For me, I woke up early and we all drove back to our Rose estate where we visited until about noon. Then it was off to Chateauneuf de Pape to Château de la Gardine. Upon our arrival at this iconic estate, we had a quick meeting and then they took us all downstairs and outside to 20 waiting ATV’s. This was a surprise and we all jumped on our four wheelers and headed out for a tour into the vineyards and surrounding area. We also drove to the ruins of the old castle that was the Pope’s summer villa. The Pope (a bunch of them) used Avignon as a summer and winter retreat. Once back at the estate, with my poor french that is coming back to me, I went down to the cellar with Patrick, the father, to taste a bunch of barrel samples. This is wine not yet in bottles but still in the barrel. Then it was a over the top dinner with a French chef that is a friend of the family at the estate. The food was amazing, pictures below. They continued to break out old vintages of wine dating all the way back to 1952! Finally at 11pm we headed out into town to our hotel in the heart of Avignon. This is a walled city that is the Capital of the Cotes du Rhone. The Rhone river runs right through the city.
This morning we head back to Marseille for a quick 90 minute flight to Venice. We’ll then get picked up by two vans and head to our estate in Verona before heading up to Slovenia. Once there we’ll be with Aleks Simcic, my friend and winemaker buddy. That’s it, 8:15 am here now which is 12:15am back home. Hope all’s well, take care and God Bless. Think I’ll go outside to splash some holy water on my face for good luck!