Montpellier, France

Date: July 28, 2018 – July 31, 2018
Location: Montpellier, France

After our housesit watching the cat Nabob, we returned the rental car to Lyon, France and boarded a bus for Montpellier.

Here is the Arc de Triomphe in Montpellier.

The Arc de Triomphe is at the end of Place Royale du Peyrou. In the center is a statue of Louis XIV on a horse.

At the other end of the esplanade is Château d’Eau, a hexagonal water tower.

Leading to the water tower is the Aqueduct de St-Clément that was finished in 1766 to bring water to the city.

The below picture is of the Place de la Comédie square. The largest square in Montpellier.

As with most squares in Europe, there is a fountain in the square.

July 31, 2018
Wine Tour!

We booked a full-day wine tour. In the morning, there were five other people on the tour with us, but the afternoon was just the two of us. The first stop was Château Puech-Haut.

These are white grapes. All wine grapes start as green and then turn red or white.

We saw rose bushes at the ends of grape vine rows at a few vineyards we have visited. Vineyards plant them because rose bushes are susceptible to the same diseases as grape vines, but are even more sensitive. Thus, if a rose bush shows any signs of mildew, then the vines can be treated to hopefully prevent the spread of the mildew to the grape vines. “Treated” does not always mean with chemicals, as even organic vineyards have steps they can take to prevent mildew.

Here is Château Puech-Haut’s concrete fermentation tanks for the red wine they produce.

The stainless steal tanks are used for fermenting white wine. The bands around the tanks are cold to keep the white wine inside cold.

The barrel room for aging the wine.

While we were tasting the wine there were some aroma jars that we could smell to get familiar with various scents found in wine. When we tried the wine we could then determine if we could smell any of those aromas in the wine. Brian is way better at it than I am.

On the other side of the tasting room the red grape vines were planted.

Château Puech-Haut also makes rosé wine. The color of wine comes from the skin of the grapes. Rosé wine can be made two different ways. One way is to slowly press the red grapes so the juice is in contact with the skins for a little while, giving it the light color. The second way is to press the grapes normally, and add the skins to the fermentation tank to remain in contact with the wine for 6 – 12 hours, which is a very short time compared to red wine.

In front of Château Puech-Haut they have a huge wine barrel. The barrel is just for show, wine is not aged in that barrel.

You can see the door on the side of the large barrel in the below picture.

Our next visit was to Château de Flaugergues.

Château de Flaugergues has two very different garden types. The one below has many shrubs and fruit trees planted in boxes.

The other garden had many different kinds of plants and trees.

One of the gardeners was working on catching the butterfly below when we walked in. The species of butterfly lays their eggs in the palm trees and ends up killing the palm tree. It is a big problem, so for each butterfly the gardener catches he is paid 5 euro.

In a part of the garden you could stand in one spot and see three different types of bamboo.

Below is yellow bamboo and green bamboo.

Here is the black bamboo and yellow bamboo.

After the walk in the gardens we tasted the wine.

The rest of our group only booked the half day tour, so for the rest of the day it was just us with the tour guide.

As part of our wine tour we had a gourmet lunch at Château de Flaugergues that included a glass of wine. Below are out appetizers.

Main dish

Dessert

The lunch also came with coffee.

After lunch we went to the 3rd winery, Château St Martin de la Garrigue. They have a nice dog that welcomed us.

Here is the garden.

Wine has been made at Château St Martin de la Garrigue for a long time. Here is the old equipment.

Wine from each year is saved.

Here is the barrel room for aging the wine.

After the winery, it was on to an oyster farm. In the below picture everything that looks like a dock are actually oyster tables in the Étang de Thau. The tables are where the oysters grow.

Oysters arrive from other parts of the world and are small. The oysters are attached to rope and hung from the tables in the lagoon.

After about a month the oysters have grown and the rope is pulled up from the tables and brought to shore where the oysters are cleaned. Any oysters that are not large enough are put back on rope and attached to the tables for longer. Once the oysters are cleaned, since the process was strenuous on them, they are placed in nets and put back in the water for a couple days. The oysters are then brought in, cleaned and put into tanks inside where after a couple hours they are then ready to eat.

Here was our view at the oyster farm.

Brian and I got to enjoy some oysters and a bottle of wine. The oysters were really good and there was no sand taste that we sometimes have in the United States.

Our day of wine tasting and visiting the oyster farm was enjoyable and a memorable experience. We are glad that we splurged and booked that wine tour.