lunch in avignon

sorry,no photos today because the high speed internet is out so this has to be posted via ipad. a post will come up with the photos in the future.

it is january 2 and we survived a couple of days of being over-fed in paris; then a new year's day departure from gare de lyon via tgv for avignon; and now we are here, at the home base of phylloxera in the 1860's. that says a lot when the topic is lunch in avignon. the mistral is howling. we took great photos from the "dom" today, and the north side was exceptionally blustery. jill decided as we walked back down past the palais des papes that soup d' oignon and a unique wine was in order.

the restaurant was "le domaine" and the soup was l' oignon des cevennes. it was a great soup and certainly fortified us.

the wine: my original choice was henri bonnaurd palette but they were out of it; i have never seen an aoc palette in the states. my second choice was a vacqueyras- Chateau Fontclos, Reflets de l'ame 2008. this was a great wine and paired well with our meal. the wine was red to the edge of the glass, the nose was red fruit and spice, and the taste followed through with wonderful cherry, raspberry, smoke, and soft tannins. this was a well balanced and well made wine, although i suspect it will be best over the short term. i always view vacqueyras as the "wild child" of the sacred trinity of chateauneuf du pape, gigondas, and vacqueyras; i look for the spice and rustic nature of the wines. this one did not disappoint although it was much more polished than what i expected. there were no rough edges to this wine. the year, 2008, was difficult but this wine certainly proves that a good producer can make an excellent wine in a problematic year. we were here for harvest in 2008 and certainly would never have expected this level of quality from the wines of that vintage. kudos to the producer.