The AOC St Chinian (Appellation d'origine controlee which was awarded to St Chinian in 1982) is considered to be the oldest wine making region in the Languedoc as the vineyards that are EVERYWHERE have been cultivated since ancient times. The Languedoc region that AOC St Chinian sits in is largest wine growing region on the planet. Our village of St Chinian is one of 20 that are situated within the AOC St Chinian. Here endth the geography lesson.
Right now, it is harvest time in the Languedoc. There are vineyards heaving with ripe fruit and harvesters and pickers and trucks carrying grapes, everywhere. I think the enduring image that I will take with me (apart from our increasing waist lines) is that of the vineyard. They really are situated in every corner of every part of the region we drive past. The main roundabout in St Chinian even has a small vineyard on it!
So, this is probably going to surprise you but the plan for our last day involved lunch.
One of our suppliers in NZ had put us in touch with a French Domaine that supplies them with wine that we then buy for our shop. We had an appointment at 11.15pm for a tasting and tour followed by lunch in their fancy arse restaurant at 12.30pm. In actual fact, we were kind of working.
Ok, you can stop laughing now
The appointment was at Domain Paul Mas and Cote Mas. In 1999 the patriarch Paul Mas (a wine grower) had 35 hectares and today, the son Jean Claude Mas (a wine maker with a vastly different vision to his father) has taken the business to over 410 hectares. That's big and huge growth in 14 years. They now export to 58 countries worldwide and are best known for their Arrogant Frog brand.
Paul Mas
The tasting and tour was cool. The whole winery and restaurant are very new and we had an amazing lunch in the fancy arse restaurant. The prices here continue to be amazing. The menu called a "formula' which comprised either a entree and main, a main and dessert or all 3 was ridiculously cheap. The 3 courses were 26 euros. That's about NZ $48- for 3 very flash courses. Our mains alone would have been NZ $30 plus. The wines were also ludicrously cheap - fancy wines on the list with bottles available for 8 euros and wines by the glass for 2.50 euros. That's crazy value for money - we are talking estate and reserve wines, not the cheap shit. We were blown away with everything. We were treated very well and looked after like special guests by the staff and sommelier of the restaurant. Check out the pics of a few of our dishes...
In the restaurant in Domaine Paul Mas
Jambon cru
Monkfish
Beef tataki
After a very long lunch, we once again set the trusty GPS for home and set off. Another superb day had been spent in this fantastic part of the world. We then spent the afternoon getting all our stuff together so we could be ready to head off in the morning to continue with the next part of our journey - Spain. We also needed to load up on red wine for our trip. There is no chance we will find wine of this quality and price any where else so it makes sense to stock up. We decided to splash out and spend up large - so we went for the 3.50 euro bottles (NZ $6) instead of the 3 euro ones (NZ $5). Crazy.
No more living out of cupboards and drawers from now on, its 2 1/2 weeks of living out of our bags, moving them into and out of the different places that we will be staying. Your heart bleeds for us I am sure. We love this part of the world and cant wait to return. We will miss the stability and sheer beauty of St Chinian, but we have further, different missions to encounter. On the cards is Spain, as mentioned, then Switzerland and Austria with my Dad (which is a life long dream fulfilled for me) then back to France and off to Italy.
Truly, the trip of a life time.
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