The Rhone Valley

So it’s been a while since I last wrote and I sure have a lot to say. I am currently in Reus, Spain which is a little town about an hour south of Barcelona and north of the wine region Priorat. I’m sitting in a hotel that I specifically booked because they offered free wireless internet, but it of course does not work, so I’m once again writing offline to be posted later. I guess this is about where I would be if plans had worked out the way they were supposed to, however plans haven’t meant anything the last few days and me and my travel partner have been flying by the seat of our pants since Monday. So where do I start? Let’s go back to where I last left you…

I spent a total of 3days and 4 nights in Belgium, and another 23 hours traveling there and back. On my second day there Lies took me to one of her uncle’s two restaurants. He and his other niece have taken sommelier courses and have a wine list that’s not too shabby. I got to sit down at their “Green” restaurant and taste 8 different wines, including at Muller-Thurgau from Belgium. It took me a while to decipher some of the wines and places off their list, including “Elsaz” which took me 3 days to figure out meant “Alsace” in Dutch (duh). It was a great experience though and I was really happy to share my wine passion with Lies and her boyfriend. Her boyfriend Bart doesn’t speak much English but he managed to tell me that after watching me taste the wines he now understood that it was not just my career and school choice, it was my “obsession”. Haha, I’ll take it!! Later that night we went to see the Sex and the City movie (finally) since all the movies in Belgium are in English with Dutch subtitles. So day two was fantastic. Day three I spent mostly alone which was really nice. I was supposed to meet a friend that I haven’t seen since last time I was there 6 years ago, but he never showed up and Lies was working so I spent the day planning my travels and watching Harry Potter. I also visited the local butchery, produce market and pastry shop so that I could make dinner for Lies, her brother and her boyfriend. It was a nice evening and I got some much needed rest while I was staying there.

The next morning I was ready to travel to Lyon, France to meet up with the group and travel to the Rhone Valley. This trip was a little rough since it was 11 hours long and when I transferred trains in Metz no one spoke English, so for the first 2 hours I wasn’t even sure I was on the right train. I arrived to Lyon around 10:45pm and had a nice dinner with Ryan since we had no idea where the other pair of our travel buddies were. It was about this time that I started to get a little frustrated with some of the minor bumps we seemed to keep running into; little did I know those bumps would only get bigger. For the most part I have been leaving out those details and telling all you people at home only the good stuff. But I’ve gotta be honest and say I have wanted to rip my hair out several times on this trip. I can’t believe how difficult, exhausting and completely lacking control traveling can be. Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, I wont hold back sharing some of the other escapades I have endured, if for no other reason than to let someone else find amusement in them the way I’m sure I eventually will.

Thursday July 24: Wake up, grab a croissant, take the metro to the train, pick up the rental car, then pick up our travel buddies and hit the road to the Rhone. Sounds simple enough right? Let’s just say right now, it is ALWAYS worth investing in GPS in a rental car, unless you want to absolutely kill the person driving for making you drive around in circles for hours before asking for directions, which inevitably wont make sense either. So we eventually found our meeting spot, picked up our travel companions and hit the road, just a little later than planned. We also didn’t realize that while we may all fit in a tiny little Pugeot, all of our crap might not. Needless to say it was hilarious seeing Mike and Leilani in the backseat with all the bags piled on top of their laps; we looked like 4 huge people stuffed in a tiny clown car. On our way down the highway, we heard the song “American Boy” a few times, and it quickly became our theme song for the trip. I'm sure that song will bring a smile to my face for many years to come. What was even weirder was listening to such a silly American pop song while driving through the Northern Rhone region, passing famous vignerons I have only read about or seen bottles of that I can’t afford. Still can’t believe some of the things I’ve seen on this trip, just amazing.

Our first stop was Yves Gangloff in Condrieu. Finding this place was a little difficult because it is at the end of a tiny little road between buildings that you don’t even think a car can fit through. But when we arrived we were silenced by how beautiful it was. Yves and his wife Mathilde own the property that you can see in the pictures. The winery is at the base of three intersecting hills and next to a creek that runs through the middle. Their house is just about the winery and the whole property is covered with vines, flowers and palm trees. It was their little oasis. The winery was small and very personal; we got to sample several barrels and a couple bottles. Yves sells out of his wine every year, so it was a treat to try all the amazing wines that we probably won’t ever get to see in stores. The best parts of the visit were the personal details we learned about Yves and his wines. First, all of his labels were painted by his brother, which are mostly female silhouettes that were very elegant and engaging. Second was learning that Yves is a huge music fan and plays the guitar. All of his stainless steel tanks are named different songs such as “Voodoo Child”. He also has a Fender Stratacaster that was made just for him with his label on the bottom and the plate on the front is made from one of his stainless steel tanks. My brother would go nuts to see this guitar; great combination of music, art and wine. Then there was the winery dog “Zen”. He’s the scruffy, super friendly, golden haired dog in the pictures. Lastly, (I’m sure I’m forgetting something) there was his wife who makes wine soaps. She took notes all year about the wines and then worked with the “nose guy” for a perfume company to develop the scents: Viognier, Syrah, and an exfoliate made from grape seeds. These were our gifts since he had no wine to sell us, and we have smelled like wine since.

As we were finishing up at Gangloff, we were met by Elise Gaillard and her friend from Bolivia. Elise worked a harvest in Califonia with Qupe winery and lived with the Carroll family who are the organizers of Hospice du Rhone. Vicki Carroll was an angel helping us plan our Rhone visit, and put us in touch with Elise and her family for a place to stay in N. Rhone. The six of us grabbed lunch in the village and then Elise took us on a tour of some of the vineyards. We drove up the very steep roads to the tops of the vineyards overlooking the Rhone River. It was beautiful and refreshing at the top. The vineyards were also really interesting to see up close; they were planted on slopes like others we had seen but they were planted on a slant with the slope of the hill instead of on cut terraces. Very neat looking but very hard to work with (that’s why I'm on the Business side of wine).

After the vineyards we headed to Malleval which means “Bad Valley”. The village is at the bottom of a very steep crevice and has a river running right through it. It is a very old village that is almost completely cobblestone. Our apartment was a great surprise though: newly remodeled with a full kitchen and plenty of space to spread out. We had picked up a few things at the grocery store so we made a great meal to enjoy between the four of us. It felt so good to cook for everyone again! It seems like every time I get to cook I get right in my element and it makes me so happy. Cooking for the group in Belgium was nice but I couldn’t find garlic at any of the stores! So in France I went to town and everything was covered in garlic and really yummy olive oil that we had picked up in Italy. My fingers have to smell like garlic, and then I feel right at home. It was a good night to relax and catch up with the other three, especially because Mike was leaving to go home the next day, which is something I have been dreading for weeks.

The next morning we went to the Gaillard’s family winery up the hill from Malleval. They are a fairly large producer with 27 different wines, and they were one of the first in the area so they have a well established relationship with many of the top producers in the area. We got to try several of the wines from Cote Rotie, Banyuls and Condrieu. Almost too many wines for the morning, but not quite (we are professionals J).

Then came the sad part: piling into the car to take Mike to the train station. I have talked before about how I have not wanted to say goodbye to any of my friends, and until that day I still had my three best friends with me. It was really hard for me to say goodbye because I know I am not going back to SLO and I don’t know how much I will see him after this trip. Mike has become one of my closest friends this past year. He endearingly calls me his “non-sexual soul mate”. Last year when we were still just getting to know each other, we had planned to get dinner one summer night. About an hour before we were supposed to meet I found out my best friend Chris passed away, and I was an absolute mess. I wasn’t sure how to communicate this to Mike, since I barely knew him and I couldn’t even hold myself together long enough to form sentences. Mike showed up to meet me anyway because he had just come from work where they had had a winery event and his car was full of potted yellow and white daisies he had taken for me. He insisted I take the flowers to fill my home with warmth and life. It was one of the sweetest things I can imagine anyone doing for me in a situation that is almost impossible to deal with. So we all said goodbye to Mike, which I spent the rest of the day being a little sad about. Just as a side note, I hope my friends know how much they mean to me; I have moved around a lot and have had a hard time finding true friends outside of my family. Other than Chris, I don’t have any friends from my childhood, so the relationships I have developed in my last 2 years at Cal Poly are invaluable to me and I feel so lucky to have found such great people, and I want those relationships to last well beyond my college years.

After dropping Mike, we headed back to the Gaillard’s winery and home for lunch. They have a large property where their house is across from the winery with a large pool and garden. They made us a meal with grilled sausages, potatoes and a fresh salad picked right from the garden. We tried several more wines, including a few that were produced by three of the top producers in the area as a collaborative effort. After lunch we went to two different wineries: Domaine Clusel-Roch and Yves Cuilleron. Both places were really nice and at Clusel-Roch we sampled several barrels along with the bottled vintages, so we were pretty wiped out after that. It is hard not to write more about each of the wineries we visited or different wines I tasted, but I already write so much that if I went into detail about those, this blog would never end. Guess if you want to know more you will have to hire me to be your wine educator J.

That night the Guillard’s were hosting a party at their house for some of the local wine industry folk. Unfortunately it rained on us, AGAIN, so the party was moved from the garden to the wine cellar. The cook a whole sheep on a rotisserie which was a little scary to see, but it tasted amazing. There were about 75 people there, and although I couldn’t understand what everyone was saying in French, it reminded me a lot of an industry party in Paso Robles. There were hundreds of bottles of different wines covering half the tables and the other half of the tables were covered in food. I wish I had been a little less tired that night, but after saying goodbye to Mike and then drinking gallons of wine all afternoon, I was a little out of it. Nevertheless, it was a fun night of getting to chat with the locals and getting to try some wonderful wines. Pierre Gaillard, Elise’s father, was very gracious to us by letting us stay in his guest home and for letting us join their private party. It was a wonderful experience that we were all very lucky to have.

The next morning we set out to Cornas where we had an appointment with Domaine Clape. Their winemaker is the boyfriend of one of our friends from school, so he wasn’t too mad when we showed up two hours later after getting severely lost. The winery was really small and the barrel room was underground below the main street through town. While the wines were some of the best I have ever had, I could not believe how moldy the cellar was. They had wines in the bottle from 1964 that were covered with 5 inches thick! Towards the end of barrel tasting I could barely smell anything and my throat hurt just trying to breath. I don’t know how that guy works in there everyday, but its definitely not uncommon to see places like that all over Europe. The one wine I purchased here was for my parents. It is a Cornas that should be laid down for 25 years, so it is my gift to them for their 25^th wedding anniversary which is in September and they are to open it 25 years from now on their 50^th anniversary. Mom and Dad, the bottle is in the mail on its way to you. Happy Anniversary, love you both!

After Clape we drove to Chateauneuf du Pape for our next appointment, which, big surprise, we couldn’t find. We decided to stop at the Chateau on the hill which overlooks the whole valley, and we were all very pleased with the unexpected detour. I spent a few minutes alone sitting under one of the huge, half broken walls, reflecting on different feelings I’ve had on this trip. There is so much about myself I am starting to see more clearly, and I feel like this trip is such a great opportunity to work on all the things that are important to me in becoming the person I want to be. My biggest goals recently include taking more risks and being less afraid of what I look like to other people around me. When I was younger I used to do theater, dance, singing, sports and playing instruments. But in my teenage years I became much more self aware, and I stopped doing the things I felt I was not able to do perfectly, which pretty much includes all of those things. Lately however, I have had the desire to try more things and take more risks, despite the possibility that I might screw them up or embarrass myself. I want to branch out and be less shy around new groups of people. I want to be myself all the time so people really get to see who I am, and I want to have confidence in what they see. This feeling is one of the reasons I am so excited to start my own business when I get back to California; I feel so confident and in my element when I am teaching people about wine, and it helps me to express myself as an individual more than anything else I do.

Well moving on from that side note… after the Chateau we accidently found the winery where our appointment had been, but it had already closed. Fortunately next door there was a great wine museum that we perused and enjoyed the air conditioner at. We were booked to stay in Avignon that night, which was about 40km south from where we were; 3 hours later, we found the hotel. I’m going to leave out all the awful details that occurred during those 3 hours, and just say that we made it safely. By the time we arrived we were so exhausted and hungry, so we decided to go to the nearby KFC for dinner. The three of us split a bucket of chicken, fries and a bottle of Pepsi and watched Dirty Dancing. It was on of the best meals I have had this whole trip, and spending the night in relaxing was much needed after a stressful day.

In the morning we ventured to Gigondas and Vacqueyras, which are small regions just north of Avignon. I absolutely loved Gigondas and think I could stay there forever! It was a small town with amazing old buildings and vineyards, and lavender plants everywhere. I took a ton of pictures here so make sure to look at them. We arrived during siesta hours, so not much was open, but we hiked up the hill to a church and garden area. At the top we were looking over the whole valley and it was truly a one-of-a-kind experience. This was another unplanned stop that turned out to be one of the best treats. After our adventures it was time to take Leilani to the train station and Ryan and I to drive to Montpellier. This took another couple of hours of driving in circles, but by the evening, everyone was where they needed to be. It took us so long to find where to go to return the rental car that they almost made us pay for a whole extra day, but when the lady at the counter saw me about to lose it completely, she said she would forge the paperwork and let us off the hook. Thank goodness!! What a nightmare. A nice dinner in Montpellier followed, and I had my last salad ever with French dressing. That stuff is disgusting and they smother everything with it. Yuck!

During dinner Ryan and I had a long talk about our friendship and relationship. We discussed how whenever we are “just friends”, we get along so much better and have a lot more fun. But for some reason whenever we think maybe there is a shot at a relationship, we screw it up and end up driving each other crazy. So we agreed to once and for all stick to our friendship. I think that is ultimately what is most important to both of us. Plus for the first time Ryan seemed to process the fact that he is just not a “couple” person, because he is too selfish to want to make compromise for another person. I think him realizing this out loud helped me to let go because now its not just that I think he is that way, but its confirmed even by his own statements. Since Montpellier we have been having a great time together and there is no more negative energy keeping us from enjoying our valuable time here.

To wrap up France:

Likes- wine, Rhone river, the hills covered by vineyards, KFC, Gigondas, the people who hosted us, and the weather (most of the time).

Dislikes- French dressing, spontaneous rain storms, lack of gas stations, all roads/highways, ants, rude French men, and getting lost.

Thank you to everyone in the Rhone Valley for putting up with us and giving us a truly remarkable and unique experience that none of us will ever forget.

Now onto Spain… what a mess!