Affichage des articles dont le libellé est Drôme provençal. Afficher tous les articles
Affichage des articles dont le libellé est Drôme provençal. Afficher tous les articles

jeudi 25 mars 2010

RED WINE


After more than twenty years passed in France I’m still a pretty bad “Frenchwoman”: I don’t much care for wine. At least I don’t know a lot about it and I have a pretty “bad” taste in wine, I mainly drink rosé wine – and champagne, of course.


Last Saturday I found a red wine that suited my taste buds. It is light, fruity and “womanly”, a good wine for summer evenings, to be drunk chilled as a rosé. It might not suite a proper wine lover but I liked it a lot. I found this treasure at the Domaine de La Brillane, near Aix-en-Provence. This vineyard was bought by a British gentleman who made his first career in the City before becoming a French vigneron in 2000.


They produce four different wines of which the lightest and my favorite is Le B - Cuvée de Printemps. Those who like richer red wines find them as well. And the best of it is that they are produced organically. They don’t produce a lot, so you can find the wines at their cave in Coutheron, near Aix or in some restaurants and wine merchants in some English speaking countries.


I had the chance to tour the Domaine last Saturday as a kick off of a lovely day spent among some lovely ladies, all Finnish bloggers living in the Southern France. After a copious picnic at the Domaine we headed to town and strolled in the streets of Aix. I get allways nostalgic when in Aix since it is a town I love and know well since I have lived in it or near it for twenty years.

Unfortunately I forgot my camera in my “weekend cottage”, so the photos hear come from the web pages of the Domaine de La Brillane. And they do a bed and breakfast, too. To wake up in this scenery!

On the other hand I didn’t forget the camera two weeks ago. For once we spent the weekend in my current home town and we had a marvelous weather. Since I’m feeling lazy I won’t put the photos here but you can see them here and here. I realize you might not understand the Finnish texts but there isn’t much to be said about these pretty, little towns. Vaison-la-Romaine has both Roman and Medieval heritage and a very famous Roman bridge over the Ouvèze. Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux doesn’t have three castles, not even one, but it has a pretty little Medieval and Renaissance old town. Suze-la-Rousse has a medieval castle with a spectacular Renaissance court yard. The castle houses a Wine university, after all we are totally surrounded by vineyards.

jeudi 26 mars 2009

BUIS-LES-BARONNIES

Le week-end dernier on est parti revoir Buis-les-Baronnies. C’était un dimanche après-midi charmant et ensoleillé et la ville était … vide. Jolie mais vide. Les magasins, les bars, l’office de tourisme – fermés. Nous avions la ville presque entièrement pour nous. Mais je suis sûre que dès le début de la saison touristique la ville aura un autre aspect.
Last week end we visited again Buis-les-Baronnies to have another look on this charming little town. It was a beautiful sunny sunday afternoon and we found the town … empty. Pretty but empty. Shops, bars, tourist bureau, closed. Only a couple of cafés were open. And not many strollers in sight. We had the town to ourselves. But I’m sure it will be different when the real tourist season starts.

Ce doit être une ville sympa pour prendre des vacances. Tout autour il y a des montagnes et déjà sur les routes on a vu des randonneurs bien équippés et déterminés à conquerir les sentiers environants.
It seems a nice place for holidays. All around there are mountains to climb and we saw allready some well equiped walkers on the road heading for the mountains.

La Place des Arcades qui abrite des magasins mignons sous ses arches. C’est une particularité dans la région, il y en a une aussi à Nyons.

The Place des Arcades, a market place with arched hallways hiding shops around it, seems to be typical of the region. There is one in Nyons also.
Ceci m’a fait sourire : ces platanes sont un don de Napoleon I. pour fêter la naissance de son fils. Pourquoi à Buis, est-ce qu’il y en a d’autres villes avec de tels cadeaux ?
This made me smile : these trees were given by emperor Napoleon I. to the town to celebrate the birth of his son, the king of Rome. Why here, are there other town with similar gifts ?