John reached the proprieters of Chateau Les Palais, producer of the Corbieres we had with our meal last night. He made an appointment to visit their winery. We drove southeast from Carcassonne to the Corbieres region.We found the chateau and were welcomed into their wine cellar. The cellar is a 12th century vaulted chapel from a priory to the Holy Virgin and Saint Randolin. Anne and Xavier de Volentat own the chateau. The winery has been in their family for over 200 years. The family from Bas-Languedoc can trace ancestors back to Roman times.
Anne explains the wines they produce: reds, a white and a rose. We are most interested in the red wines, but taste their white. We taste two reds: Cuvee Tradition is the wine we had last night. It is still excellent and is reasonably priced at 6 euros a bottle. The Cuvee Randolin was more expensive at 12 euros, but was my favorite.The two reds were blended from a slightly different mix of Carignan, Grenache and Syrah grapes with a higher concentration of Syrah in the more expensive wine. The more expensive wine came from older vines; the more expensive one is aged in oak for 12 months prior to bottling. The less expensive wine is good for 5 to 8 years; the more expensive one 10 years. Only 20-40,000 bottles of Randolin are produced each year. 150-180,000 bottles of Tradition are produced annually. I bought two bottles of Randolin - one for a picnic - one to take home. Janet and John bought the Tradition they came for.
Chateau Saint Esteve also produces Corbieres and has a fine reputation. Sylvie and Eric Latham have been the proprietors of the chateau since 1984.They grow Syrah, Black Grenache, Carignan, Mourvèdre and Cinsault varieties in the clay and limestone soils. Picking is done mainly by hand, especially for the finest cuvées. Two main methods of carbonic maceration are used: whole-berry harvest with bunches intact and classic with grapes destemmed. Each grape variety is vinified separately to ensure that a variety's individual characteristics are preserved throughout the maturing process.
The winery was built 150 years ago. It is air conditioned and houses a series of small vats for individual treatment of different vineyards.The wines are matured in the vats for two years. The tanks facilitate selection of varieties for blended cuvées, some of which will be aged in oak.
Sylvie opens wines for us to taste, and John buys some of the excellent wine.Sadly Sylvie has a migraine headache, so we do not stay long.
The views of the Montagne Noire from their vinyards are stunning. We pause before leaving to take in the view and take a few pictures to remember.
We drive to Homps for lunch on the amazing Canal Midi. The Canal Midi opened in 1681, connecting the Mediterranean Ocean with the Atlantic Ocean via the Garonne Estuary near Bordeaux. The canal is 150 miles long. A series of locks allows ships to travel either way through the canal, saving time and protecting ships from the Barbary Coast pirates during the 17th and 18th centuries.La Peniche is open for lunch and has a lovely outdoor court. I order Cassoulet.
We return to Carcassonne through the Minervois wine region.
We decide that dinner should be in Castelnaudary, home of the Cassoulet.
We drive on the auto route to Castelnaudary. Signs announcing the city show pictures of the famous cassoulet dish. We pass a canning factory where cassoulet is canned for supermarket sales and shipping overseas.
We stop at a market in town to buy the dry beans we will need to recreate this dish from scratch when we get home. We have promised our friends a French dinner and are sure that cans would not be acceptable. We get pointers from the butcher about the meats we should use and preparation techniques.
We know that we are in the right place, since Cassoulet was invented here.
We have made reservations at a beautiful restaurant. This plaque appears on the door to certify that their cassoulet is excellent. We are seated and look at the menu.However, we look at one another - we are all so full of beans, duck and sausage we can't eat one more portion - even if it is the very best.
No one orders Cassoulet.
After a rather light dinner. We drive back to Carcassonne.
There is a beautiful view of the city lighted up on the horizon as we approach. We get out to take a picture, but the contrast of light and dark is too great for my camera, and the photograph won't work. Here is a photo from Wikipedia of what we saw (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cite_carca_nuit.jpg).
Good night and sweet dreams
Janet and Rozanne
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