Thursday, April 25, 2019

A to Z Vignoble


After we visited Carcassonne this past year and had our “adventure”, we decided we needed to do/see something positive and life affirming. So, on a roundabout (traffic circle for Americans) on our return to our hosts house, we saw a sign for a “vignoble” we’d never heard of and quickly took the turn to go pay a visit. LeChateau de Pennautier (an historical monument nicknamed Le Versailles de Languedoc), is beautiful and the wings were designed by Louis Le Vau, the architect who designed Versailles, and the gardens were designed by the landscape architect André Le Nôtre, who designed the gardens at Versailles.

  
Le Chateau in all its magnificence


Stairway on the side of the chateau leading up to vineyards

A view of the stairs from the front. There used to be a fountain and pool where the lawn is now (in front of the bench).


By the wine shop a beautiful, peaceful grove of Sycamores. (Plantane)

Walking in the gardens

Beautiful conifers to one side

Hamming it up in front of the chateau

"In the Languedoc great wines aren't born, they become" In the wine shop on the wall.
 Some of the wines we tasted...




We visited during off season and found the wine shop/café open and quiet. The shop is modern inside an historical building, full of well-placed lighting, deep reds and wood. Tasteful and elegant, like the chateau itself. After a wine tasting, we bought four bottles of wine, then walked from the garden across the street up to the chateau on the edge of the village of Pennautier. The chateau was closed to the public for the season, but the grounds were open, and we walked them thinking of an earlier time, when King Louis XIII stayed here. The young king might have walked the same paths we did.
The chateau and its vineyards did what we’d hoped it would do and restored our festive attitudes. We hope to visit it again when the chateau is open to the public. The family still keeps rooms there for their use when they’re in town.
Video to see inside



Missed some of my A to Z 2019 posts? Well look no further...
Unique Concord One of A Kind


Photos by Buie-Collard

5 comments:

  1. Ok, now time to have a rest and take a sip of wine ;)

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    Replies
    1. Too right! We had all the bottles before we left France. Luckily, we have lots of friends and family in France to share them with!

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  2. Beautiful house and gardens, wine - what's not to love? I take it off season meant winter?

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    Replies
    1. Yes, well, early spring. But the mansion itself isn't open until the summer...

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  3. Such a fascinating and beautiful place. The grove of Sycamores looks so beautiful and spooky at the same time :D

    ReplyDelete

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