adventures of an american housewife in the south of france

Hump Day: Wine Tasting in Pic Saint Loup

Remember when I told you how much we're digging wines from Pic Saint Loup?  Well, last weekend we decided to rent a car and head out there with a few friends to partake in our first French Wine Tasting Adventure! We chose 3 different vineyards based on our favorite wines and one recommendation from a friend.  We started off at Mas Gourdou which was definitely the highlight of the day (we peaked early).  We had a guided tour by the winemaker himself, Jean-Claude Therond.  Even if I didn't understand most (ok fine, all) of what he was saying, one thing was for sure:  his vineyard was beautiful.

 

my favorite!

 

view of the Pic Saint Loup mountains from the vineyard

mas gourdou

olive trees

beautiful flowers

even the weeds were pretty

remember the amazing fig i told you about? jean-claude's wife picked them straight off their tree for us

Jean-Claude entered into winemaking late in life and he, his wife and son now run the vineyard, which is full of really old vines - some exceeding 50 years old!  After he took us on a tour of the vineyard, we went into the small tasting room and tried 7 different wines.

me and stephanie wine tasting

Jean-Claude!

The Hub loved the first white we tasted, called Soleil D'Automne.  It was crisp and buttery.  Mas Gourdou only produced 1,000 bottles of this wine, so we snatched a few up.  Jean-Claude recommended serving this wine as an apertif or with fromage.  We also tasted a red, Joseph Onesime, which was the wine we had tried at a restaurant that led us to visit Mas Gourdou in the first place.  I loved learning that the name comes from Jean-Claude's father's name (Joseph) and his father-in-law's name (Onesime).  The other red that we really enjoyed was the Divin Venin (Divine Venom) which was aged in barrels for 2 years.  Jean-Claude told us to let this wine aerate in a carafe for 24 hours!!  We bought two bottles so that we could try the wine both ways and see if we could taste the difference.  Yes, we snatched up quite a few bottles from Mas Gourdou.

 

our loot. all of the Mas Gourdou labels feature a silhouette of the Pic Saint Loup mountains!

After a few hours hanging with J-C, we hiked up to a picnic spot overlooking all of Pic Saint Loup where we enjoyed a lovely lunch.

 

PSL!

our lunch spread. lots of meat, cheese, bread and olives. and wine of course.

me and the hub, overlooking PSL

After lunch, we drove to our second winery:  Mas Bruguiere.  This was not quite the same experience as touring J-C's amazing domaine, but we had a nice time playing around and trying out some wines.  My favorites were the La Grenadiere, which is mostly Syrah aged 18 months in barrel, and the Calcadiz, a 50-50 Syrah - Grenache blend that was light yet spicy.

 

Mas Bruguiere

did i mention that we brought the dogs with us?? stephanie and sauce, me and fig, and karell and luna. luna lives at mas bruguiere, but we loved her.

La Calcadiz - only bought one bottle

We finished the day at Domaine de L'Hortus, which was recommended to us by The Hub's co-worker.  This was a larger scale vineyard and it showed.  Maybe because it was the end of a hot day, or maybe because it was our 3rd winery, but I didn't take as careful of notes about these wines.  The woman working the tasting room was banging out the tastes and we were slamming 'em down.  Is that why we bought 6 bottles from here?  Doesn't matter, the wine was fantastic!  We bought a bottle of the white because The Hub was a big fan and 3 bottles of the La Bergerie because it was a really easy red wine at a great price.

 

Hortus

big time production

our loot from L'Hortus

Probably the best part about wine tasting in Pic Saint Loup is that it was only about 30 km away!  The Hub and I realized that we're actually closer to "wine country" here in Montpellier than we were in San Francisco...not too shabby.  We'll definitely be back soon.

5 Responses to “Hump Day: Wine Tasting in Pic Saint Loup”

  1. Andy says:

    “The Hub and I realized that we’re actually closer to “wine country” here in Montpellier than we were in San Francisco”

    Delightfully dangerous!

  2. Ellyn Fasel says:

    Thank you for the information!!! I really think it’s going to prove useful to a lot of people.

  3. Gab says:

    wow! If I had known you’d write about your wine adventure, I probably would have sweat the choice a bit more (pressure pressure ;p ) …then again it is my bro who lives in palo alto that found Hortus on a visit to me in my 12th c village; and mocked me for being so lame. I quote, now that your hub is here “another American can teach you about your local wines.” Nice reading you. :D gorgeous photos

  4. Gloriane says:

    Desha tju pergezoj per kete web faqe jeni te mreuullkeshem eshte shume e qelluar .Desha te bej nje pyetje:Frutat a jane ushqim qe te shtojn ne peshe apo i ndihmojne zvoglimin e peshes se une jam duke perdorur fruta po po me duket qe po shtoj peshe , po ashtu edhe per domatet thojne qe shton kalori e desha ta di nese ka mundesi 1 pergjigje te thjeshte klm

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