Lyon and the northern Rhone Valley

19aug17 

I've now been in Europe for a month.  I've been in PT, SP, FR, and now the NL.  I only showed my passport when arriving in Lisbon and at a few hotels.  

I think I've been on about 25 trains so far.  On Monday, I was in the Barcelona train station for a couple hours.  Complete chaos due to Renfe strike which started on Monday.  Fast forward to craziness of yesterday.  Hoping all those affected by the incidents in northern Spain get all the help they need.  May those who lost their lives rest in peace.  

I never set out with plans to go to Lyon, France, but I didn’t want to go through Paris due to crazy Aug travel conditions.  Going through Lyon would allow me to see another part of France I’ve never been to and seemed like a good option. 

Lyon is the second biggest city in France.  The city was actually pretty quiet while I was there as many French peeps take a long holiday in August.  I saw MANY shops and restaurants that were closed from 30JUL-22AUG, that seemed to be the standard although I saw a few longer and shorter.  A lovely city to walk and bike along the Rhône and Saône rivers.  On the way to Lyon I realized, the Cote du Rhone happens to be my favourite French wine and I would be right in the middle of it.  Perfect, find a tour like I did in Rioja, only now in the Rhone.  Ended up with TastyLyon and Baptiste, our lovely MBA intern and guide.  Did you know you can get a MBA in French wine and spirit marketing?  That sounds like fun.  I believe he said he was studying at a University in Dijon. 

My tour was just 2 couples and me.  They were American as well, from Seattle and NYC.  We went to 2 wineries, one in the southern part of the northern Rhone and the other in the far north part.  We also went to the museum of chocolate Valrhona.  Valrhona is a French premium chocolate manufacturer based in the small town of Tain-l'Hermitage in Hermitage, a wine-growing district near Lyon.  I saw a documentary about it once.  The owner was known for supplying bakers all over France and then began marketing his chocolate to mainstream consumers.  

Embarrassed to admit, I couldn't understand what our guide was saying when he said "terroir", had to look it up later that day.  Also thought he was talking about wine "gurus" until I finally figured out he was saying "growers".  My French is non-existent except for Google Translate. 

French wine, so many rules, so little time to remember all of them.  

What is Terroir?

The symbiosis of grapes, soil, climate, vineyard placement, and human touch, all rolled into one.  The type of grape has very little to do with the way the wine tastes in the end although most of the regions have very strict rules about the grapes.  

Inside the Cave de Tain in Tain-l'Hermitage

private cellar

bridge over the Rhone in Tain-l'Hermitage

water lily in the reflection pool at Jardin d' Eden in Tain-l'Hermitage

view near the ruins

nice front door art 

Corps de Loup vineyard in norther Rhone, Roman walls have no mortar and were originally built 2K years ago

Almost ready for harvest 

Roman walls without mortar that help to hold the vines on the hill, walls must be repaired in the same way, i.e. no mortar

The Corps de Loup varieties 

Our visit to the Côte Rôtie district in northern Rhone filled out the afternoon.  This small family winery has vines on southeast facing slopes (a rare and important part of the terroir in the northern Rhone) and supported by rock walls built by the Romans.  The house had parts built in the 1750s.  

The grape harvest is a huge time of work in French wine country.  Some grape harvesters come back year after year and follow the harvest from the south to the north.  

Check out this cool tool that shows where each wine "region" is in France.  

Corps de Loup

As our guide said, "don't ever ask a French person if they like a certain wine grape because in French wine, that has very little meaning".