The second segment of our trip to France (click here of the first week of the trip), a Rhone River
cruise, commenced with check-in at the SS Catherine, a Uni-World river cruise
ship. We had booked the trip through Food & Wine Trails, to join a group organized
by Dragonette Cellars. Among those in our wine group was another wine blogger,
Randy Smith, who writes TheWineWrite.com. Check him out. Great guy, and
interesting interviews with winemakers.
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| Appetizers |
Check-in was simple and stress free. We were taken to our
room, and waiting there was a welcome note from the Dragonette’s along with a
bottle of their 2018 Happy Canyon Sauvignon Blanc. This bottle would come into
play later in our trip, as we never opened the bottle (what’s a sommelier to do
when on vacation without a corkscrew).
After dinner, we returned to our room to find a bottle of
Champagne on the nightstand, and a note from the Dragonettes and the crew,
congratulating us on our 35th wedding anniversary.
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| Les Arenes, Arles |
Overnight, we travelled from Avignon south to Tarascon. At
8:45am we met on the dock and divided up into buses, and headed to Arles. This
was our first experience with the Mistral winds. They were blowing pretty good.
It was a short drive, and we walked into the ancient city. We heard about the
connection with Van Gogh, as well as the Roman Ruins. As we walked up the
streets, we first came to Les Arenes (the Roman Amphitheater), then walked up
around the corner to the Theatre Antique. Both were still in use, and had been
set up for Bastille Day celebrations.
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| Cafe at Night - as it is |
Next walked to Espace Van-Gogh, a sixteenth century
hospital. It's major claim to fame is that it was where Van Gogh was committed
after the infamous episode of cutting off his left ear in December 1888. As we
walked there, our guide pointed out a bakery that she claimed had the best
olive bread she had ever had. We walked back to bought some bread, and admired
the shelves of baked goods. We sat in the Place de la Republique. We rejoined
our group, then walked back through town and stopped at a sidewalk café, where
Van Gogh had painted his famous “Café at Night”, then went around the corner to
Church of St Trophime. Our ship left the dock around 6:00pm, and headed back up
to Avignon. We watched from the upper deck, as we went through a lock in the
river.
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| Palace of the Popes |
The next day, my wife chose to
join a group and visit the Pont du Gard Aqueduct, the world’s tallest Roman
bridge. I walked across the street from our ship, and joined a tour of the
walled city of Avignon. The city was conducting their yearly City Festival,
with hundreds or shows and performances being done. The city was very crowded.
We walked the cobblestone streets and made our way to the Palace of the Popes,
but I had to leave the tour early to get back to the ship for a specialized
tour of Chateauneuf-du-Pape. At 11:30, Met our Sommelier and tour guide, Kelly McAuliffe. Lunch
at La Table de Sorgues, for wine tasting and lunch. I will go into detail more
on the lunch in another blog about the foods of France, but it was an
extraordinary two-hour French lunch.
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| Domain de la Janasse |
After lunch, we headed to La Clos du Caillou. Founded in 1895. It is the one blank spot in the Chateauneuf-de-Pape
AVA map. This was then followed by a tasting at Domain de la Janasse, where we
met with Isabelle Sabon. Again, I will follow up with an entire blog post about
the trip to Chateauneuf-de-Pape, as it is a fascinating region.
We arrived back
to the ship at 6:00, and the ship left right after we boarded for the little
town of Viviers. Some may recognize this medieval town from the film
“Chocolat”.
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| Viviers |
In the morning, we met our guide, a local who was a
refugee of Vietnam. We walked down the tree lined streets, where she pointed
out the high-water marks from when the Rhone flooded the town. The town only
has about 4,000, and is a fully intact medieval town. As we learned, they are
working to restore the town, and re-invent it as a stopping point for cyclists,
ride from the Alps down the Rhone to the French Coast.
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| Ruins of the original church |
We arrived at the town square
with our first look at the rock, where the 12th century St.
Vincent’s Cathedral is built. The original church was built in 475 AD, but all
that remains are the walls atop the rock. We wound our way through the narrow
streets, eventually making it to the top of the rock, where the entrance was a
gated wall only open to the clergy. They lived above all the towns people
below. We entered the church and listened to a local organist play about five
songs on the large pipe organ. We were also told about the missing tapestries
in the church, Apparently, they were stolen, and all but one was recovered.
Three were still out for restoration and cleaning. We walked out to the site of
the original church (the top of the rock) that overlooked the city. In the
distance you could follow the Rhone river upstream, with views of the nuclear
power plants in the distance.
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| Tree-lined streets |
As we worked our way back down
into town, our guide took us to her house, and invited us in. Her house was
actually two houses put together as one. Her husband was there, and they
allowed us to wander throughout the house, as they offered us cheese, and wine.
At the end of the tour we watched
both the locals and some shipmates play Pétanque. It is basically a French
version of Bocce Ball. Instead of rolling the balls (like in Bocce) the balls
are tossed in a backhanded motion, and the balls are made of steel, and
slightly smaller than bocce balls. Other than that, the rules seem similar.
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| Dragonette Seminar |
We were back on board the ship by
about 12:30, and left dock at 1:00. Back on ship we had a tasting and seminar
on Dragonette Cellars wines, and vineyard locations, put on by John Dragonette.
Four wines were tasted, 2017 Sta. Rita Hills Chardonnay, 2015 Sta. Rita Hills
Pinot Noir, 2012 John Sebastiano Grenache, and 2014 John Sebastiano Syrah.
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| Cornas |
As the ship moved up river, we
transitioned from the Southern Rhone wine region to the Northern Rhone Region
passing the small hillside vineyards of St. Peray located at the top of a hill.
All terraced with a western exposure. Further up river, the larger terraced,
hillside slopes of Cornas came into view.
We arrived at Tain L’Hermitage
around 9:00pm, with our first views of the famous hill of Hermitage and the St.
Joseph Vineyards. There were a lot of white swans on the river. The rivers are
pretty dirty, and most people don’t go in. Also, the current is pretty
treacherous.
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| St Joseph Vineyards as we arrived in Tain L'Hermitage |
Check out the second part of our Rhone River Cruise, the Northern Rhone and Soane, by following this link.
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