June 4, 2014 - Little Villages - Usse - Loire Wine Tasting - Day 35

We slept in this morning.  Instead of "jet lag", the German couple from dinner last night said we all had "wine lag".  Love it!  Tim slept in and I enjoyed a light breakfast.  When I came back to the room, our horse friends were by our patio and I stopped to enjoy that sight.

Horses by our patio at Les Bournais

 

Today has a lighter schedule with "little villages" and wine tasting in the afternoon.  We headed to Crissay-sur-Manse first where the chateau and castle were started in the 15th century but never finished.  We enjoyed walking around the small town and went to the church.

Remains of the unfinished castle in Crissay-sur-Manse

Quiet and quaint in Crissay-sur-Manse

We loved this - a sculpture carved into the stone on one of the houses - we wondered if this was Rabelais?

The church in Crissay-sur-Manse

Statue of Jeanne d'Arc in the church in Crissay-sur-Manse

Then we headed to Villaines-les-Rochers which is where many basket makers live - the vanniers.  It was raining here so we drove around to look.  Most of the basket shops were not open.  We looked unsuccessfully for a boulangerie to buy a sandwich for lunch but never found one.  We then headed to Azay-le-Rideau again where we had been yesterday.  We bought sandwiches, dessert and drinks and went to the town fountain and had a picnic.

A huge basket in Villaines-les-Rochers where the basketmakers live

The fountain in Azay-le-Rideau where we had our picnic

We had a little over an hour before we were to meet Alain Caillemer for our wine tour so we drove to Usse.  We had never been there and it was beautiful - a place to visit "next time" we come to the Loire Valley.

The chateau Usse

The beautiful river in front of the castle Usse

Chateau Usse

We headed back and ran into a lot of road construction deviations (detours) due to the new TGV line being built from Paris to Bordeaux.  We were a few minutes late getting back but Alain was at Les Bournais waiting for us and we headed out to some of the vineyards to see the caves and taste the wines.

First stop was Domaine Gouron where they have mostly reds - we enjoyed this and bought 2 bottles.

Domaine Gouron

The caves at Domaine Gouron carved into the rock

Mold on many of the bottles that are stored for aging in the cave at Domaine Gouron

French oak barrels stored for aging in the cave at Domaine Gouron

Then to Domaine de Beausejour where we tasted a great petillant (sparking) wine and other reds.  We bought 2 more bottles!

The tasting table at Domaine de Beausejour

Domaine de Beausejour - they run all of the Nicholas stores in Paris - over 800 of them!

Tim and Alain in front of Domaine de Beausejour

Lastly to Domaine Eric Herault.  We enjoyed this one a lot. The cave was also carved into the rock walls.

Entrance to the caves at Domaine Eric Herault

 

Carving of Rabelais, a famous French author with the inscription that translates to something like . .

If man drinks good wine, he'll never die!  We like that!

Part of the tasting room set up at Domaine Eric Herault

 

We learned here that instead of ordering our steaks "au point" (medium) we should order them "saignant" - medium rare which is as we like it.  Learned more French!  Bought 2 more bottles here!

 

Then back to the B&B for relaxation.  We had Philippe make a reservation for us, but the first 2 restaurants were closed - what a surprise.  Finally we got a table at Au Chapeau Rouge - the Red Hat - in Chinon.  We left about 7:15 for the 20 minute drive, easily found a parking place, and walked around until time for our reservation. 

Au Chapeau Rouge was full and we enjoyed the dinner a lot.  We had a bottle of wine from Domaine Gouron that went perfectly with Tim's "lamp 3 ways" and my "filet" which I ordered saignant!  We ended the dinner by sharing a "baked Alaska", which in French is named a special "omelette".  It was so good and refreshing.

 

We left the restaurant a little after 10 and passed only 2 cars the entire way back to Les Bournais - we are so surprised that there isn't more traffic out at night.  The skies still light when we got back - and off to bed.  Another great day.