From Southern Burgundy it took us a healthy two and half hours to shoot down to the southern Rhone Valley in our rental car. On the sides of the road we saw gigantic rock formations which looked like dilapidated castles, which made one think of a time where jousts, duels, knights, peasants, were commonplace...

The orange sun sank into the night, when we unfortunately arrived in the walled ancient city of Avignon. I drove into the small city of tiny cramped streets where locals drove so fast like it was the 105 freeway in Los Angeles. After two hours of lost driving, we found our bed and breakfast within the enclosed ancient walls and cobblestone streets. Tired from driving, we went to bed early.

The next day my wife and I woke up early and arrived at Chateau Beaucastel in Courtezon which is a about fifteen minutes away from Avignon and
Chateauneuf du Pape. When we a arrived were greeted by a very kind man, who was a former sommelier at a restaurant in Atlanta, Georgia. He talked with such passion, I thought his head was going to explode from sheer joy. Gregarious, energetic, with a smile from ear to ear, our tour guide took us outside in the chilly January air to look at the vineyards. For an hour he showed us where the mourvedre was planted, the Grenache and the syrah. He pointed to a distant tree and showed us where the roussanne was planted for the Beaucastel blanc. He pointed to a vineyard that looked like it was a little less than a mile up the road. He told us it was the sandy soil of Chateau Rayas. I dug my hand into the chilly soil and touched the large rocks called, “galets.” Out tour guide told us that the rocks at Beaucastel were much larger than the most of the vineyards in the area. He took us inside and we were handed a cup of hot boiled water with garlic and toast. He told us it an old Provencal recipe that was used to warm the soul and cleanse the palette.

He took us into the cellars where we tasted through a sampling of Perrin family wines 2002 Vaqueras, 2002 Gigondas, 2001 Vinsobre, Chateaneuf du Pape from 1980, 2001, 1989 and 1997 Homage. The smoked, licorice, jasmine, cherry finish on the 1980 Chateauneuf du pape left a lasting imprint on my palette for the next month.

The tour had gone on for three hours. Our tour guide took us to the other side of the Domaine to the kitchen. We met the personal chef for Chateau Beaucastel, who looked like Edward Norton and sounded like Latka on Taxi. He was given an unlimited budget to create whatever he wanted to based upon the flavors of the wine the Chateau had to offer. He cooked seven sumptuous courses for us. One course stood out, the red mullet fish course cooked in pastry dough that he shaped like fish, the loaves were cooked on top of hundreds of tiny galets. Tableside, he cut the fish out of the pastry dough and served it to us on our plates. He placed a piece of fennel and black truffle on top of the fish and sprinkled with a touch of sea salt. We drank the 2002 old vines Roussanne, marveleous! What a great tasting.