Lew, Pat, Kristin & Jean-Marc
Pat reads “French Word-A-Day,” a delightful and informative blog produced by Kristin Espinasse, who with her husband Jean-Marc, operates Domaine Rouge-Bleu near the tiny town of Sainte-Cécile-les-Vignes in Provence. We took advantage of an open invitation on Kristin’s blog to stop in for a visit.
http://www.french-word-a-day.typepad.com/
http://www.rouge-bleu.com/
Visiting on the same day was a couple from Copenhagen, who also met Kristin and Jean-Marc via her blog. We were all treated to a tasting of three wines, a delicate rose, a light red, and a fuller bodied red. All were excellent. My only problem was the instruction from Jean-Marc to pour out what I didn’t drink. I think it’s sacrilege to pour really good wine (or any wine for that matter) onto the ground, but Jean-Marc said, “It comes from the ground, so let it go back.” By the way, the only reason I didn’t finish each glass was because I was anticipating a two hour drive to our home exchange near Aix.
tasting at Domaine Rouge-Bleu
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But Jean-Marc saved the best for last, leading us into his wine cellar for a very private tasting of a premier wine he will bottle for distribution in 2011. The new wine will be named Cuvée Lunatique.
Carefully removing the wine from the keg where it is patiently aging, he offered us each a little taste. It is already quite magnificent!
Jean-Marc is planning to have each bottle engraved with a moon on its shoulder, and also use raised labels and wooden cases, so the packaging will rise to the quality of the wine. This will be a limited production. We’re planning to watch the Rogue-Bleu web site so we can make a purchase as soon as it becomes available.
advance taste of a special 2011 red
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Although we would like to have seen the sunset across the beautiful vineyard, we reluctantly said good-by to Kristin, Jean-Marc and the dogs, and headed home.
Smokey and Braise
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TRAVEL with pat and lew 