The Wine Experience   Trip to France
Vineyard Visit – Domaine Sainte Rose, Languedoc

   
The Chardonnay Vines                             Tasting at The Domaine

While most of Britain were turning on the central heating in mid September, 16 wine lovers were heading for the south of France in the capable hands of Ian and Liz of The Wine Experience.

Destination was a vineyard that is regularly winning awards for their wines despite 2005 only being their 4th vintage. Domaine de Sainte Rose is an exclusive viticultural estate situated in the Languedoc and just 15 minutes drive from the Mediterranean.

The morning was spent on a walking tour of the vineyard areas seeing the different type of vine and learning first hand about vineyard management and the hard work that goes on in this high quality / low volume domaine.

The owners Charles and Ruth Simpson had the foresight to start the harvest early since the Chardonnay, Roussane and Merlot were ready in late August this year. Many of their neighbours delayed until September as is traditional, and suffered the torrential rains and waterlogged vineyards that followed. See Ruth’s local weather report on Jancis Robinson’s web site

   
Lunch and more wine!                                 Apertifs before Dinner

The Syrah and Grenache were still on the vines but survived the storms well and certainly tasted great. A tutored tasting of some of their award winning wines rounded off the morning and sharpened the taste buds for some traditional French foods. A long lunch was soon underway under the shade of the plane trees in the courtyard in front of the domaine. This was a great opportunity to match more wines from the domaine with local foods.

The afternoon was taken up an in-depth tour of the winery. This was a unique opportunity to see a winery right in the middle of harvest, a time when most visitors are not welcomed. We saw the massive investment in state of the art wine press and stainless steel tanks together with the latest cooling and heating systems that allows precise temperature control in each tank. All of this being done while preserving the magnificent old buildings some of which date back to the 16th century.

The group almost took almost every room at the local hotel that has a reputation for fine food to the extent that that they usually are fully booked all year round. The hotel went out their way to lay on specific foods for us such as foie gras prepared in the traditional way and oysters prepared in various ways which lent itself to food and wine matching exercises over dinner.

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A Food and Wine Experience                              Sunday Lunch            

On our second night we shared the restaurant with a team from Ulster Television who had been filming at Domaine Sainte Rose doing a feature on successful Irish businessmen abroad.

More information on Domaine Sainte Rose can be found at www.sainterose.com

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Links

Hyndberry Fresh food made from Scotland's delicious seasonal produce. Flexible catering for all private and corporate events. http://www.hyndberry.co.uk/

                         
Rose-Wine.com specialises in supply of top quality Rosé Wines online to customers in the UK Some of the best Rosé Wines come from the South of France.  We choose them for their high quality, characteristic lightness and their pale colour.  All have a refreshing taste, are low in tannin, and can be enjoyed on their own or with food. Although very popular in France many of these wines have not previously been available here. http://www.rose-wine.com/.

                                            
Domaine Sainte Rose is an exceptional viticultural estate situated in the Languedoc region of southern France . The Domaine is owned by Charles and Ruth Simpson, a British couple who left their respective international careers to pursue their mutual dream to establish a boutique vineyard and winery of their own. http://www.domaine-sainte-rose.com/.

Institute of Wines and Spirits
http://www.iwss.org.uk/

Fine Wine Accessories sell wine accessories, wine tasting accessories, champagne accessories, and cocktail accessories. These include wine and champagne glasses, baskets, buckets, decanters, corkscrews, measures, warmers, ice buckets, spirit measures, carafes, barware, wine pourers, wine bottle stoppers, coasters, openers, champagne sabres, clef du vin, decanting cradles, wine coolers, wine preservers and breathers, wine thermometers, and hygrometers.

Rampant Scotland Directory
The largest directory of Scottish-related web pages, including The Wine Experience, plus feature articles on all aspects of Scotland and the Scots. http://www.rampantscotland.com/

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