed together.



We finished up our wine tour at Domaine Bosquet des Papes. There we met a group of very serious wine lovers from Denmark. All men, all very tall. We were lucky to have them translate for us as we tried a ton of really amazing wines.

Tired but very happy, we had dinner in Orange at Le Beq Fin. Its warm fireplace was a nice refuge from the cold and windy night. We ate and returned to the B&B, chatted with the German family a bit (who had made an amazing looking dinner from their purchases at the market today). Then we had some more of the strawberries and a little cheese before going to bed. Oh- and David let me drive a little bit today. Just around the parking lot and road leading away from the house, but for the record, I drove stick shift today. No stalling. Woo!