After visiting the tourism shop where I had a few wines to taste we started walking and found our way to another winey and their tasting. We were heading to Le Gravillas which we can see from our house. But we first came across a small winery called Domaine Du  Pourra.

It was not the most inviting looking place from the outside but the wines there were very nice. All of the wines are Red, predominantly Grenache and Syrah, and all of the wines have no oak. s.We spoke to the wine maker for quite a while until he had to go and do some real work. He also ages the wines in concrete vats for up to 5 years.  We bought a couple of the cheaper ones – a Domain Du Pourra, Mont Bayon 2009 from Séguret which is the village next to Sablet.  He has a very small operation but you can tell he loves his passion for making great wines.

The price was 13 Euro for the 2009 vintage which is made from Grenache,  Syrah, Mourvèdre, and Cinsault.

www.pourra.fr

Some photos on our walk to the next vinyeard – not too far 800 meters.

Pam and I decided to stay close to home and just walk around town this afternoon.

We found the ATM, got some cash out, and then found the tourist office which offered free wine tastings.

The lady spoke a little English and had visited Christchurch about 15 years ago so we were able to chat quite easily.

We tried a lot of wines – maybe 10 or so

I bought one that tasted the best – 17.3 EURO

The reds were nice but the whites were too dry and nothing to write home about.

We had the following type of Sausage/Salami

• Thyme
• Fig
• Canard (duck)
• Smoked

The remaining oysters from our purchase yesterday – all gone now, just natural raw….  I am getting better at chucking them now..

Not too bad, but not as good as the other day, Butter, Garlic, and Herbs, cooked in the oven… Still 6 left so we will try them today..

We decided we needed to stock up on some food and drove to a market in Carpentras, each little village has a market on a particular day of the week. Carpentras is on  Friday.

It was very busy in town when we got there and could not find a park anywhere so we drove around and went into a car park right behind the market and luckily found a park.

We bought a lot of things:

• A cooked chicken – 7.50 Euro
• 12 Oysters – 7 Euro
• Small soft Goat Cheese – 2 Euro
• Lettuces – 3 for 1.50 euro
• 4 Flavored Sausages/Salami – 9 Euro
• Onion, Potatoes, Garlic, Tomatoes, Cucumber, Oranges, Zucchini, Radishes, Strawberries

On the drive back we decided to drop in to have a wine tasting but it was 1:15pm (lunchtime – everything closed until 2:30pm) so we decided to eat at a restaurant at the winery.

Pam had a Plat (main course) + desert  - 25 Euro and I had a Entrée and Plat – 27 Euro

I ordered for my Entrée - Grosse raviole de foie gras  poele aux champignons du moment – which is Large ravioli of foie pan with seasonal mushrooms, this time the foie gras was hot and it was very nice.

For the main we both ordered the duo de magret de canard roti aux epiceset joue de cochon confite, petit jus au trias which is duo of duck breast roasted with spices and plays pig confit, small juice Triassic.

We asked for the duck to be Medium but it was very dry, so we complained – said it was overcooked. After a while, minutes, we managed to get them to take the dish back, with loud voices coming from the kitchen.  We ended up getting a simpler disk with duck that was cooked better.

Pam then had a Crème Brule that she said was a bit too eggy for here (but we did not complain) and they gave her a class of Muscat.

We then went and did the wine tasting next door, I did not know any of the names or anything so just picked a couple off the list that were around the 10 Euro Mark, and Pam has another Muscat.  We bought 2 reds and a Muscat.

Just before Sablet we stopped at another Winery and tried a few wines, we bought 2 bottles of their Muscat.

We arrived in Sablet after a good hour and a bit driving from Marseille – 130km all the way with 3 lanes of traffic and very busy roads.

Click the photo above for a large version – this is the view from one of our decks.

It is peaceful, warm, and inviting…..

We have 7 nights here – bliss

We had to drive today from Dinan to Rennes and then catch a flight to Marseille and then drive to a town called Sablet in the Cote De Rhone.

The drive from Dinan to Rennes was pretty easy only about 1 hour and then drop the car and catch the flight.

BUT

As soon as we drove into the EuropCar car park there was a lady onto us checking out the car.

She said there was damage to the front, we disputed that we did it but no good – who knows what will happen, looks like lots of little scratches.

Pretty bugger all if you ask me and I think they were there before we got the car but since they are so low down you would not notice especially in a dark garage.

When we picked up the car in Paris (Charles De Galle) we did a quick check but we were inside a parking garage, we picked up some existing damage on the front wheels, but not the front of the car since it was quite dark. Quick and simple to see in the open but not so in the closed environment of a car park.

The damage appears to be when someone drives over the curb while parking which we did not do since we never parked like that.

We will find out what happens in due course.

Interesting the next car we picked up in Marseille had a similar statement  - no damage

But this time we double checked everything.

We decided that since it is the last day we should really go somewhere for a drive so we choose a place called Broons as they has a little market on today.

It took us about 45 minutes to drive there and they had a small market there underway.

We bought a couple of large slices of Patè from a butcher stall and  a small goat cheese. We also put some bread and sweet treats from the bakery.

As we were leaving as it started to rain Pam bought a Crepe with Caramel, and I got a crepe with a sausage which was exactly that – a sausage wrapped in a savory crepe. The crepe was pretty boring but the sausage was great – so much flavor compared to our range at home. Pam enjoyed hers.

So we wondered what we should do next?

We decided to drive to a village called Montcontour, only about 40km away.

As we got closer the weather packed up and it started to rain and just as we got to the village it really started to pour down. The village looked ok but anything in the rain never looks the best.

We stopped in a local bar to have  coffee and shelter from the weather.

After the coffee we checked out the local church, and then decided to drive back to Dinan.

The roads were pretty wet and the rain was pretty strong, at once point I tried to overtake a truck (2 lanes in my direction) but could not even see the road edges so pulled back. The big trucks throw up a lot of water when it is raining.