Beaujolais will be my third wine region in France and my first time staying in a circus caravan!
Had a problem finding the place -- in rural France, they don't have addresses -- the villages have maybe three to four hundred residents and they all know each other so why do you need an address? Strangers are few and far between. I was staying at a vineyard/winery so figured finding the place given just the name of the village would be a piece of cake - just stop at a gas station or boulangerie or small business and ask. Minor problem with that strategy -- on a Sunday afternoon, everything is closed.
My only hope was a motorbike competition was going on and there were a few people wandering the streets -- what there weren't were any parking places. I finally did manage to get directions (in French) -- "go this way (pointing), take it's either the second or third right, then take the first left, it'll be on the corner next to the vineyard (that last one helped a lot -- the whole place is vineyards!) After the third set of directions and being totally lost, I pulled up next to a guy in the middle of nowhere standing by his car and smoking a cigarette. He spoke some English, wasn't exactly sure how to describe where the place was and ended-up saying "Just follow me". So off we went at 65-70 mph on narrow one lane dirt roads through the vineyards with clouds of drt billowing up behind us! But he got me there -- most of the people here in the country really are nice!
Turns out the "circus wagon" was just a recreation, not the real deal, but it was fine. What made up for it though was that it was surrounded (five feet away from the walls) by grape vines -- it was literally in the middle of the vineyard -- it had a deck on the front and sitting there looking out over the green vines, the deep blue sky and the puffy white clouds was surreal and wonderful! Later that evening, the owner who was also a fifth generation wine maker walked me over to the winery for a private tour and tasting.
Most people know the wines from this region from the Nouveau (sp) Beaujolais wine "hoopla" -- every Fall it's the first wine to be released and it's deveoped into a "cult" type of thing. The wine is usually a "young" wine and not that great. The main grape they grow in the southern Beaujolais area is Gamay -- primarily chardonnay further north near Macon (excellent wine and really inexpensive -- the bargain of France). Have had gamay in the States and not a "big fan" -- but the gamay wine here was entirely different -- it was dry, not sweet -- and much more flavorful -- would almost consider giving it a second chance! Problem is, we'll never see this type of gamay wine in the US -- learning that so much of the good French wine never leaves the country. All of the chardonnay from this region that I've tried has been exceptional -- apparently people know about it but aren't talking it up so the price doesn't escalate! Great bottle of cardonnay for $8 -- similar wine in the US would easily be in the $30-$40 range.
Tomorrow I head for Beaune in the Burgunday region -- looking forward to it!
