Chateau Trinquevedel, Tavel, France

Our favorite summer wines at Bistro Des Copains, the small French bistro I co-own in Occidental, California, are rosé wines from the South of France. These rosé wines are bone dry, vibrant, delicious and easy to drink.

Shirley and I love love rosé wines. We don't think there is anything much better than sitting on the terrace of our home in Sablet on a sunny day or for that matter on our patio in California, sipping a glass of well-made rosé wine.

Tavel, a small village located in the Department of Gard in Languedoc-Roussillon is reknown for its production of rosé wines. The village is located about 46 kms from our home in Sablet, just west of the A9 autoroute. We have driven past the exit sign for Tavel many times but had never been to Tavel, so we decided to go one afternoon to explore and déguster - taste wine.



After driving around the village, I was glad we had come to taste wine as there was very little particularly pretty or charming about Tavel despite the sign indicating that Tavel is classified as Village Fleuri. This classification is a result of an annual competition set up to promote the development of green spaces in towns and villages across France.

A staple of the Avignon popes and favorite wine of Louis XIV and King Philippe le Bel, Tavel was the first Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée (AOC), designated for rosé. The AOC has stayed true to its roots and to carry the name Tavel on the label, the wine must be rosé.



A few years after receiving the AOC classification in 1936, the vignerons - winemakers of Tavel established the Tavel wine cooperative in 1939. At the present time, there are 946 hectares or 2,338 acres of vineyards under cultivation in the Tavel AOC.



After tasting various rosés at Les Vignerons de Tavel, we headed to Chateau Trinquevedel, a Tavel winery whose rosé wine has graced the wine list at Bistro Des Copains several times.

Chateau Trinquevedel is located on a small trail off the road to Nimes on the east side of the A9 autoroute. Chateau Trinquevedel is surrounded by 32 hectares or 79 acres of vineyards, all of which are located in the Tavel AOC. Chateau Trinquevedel only makes rosé wine.



Chateau Trinquevedel is currently under the direction of Guillaume Demoulin, who took over management of the winery in 2006. He is the 4th generation of the family to oversee the winery which was established in 1935.



The Chateau Trinquevedel vineyards are planted in acccordance with Tavel AOC regulations with Grenache Noir (44%), Cinsault (28%), Clairette (15%), Grenache Blanc (5%), Syrah (3%), Bouboulenc (3%) and Mourvedre (2%).



The terroir of Tavel is unique. The Chateau Trinquevedel vineyards are planted in sand with quartz round pebbles on the terraced hillside and in deep clay loam around the Chateau. Low rainfall, sunshine and summer heat along with the mistral wind produce rich and hearty fruit.



We were warmly greeted in the cave by Selene, wife of Guillaume.



She offered us tastings of 3 vintages of Chateau Trinquevedel traditional rosé wine. We started with the 2008 as it was the lightest of the wines, then moved to the 2009 which showed more red fruit and finished with the 2007 which had the most structure.



She explained that after being picked, grapes are sorted in the vineyard and at the winery. The grapes are put into barrels for maceration, which lasts from 12 to 48 hours. Then the juice of the grapes is bled off in the saignée method. After the juice is bled off, what remains is pressed.

After being pressed, all the juice is blended and transferred to concrete vats where the juice is allowed to ferment for approximately 20 days.



This method gives the rosé wines of Chateau Trinquevedel more color and structure than most other rosé wines meaning they can be enjoyed for a longer period of time, usually up to about three years.



The rosé wines of Chateau Trinquevedel are bottled in the longish shaped bottles with embossed T emblematic of the Tavel syndicate.



Shirley along with Lisi, Julia, Allison and Adam in the cave at Chateau Trinquevedel.

Boulangerie Pradier, Sablet

We are lucky to have two very good boulangeries - bakeries - in Sablet that are open year around, that is except for their congés annuels et jours de fermeture - annual vacations and days they are closed each week.

The two boulangeries conveniently close on different days so villagers are never without baguettes, croissants, pain au chocolat or the other breads and pastries that are baked fresh each day.

Boulangerie Pradier is located a short walk from our house in the direction of the boucherie. This boulangerie is closed on Wednesdays and Thursdays.



Boulangerie Pradier makes the most wonderful pain complet, a whole wheat type bread they shape like a large baguette. Unfortunately, they only bake this bread on Tuesdays and Fridays.

One Tuesday morning I walked into Boulangerie Pradier to get our daily bread and an apple tart Shirley had seen displayed the day before. Unfortunately, there was no apple tart in the display case.

When I asked Madame about the apple tart, she replied "je suis désolé mais non monsieur", I am sorry but no sir. She continued on to say, that she would be happy to bake one and it would be ready by noon.



As promised, the apple tart was ready when I walked into the boulangerie at noon. I can tell you that Madame's apple tart tastes even better than it looks.

Sunday afternoon at Place de l'Horloge, Avignon

Avignon is about 40 km southwest of Sablet, snuggled inside ancient walls along the Rhône River. The largest town in the Vaucluse, Avignon is best known for its Palais des Papes (Popes’ Palace) and Pont St. Bénezet (the bridge made famous in the ditty “Sur le Pont d’Avignon, on y danse, on y danse…”).

Avignon is very old; full of history, art, music and activity. You can literally spend hours wandering the narrow streets inside the fortified walls without getting bored. We have been to Avignon quite a few times but feel like we have barely scratched the surface of this town.

Avignon has many pedestrian only streets and shops of all kinds. On Sunday, most shops are closed, so we come to Avignon and go to Place de l'Horloge and grab seats at one of the many cafés.


Place de l'Horloge is a long square in front of the Hôtel de Ville with terrace cafés lining both sides. Streets at the top end of the Place de l'Horloge lead to the Place du Palais and the Palace of the Popes.

Sitting at a café is a great place to watch people.

Shirley relaxing on a sunny day under a big umbrella in front of the Hôtel de Ville.


Young and old love the "Belle Epoque" carousel that can be found at the top end of the Place de l'Horloge.

Random street graffiti on a wall on the Place de l'Horloge.

I am not sure we will ever get tired of coming to Place de l'Horloge.

Sans Plomb or Gazole

I can't imagine going to Provence and not having a car so that in addition to the larger towns where you can walk around or hop on a bus or tram. you can also go visit the wine villages of the Côtes du Rhône, the hill top villages of the Luberon, drive along the Mediterranean Sea or visit remote historical sites like the Pont du Gard.

I think you ought to rent a car even if you intend to ride bikes every day. I think that having a car will give you flexibility to go places that wouldn't be practical without a car to get you and your bikes there. Then there is the fact that most restaurants don't start dinner service till 19 30 (7:30 PM) and you will be leaving the restaurant after dark.

If you are going to take my advice and rent a car (most major US car rental companies have offices at TGV stations and airports), you will inevitably be faced with buying gas if you want to keep going. I will admit that I find buying gas in France to be a confusing experience.

First off, you should know that in my experience, most cars rented by major US car rental companies use diesel. This is a good thing for you as diesel is less expensive in France and you will get better gas mileage. Make sure you know what type of fuel your rental car uses before you leave the rental car lot.

Unlike the United States, you will not find gas stations on each corner of intersections (a very good thing in my opinion). This is obviously due to the fact there are very few intersections and automobile fuel is sold in 3 general locations: gas stations, supermarchés and at aires, rest stops along the autoroute.

For first time travelers to France, you will find few intersections because the French road planners are big fans of the rond-point, the roundabout or traffic circle. Some of these are beautifully landscaped, adorned with sculptures or circumvent monuments like the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. Navigating these can be confusing itself but that is a topic for another post.

You will generally find that gas is least expensive at supermarchés like Intermarché or Super U and most expensive at the aires along the autoroute. Away from larger towns, supermarchés and gas stations are spread out. Look for road signs that say "Centre Commercial;" they will lead to shopping areas where you are likely to find a supermarché or gas station.

Gas pumps are similar to those in the United States except that gas is sold by the liter. There are 3.78 liters to a US gallon. Pumps are labled sans plomb (unleaded) in either 95 or 98 octane, super (super unleaded) or gazole (diesel).

You can pay for gas with cash or a credit card when an attendant is on duty. Except for on the autoroute, most gas stations do not have attendants on duty 24 hours a day although some stations do have automated pumps that allow you to buy gas with credit cards with a chip which works with a pin number.

One final note, even when you are going to pay with cash, you pump first and then you pay, except if you are riding a motorcycle. I guess French gas station operators have less concern about drive offs except for motorcycle riders.

Sunday Lunch at Le Brin d'Olivier, Vaison-la-Romaine

We go to Vaison la Romaine quite often. It's only 10 kms from Sablet and the location for our favorite weekly marché paysan, farmer's market, in the Vaucluse. It is also the closest town with larger grocery stores where we shop for staples like flour, sugar, coffee, yogurt and milk; Intermarché is the one we like best. We also fuel up our car at the Intermarché.

Last fall, we dined for the first time at Le Brin d'Olivier near the Roman bridge in Vaison la Romaine. We enjoyed that meal so much that we decided to go there for lunch after stocking up on the staples we needed at the Intermarché on Sunday morning upon our return to Sablet.

Upon arriving at the entrance to Le Brin d'Olivier, I noticed one change immediately; a bright red notice saying the restaurant was now in the Michelin Guide as a "meilleures adresses à petit prix", essentially one of the better places for a moderate price.


At the top of the business card for Le Brin d'Olivier is written "Restaurant de charme", restaurant with charm; we would agree. The restaurant has dining rooms on two levels. On our previous visit, we were seated in the smaller upstairs dining room. This time we were seated in the lower level dining room off the terrace.


After looking over the menu and wine list, we chose a 50 cl bottle of 2009 Chateau Paradis, Terre des Anges, Rosé, Les Coteaux d'Aix en Provence, to share. It was a pale salmon color, chilled, crisp and delicious.

We gave our order to our server; Shirley decided to order from the A La Carte menu and I chose the 3-course Balade en Provence menu for 29,00 Euros.

Shortly afterwards, our pretty server brought an amuse bouche from the chef to get our appetites going; chilled cream of green asparagus soup and a basket of bread.

For her starter, Shirley enjoyed a terrine of tomato confit and eggplant fondant with a basil emulsion and caramelized balsamic.

I started with a yummy warm cream of brocolli soup topped with a poached egg and roasted prawn. The dish would have been marvelous with one or the other, both made the dish a little complicated.

For my plat, main course, I had a wonderful plate of duck breast roasted pink with coriander, served with roasted yukon gold type potatoes and green peppercorn sauce.

Shirley's plat was filet of salmon dusted with sea salt served over cucumbers marinated with balsamic.

To finish, we shared the fresh orange and mint nage, a sweet aromatic broth, accompanied by an almond tuile.

As we walked out, Shirley paused in the patio for a picture. We look forward to returning to dine on the patio on a sunny warm Provençal day.

Prettiest Table in Provence

We love Aix-en-Provence; a beautiful town, vibrant with activity, narrow streets with pretty squares all surrounded by cafés and lots of shops to explore.

We always go to La Victoire, a store for tissus, fabric, that has been in business since 1918. We have purchased typical material from Provence for curtains, place mats and had table cloths made to order for Bistro Des Copains.

On Monday, we headed to Aix-en-Provence for a visit to La Victoire with an interim stop for dejeuner, lunch with my first cousin, once-removed (I Googled to figure out the difference between a second cousin and a first cousin-once removed) Annick.

Annick lives northwest of Aix-en-Provence on the outskirts of a small village called Rognes. We decided to travel the tourist route through the Luberon to get to her house. On the way, we drove past Lacoste and through Bonnieux and Lourmarin before we got to Rognes.

We arrived at her beautiful country house and were happy to see not only Annick but my first cousin Ginette there too. They had set the table with flowers and sprigs of fresh thyme were at every place setting. It looked and smelled of Provence. It was the prettiest table I have ever seen.

Together, they had prepared a wonderful array of appetizers to spread on thin slices of baguette including Roquefort cream, anchovy cream, tomato tapenade, black olive tapenade and green olive tapenade. Really yummy!



For our main course, they had roasted potatoes with gigot d'agneau. The dripping fat of the lamb turned the potatoes golden brown. To accompany the lamb, we had mushrooms in a cream sauce and tasty cucumber salad.



To finish we had home-made fresh strawberry tart with a strawberry coulis sauce. I wrote down the recipes for the various appetizers and strawberry coulis the best I could.

In response to questions about how much of something, I got "au pif", use your best guess. I'll let you know how they turn out.



Afterwards, we headed to Aix-en-Provence for shopping and drinks in one of the many cafés. The highlight of the day was that pretty table.

Labor Day

Today is May 1 and Labor Day in France. It is a Jour Férié, or national holiday in France. Most businesses except for boucheries (butcher shops), poissoneries (fish mongers), boulangeries (bakeries) and marchand de fruits et légumes (green grocers) are closed.

As we drove around Clapiers today, buying what we wanted for lunch, we spotted people selling lilies of the valley all around town. Tradition says that On May 1, 1561, King Charles IX of France received a lily of the valley as a lucky charm. Supposedly, he decided to offer a lily of the valley each year thereafter to the ladies of his court.


At the beginning of the 20th century, it became custom on the 1st of May, to give a sprig of lily of the valley, a symbol of springtime. The French government permits individuals and workers' organisations to set up stands and sell them free of taxation on May 1.