The Rondonnee

Last weekend while folks back home enjoyed beach-side barbeques, post hurricane recovery projects, or last minute school shopping, my family enjoyed a lovely annual tradition here called "Vignes, Vins & Randos" (Vines, wine and walks). Throughout the Loire Valley there are over fourteen 4-5 mile long treks through the vineyards for enjoying the view, sampling wines and learning from the wine-makers themselves about the growing, harvesting and wine-making processes. YES! That means I FINALLY got to do some wine-tasting!!! Which of course, only proved to show me what I've been missing and now means I want to stop at every vineyard I see, which would be impossible because we would never get to any of our destinations if I made us do that. Or we would be stopped for DWI, one or the other.

We are fortunate enough to live in one of the villages that offers these walks, so without hesitation we laced up our walking shoes and hit the vineyards. When we arrived at the meeting point we were somewhat shocked at the magnitude of people. Tour groups of about 50 people each appeared to be leaving every 10-15 minutes or so. Surprisingly, we quickly registered (it cost 5-euro for David and I, the kids were free) whereupon we received a lovely canvas tote with the map and information on participating vignerons (winemakers) and these lovely wine-glasses on a string which David and I are modeling in the photos below.



Incidentally, I've been trying to come up with something as catchy as "soap on a rope" for these lovely necklaces, but I'm stumped. Maybe I should offer a prize for the person who comes up with the best name for this fashionable accessory??

I wish I could tell you what the tour guide told us about, but as it was all in French and he wasn't looking directly at me, nor was he speaking "tres doucement" (very slowly), so I didn't catch much of it.


But we sure did catch the view. The weather was very cloudy and threatening rain the whole time. But it was still so beautiful.





This next photo was taken in the oldest part of Cravant (the village we live in). It is a washing well where the women (presumably) would gather to do the laundry. The water has a slow current to it because it flows in from the left and empties out on the right - the pipe leading out on the right was small enough to create a good enough flow just past it for I good rinse-cycle, I would think. I just loved contemplating the hundreds of years worth of conversations that have taken place under these roofs. If it is as old as the church across the street from it (pictures of that will be in a later post), this washing center was in use starting in the 1500's. Doesn't that just get your imagination going? It should!

People were picking the grapes as we walked along. At first we were worried they were doing something wrong. But then we saw some "drops" - grapes which had already fallen to the ground - and assumed these wouldn't be harvested, so we helped ourselves. This is just one those moments when words completely fail to capture a sensation so exquisite it becomes completely understandable why the Greeks and Romans and other cultures have had gods ruling over grapes and wine. "Yum" doesn't even come close. An explosion of over-poweringly fresh sweetness with an undercurrent of tart. It was pure beauty.

Until I bit into the seed.

Bitterness flowed out of that little itty-bitty bugger faster than I could spit. Now I understand why wine doesn't just taste like juice. Wow. A valuable lesson learned, I guess. From now on I will eat french grapes very carefully so I can either spit out the seeds or swallow them whole. It keeps the experience far more pleasant that way.



One of our stops was for grilled chicken wings paired with a lovely red wine. We came from up over the hill and could smell the chicken before we ever could even see the place. It was heaven! As we descended a sharp corner the hillside opened up and revealed a small row of "houses" in the side of the slope. These are "troglodytiques" - or "cave-dwellings" - people literally still live in caves in this area, but I think they might do it for the benefits of the tourists because this place only had a kitchen and virtually no furniture. I desperately wanted to chat with the two older men cooking in the cave, but it was blazing hot and pretty crowded in there. Not to mention that with my french being remedial at best, I couldn't get a word in edge-wise.

The next stop revealed itself ahead of time by way of waves of music flowing through the vineyards. As we emerged from them a striking panorama was revealed, which, aside from the incredible view, included some more red wines, some fantastic goat cheese (well, Vivi and I loved it anyway), and these musicians, who reminded me so much of the film "Chocolat" I started craving some hot cocoa. Here's a video clip. I think the musicians were simply a hoot! Don't miss out on noticing that we are essentially in the middle of nowhere (but there's still cell service - UNLIKE the middle of nowhere back home):



The final leg of the journey was probably my favorite part of the walking tour:

After cutting through the rows of vines and a brief jaunt through the forest you see in the distance, we returned to our starting point where we were greeted by a town fair of sorts with food, dancing, and live music. It began to rain and we were completely exhausted, so instead of kicking up our heals, as I was inwardly dying to do, we headed home and collapsed instead.