We are blessed with beautiful, bright sunshine again today, but it is very cold and the "mistrail" is blowing very hard - up to 65 miles per hour.  The beautiful scenery and the fantastic food are making up for the cold.

Yesterday we were privilaged to be joined by Peter Pigeon a Canadian friend of Bill's who moved to France after a teaching career in Canada, and a stint as a winemaker in Niagara.  Peter has lived in this area full time for three years and was a tremendous help in getting us organized and guiding us to some good wineries.  We tasted over thirty wines and with a few exceptions we were mostly disapointed.  We began in Gigondas and found some lovely wines but only a couple that we might consider for the club.  We then moved over to Chateauneuf du Pape and tasted some very good wines but most were average and have no "wow" factor.  We've purchased three bottles that  we liked and we are going to taste again tonight with dinner to see if they are worth considering. 

We also found that all of the producers have agents in the states and do not want to undercut their relationships there. They are reluctant to work with us, but because of the limited quantity they will probably bend a little.  Chateauneuf du Pqpe is very popular, so we are not finding the kind of small pproducers that we have found in Bordeaux, and which make the kind of wines we are looking for.  But we press on.  Today we will go again to Chateauneuf du Pape and look for that one unique wine that will be club-worthy. It is tough work but someone has to do it :)

Tonight we are looking forward to Lauraine's dinner (our B&B hostess) as she is making my favorite - beef cheeks!  Untill tomorrow.
Santé
Bob