… and yet, here he was in Latour de France. 

Yet another wine-growing village only 20 km  from here. And yes, I’m the one who is confused as it doesn’t have anything to do with the famous bike ride. 

The village is built into the rocky hillside and the flat(ish) land along the River Agly is left for the vines. We parked the car just outside the village and found a cute picnic area. 

We have seen these BBQs before, but really don’t understand how they work. They certainly don’t look as easy as the free gas ones back home. 

On our return trip, we stopped off at two caves (vineyards) recommended by our hostess.   One was closed, but we’re getting used to that, however the next one a few kilometres further on was open. 

We tasted two of the cheaper reds on offer at Mas Amiel after Mick had spotted this selection being sold as the year they were produced. A bottle of 1969 red would have set us back  €92. 

We ended up buying a bottle of Vertigo for €12,50. Yes, the cheapest. 

This vineyard, as with all in this region, skites about how many sunny days per year the grapes get. 

As we were leaving we noticed all these bottles of  wine sitting in the open. Apparently this technique is used for making a sweet white muscatel wine. 

We then stopped at a cave we had stopped off at before where we had really enjoyed the wine. This is a small independent winery which is rare in this area. 

Marc Majoral is the owner and almost single-handily makes the wines he sells. 

He likes to explain mostly in French  (of course), about the age of his vines and how he makes his wines. We can understand most of what he says, but the most important thing is that his wines taste beautiful. 

This is a cave you can bring an empty plastic flagon along to and have it filled with the bulk wine of your choice.  We have decided not to do that. Sounds too dangerous. 🍷

It was almost 5pm, so we stopped for some bread in Saint Paul de Fenouillet just in case our little boulangerie had sold out. Interestingly, this shop sold local wines, but their baguette wasn’t as good as that sold in  Caudiès

We have driven along this road dozens of times as it is only about 7km from home, but this is the first time we had to stop for the lights. 

The road signs get you to slow from 90km to 70km as you approach these automatic gates. You really don’t get much time to come to a complete stop. 

This train was empty, but it is apparently extremely popular in the summer.