PROVENCE
Join Max, Patricia & Alessandro for our next Regional 'Deep Dive' into the wine, Cheese & produce of Provence.
Aperitif & Flight of Five Wines & Digestif
We are delighted to invite you to our next deep dive tutorial into the quintessential summer region of Provence as we explore their fine wine, cheese and produce. From the Haute Alpes of the Queyras Regional Nature Reserve, travelling on to Sisteron before ending in Cassis via Les Baux. There will be a flight of fine wines from these specific pockets of the region, plus five fine seasonal local cheeses from artisan farms and a few dishes from the region taking inspiration from the wonderful array of vegetables and produce.
We will begin with homemade Vin de Pêche et Lavande our summer aperitif and then onto the serious business as we then delve into wines from Cassis, Bandol, Saint Remy de Provence and a wonderful herbal liqueur to end the evening made in the Haute Alpes
As always, there will be a couple of surprises on the night! Max & Patricia will guide you along the tasting with insights into the region and its food and drink.
Provence was the very first wine region in France. The pioneer that heralded two thousand six hundred years of national excellence. Vines were planted by the Phoenicians and then some four hundred years later added to by the Romans. The region’s wine, cheese and produce and the idyllic landscape stretching from the Alpilles to the sea has forever been desired and jealously guarded by Europe’s powerful ever since.
THE Limestone plateaus in Cassis jut out into the azure sea to create Provence’s maritime answer to Chablis whilst the east’s granite and sometimes volcanic soils provides the kind of intensity to the wines we associate with Rhone. The sun-drenched grapes grown across the region are tempered and given elegance by the cooling Mediterranean waters and the famous Mistral wind. There’s not just rosé made here; more than twenty grape varieties produce everything from the racy mineral white to the herbal depths of age worthy Bandol Rouge.
The countryside is perhaps the most aromatic in Europe whilst Van Gogh, Gaugin, Monet, Cezanne and Pablo Picasso have famously captured the intense colour palette and landscape. Resinous herbs like thyme, summer savoury, bay and rosemary blanket the region. True ‘Herbes de Provence’ has a reputation for being more pungent yet sweeter than those grown nearly anywhere else. It is these that flavour the milk of the small herds of goats that are still grazed in the inland foothills and mountains. Provencal chevre is every bit the equal of that made in the Loire Valley. The best Provençal goats cheeses share the same unique qualities of the pastures, a delicious combination of herbal pungency and delicate sweetness
This tutorial will transport you to this warm, sunlit, colour drenched region for an evening of cheese, wine and classic Provençal fare.
Due to the nature of the tasting we are unable to accommodate dietaries requirements for this event.
