{"id":5901,"date":"2014-06-30T14:01:25","date_gmt":"2014-06-30T14:01:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/?p=5901"},"modified":"2016-05-11T13:48:32","modified_gmt":"2016-05-11T13:48:32","slug":"viva-la-vaucluse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/viva-la-vaucluse\/","title":{"rendered":"Viva la Vaucluse"},"content":{"rendered":"

THE VILLAGES<\/strong><\/p>\n

The south of France is one of those places that makes people sigh wistfully at the mere mention of the name, conjuring up visions of white pebble beaches, rocky coves lined with pine trees, and the aquamarine Mediterranean sea.\u00a0 Most tourists fly into Nice airport and spend much of their time hugging the coast, exploring places like Cannes, Antibes or Marseilles but if you are willing to get off your sun-lounger for a while and head inland to the Vaucluse region in northern Provence, you will find that there is far more to love about the area than beaches.\u00a0 The Vaucluse is home to an astonishing array of fine food and wine, as well as breathtakingly beautiful villages \u2013 here are some of my favourites:<\/p>\n

Men\u00e8rbes is the picturesque village where Peter Mayle\u2019s A Year in Provence<\/em> was written. Narrow cobbled streets are lined with tiny artisan shops and impossibly beautiful weathered ochre walls are punctuated with pale blue and green shutters. After a wander through the lower village, walk to the 17th century former mayor\u2019s office, now the Maison de le Truffe et du Vin<\/em> for a tasting of local wine and a truffle-tastic lunch with a view.<\/p>\n

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Coustellet was the first village in the region to establish a weekly farmers’ market which now takes place every Sunday morning from April to December. Approximately 80 producers sell their wares here, and all of the produce must be grown\/produced within a tight radius of Coustellet and sold by the producers themselves. Stock up on fresh produce, fish, herbs, spices, cheese, organic breads, rotisserie chickens, local fruit juices, olives and wines.<\/p>\n

Rousillon is another beautiful village which has the unique advantage of being built on a spectacular red cliff made from one of the largest natural ochre deposits in the world.\u00a0 Take a walk along the Sentier des Ocres<\/em> (a walking trail resembling a mini Grand Canyon) to appreciate the beauty of the ochre cliffs, or visit the Conservatoire des Ochres<\/em> to learn about the area\u2019s rich history.<\/p>\n

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COOKING COURSES<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of the main attractions of the Vaucluse is, of course, the food.\u00a0 While there are many excellent restaurants throughout the region, there are also various cooking courses available to suit every taste and budget \u2013 here are two which I tried.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0cooking packages\u00a0offered by Edouard Loubet, the chef and owner at Bastide de Capelongue, are ideal for those wanting to see behind the scenes in a Michelin-starred French kitchen.\u00a0 This hotel and Loubet\u2019s eponymous 2 Michelin-starred restaurant are situated in Bonnieux in a beautifully restored, stone farmhouse, set among fields of lavender and a huge kitchen garden.\u00a0 Start the day with coffee and a croissant before joining the kitchen team for a tour of the kitchen garden, learning about, and picking, the herbs you\u2019ll be cooking with later. From there, you return to the kitchen where you will assist with preparing your own gourmet lunch, under the chef\u2019s supervision, learning tips and tricks as you go. The experience finishes with drinks, canap\u00e9s and a 5 course lunch which you helped to prepare.<\/p>\n

For a totally different experience, try the wild food cooking course at\u00a0Les Aventuri\u00e8res de Go\u00fbt<\/a>\u00a0in Brantes, a tiny village of less that 100 residents, perched on the edge of a valley in the shadow of Mont Ventoux. Here you will meet Odile for a 3-hour workshop, starting with a walk through the village and the surrounding countryside.\u00a0 Depending on the season, you will learn about the edible plants and flowers and get to work picking ingredients for your lunch. Back in Odile\u2019s rustic kitchen, she will teach you how to turn these into a vegetarian feast, to be enjoyed with a glass of wine on her sunny terrace.<\/p>\n

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A VINEYARD CYCLE TOUR<\/strong><\/p>\n

Of course, mankind cannot live on fine food alone, and the Vaucluse is a great place to visit if you are interested in fine wine.\u00a0 Within its borders, the Vaucluse encompasses apellations such as AOC Ventoux, AOC Luberon, C\u00f4tes du Rhone and, most famously, AOC Ch\u00e2teauneuf-du-Pape. One of the best ways to explore both the wines and the surrounding countryside is to take an\u00a0electric bike tour\u00a0around the vineyards of the Terraventoux cellar.\u00a0 Gabriel will greet you at the cellar in Mormoiron, supply the bicycles (or a lift in his car if you choose not to cycle!) and a map, and arrange to meet you at three designated points.\u00a0 From there, you are free to cycle at your own pace to the meeting points, taking in the scenery of alternating vineyards and cherry orchards.<\/p>\n

The first meeting point is at an ancient, stone drinking fountain in a picturesque village, where you taste one of the Terraventoux white wines, accompanied by local goat\u2019s cheese crostini.\u00a0 Gabriel not only provides the chilled wine and snacks, but also some local history and some information on the wine that you are drinking. From there, you set off for the second meeting point: an intriguing, hidden, ochre quarry that opens up like a magical, hidden world from an unpromising, flat parking area.\u00a0 Here, you can enjoy the Terraventoux ros\u00e9 wine while walking between 15m high cliffs ranging from salmon pink to crimson. The final meeting point is a secluded table in a vineyard, where a lunch basket awaits you, filled with fresh baguettes, fruit, pat\u00e9 and a bottle of Terraventoux red wine. It truly is the perfect way to experience the vineyards of the Vaucluse.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

THE VILLAGES The south of France is one of those places that makes people sigh wistfully at the mere mention of the name, conjuring up visions of white pebble beaches, rocky coves lined with pine trees, and the aquamarine Mediterranean sea.\u00a0 Most tourists fly into Nice airport and spend much of their time hugging the coast, exploring places like Cannes, Antibes or Marseilles but if you are willing to get off your sun-lounger for a while and head inland to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4098,3902],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5901","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","category-travelling"],"acf":[],"brand_slug":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5901","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5901"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5901\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test10.co.za\/C\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}