Our last full day was destined to be action packed as we took in producers in Châteauneuf du Pape and Tavel/Lirac with a picnic lunch and dinner in Avignon.
The first stop was at Domaine Cristia – a family owned Châteauneuf du Pape estate that was founded in the 1950’s with just two hectares of Grenache. The Grangeon family have extended this to 45 hectares today and export the majority of the production.
Alexandre hosted our visit and took us for a lovely walk into the vineyards where we contrasted the pebbly rocky soils of yesterday with much sandier terroir.
It was very calm and peaceful and we duly headed back to a wonderful vine covered terrace where we sat down to enjoy a terrific selection of wines with a self service buffet of salads, meats, cheeses, tapenade and bread. High quality wines which included pure varietal Grenache and Mourvèdre as well as a pure Marsanne which enhanced our understanding of breadth of style produced in the region.
From Cristia it was a 30 minute drive to Château d’Aqueria – a wonderfully historic property that dates back to 1595 and is situated right on the border between the Lirac and Tavel.
The estate has gone through a number of different ownerships and in 2022 the famous Guigal family bought the property and has already invested in the winery and vineyards.
Anais hosted our visit and it once again added another dimension to the diversity of the Southern Rhône as we added the Tavel AOC – an appellation solely for Rosé wines.
We ended up in their lovely garden where we tasted a super selection of three contrasting Rosés plus the excellent value and underrated Lirac red.
A lovely day – but not yet over. Dinner beckoned at Le 26 Restaurant in Avignon. We dined here in 2023 and it was a pleasure to return. They have updated their upstairs dining room to create a friendly, intimate space where we enjoyed a delicious dinner.
A carrot and beetroot hummus starter was followed by slow roasted lamb shank, some local cheeses and dessert. All washed down with Vacqueyras Blanc, Bandol Rosé and Lirac rouge.
