Pezenas Wine Tour

The highlight of our holiday was definitely the wine tour that we did on Friday; we booked through a website www.pezenas-languedoc.com  and when we spoke with the lady responsible she was very helpful and spoke excellent English. We booked in for a VIP wine tour (95 Euros) which was set to include a tour of two domaines in the morning then a gourmet lunch cooked by our tour guide and then a third domaine in the afternoon; we were very excited.


Our tour guide Bruno collected us at a very sociable hour of 10am and he drove us in his car to the first domaine where we went right into the vines of the Stella Nova vineyard. The vineyard was surrounded by beautiful meadows full of wild flowers and we were very lucky with the weather so the landscape of Pezenas looked like something from a postcard. While we were at Stella Nova, Bruno explained in detail about the soil types, the use of organic farming and the different grapes grown in the area. We got up close to the vines which was great; you really felt like you were getting an understanding of the wine making process from the very beginning. We then went into the Stella Nova cellar which was fairly small with a mixture of wooden barrels and stainless steel tanks; we tasted some Viognier straight from the barrel which Bruno had helped make; which although he said it wasn’t quite ready, it tasted really great. We tasted through a selection of their wines which were all fantastic; we liked one of them so much we had to buy one.

Meadows surrounding Stella Nova vineyard

Stella Nova vineyard

Stella Nova vines

The second domaine we went to was called Saint Jean de Bebian and was much larger than the first and the estate was set up to be open for the public. The property was stunning and we enjoyed a tour of the traditional cellar and storage areas before doing a tasting. The wines were stunning and far more modern than we expected; we particularly liked the unusual Cabernet Merlot blend which is a rare mix for the Languedoc area. After the tasting, Bruno disappeared to prepare our lunch while we strolled through the beautiful grounds of the Bebian estate. The lunch was amazing; we started with fried courgette flowers served with saffron, apple and quince chutney, a beautiful risotto with black olives which was finished with white wine to maintain its crisp acidity. We had a huge fresh beef tomato and broad beans which Bruno had got from a local farmer and then organic pork sausage and rare rib eye of beef which Bruno had cooked the evening before on a BBQ fired with old vines; the smokey flavour imparted into the meat was unusual and amazingly moreish. We then had a selection of cheeses, including a cow’s milk brie style cheese, two different goats’ cheeses, an “Old Cheese” from Holland and a blue cheese similar to Roquefort. We drank a beautiful Bebian red with the cheese which accompanied them all perfectly. We finished the meal with one of the most amazing desserts I’ve ever had; it was such an unusual combination of flavours but it worked so well that Amy and I couldn’t help but exclaim. Black olives marinated in bitter honey and served with fresh local strawberries and rosemary infused cream. The contrast of the salty olives and the sweet local strawberries with the richness of the cream was stunning, so good in fact that since returning home we have begun the process of marinating the olives so we can re create it.

Bebian Estate

Bebian cellar

Bebian cellar

Bebian tasting room

Our lunch location

View from our lunch table

Lunch

Mmmmmm!

Black olive and white wine risotto balls

Courgette flowers with quince, apple and saffron chutney

Cheeses

Broad beans, beef tomato and heirloom cherry tomatoes

Organic pork sausage and vine barbequed beef

Olives marinated in honey with strawberries and rosemary cream

Chapel at Bebian

We went to a third domaine in the afternoon, but the temperature had risen to above 30 degrees and after a big lunch and a few glasses of wine we were really struggling with doing more tasting so we made a plan to meet up with the vineyard owner at their bar in town later that evening. Bruno then drove us around the beautiful countryside and returned us to our hotel to have a swim and a break from the heat. We went to Bar a Vin in the evening and tasted many wines from Chartreuse de Mougeres and then drank a beautiful bottle of Chateau Neuf Du Pape which Bruno had selected for us. It was a great evening with some great wines and wonderful company.



Chartreuse de Mougeres vines

Bruno’s tour was a wonderful experience; he is an endless fountain of knowledge and was able to answer all the questions we threw at him. The lunch he prepared for us was exceptional and some of the most exciting food we have eaten for a long time. His hospitality and generosity was humbling; if you want to do a wine tour in the Pezenas region, Bruno is your man.