Who needs Provence? ...when the glorious Gard is just next door
IT WAS just after 10am when we had our first glass of wine, a fruity little number that tasted of peaches. By 10.30am, we were on to rosés, and long before the clock struck 11am we were hitting the big, bold reds. Such is life when undertaking a tour of the Gard area of southern France, where there’s a vineyard on every hillside.
The Gard is low on the radar of most British holidaymakers, who pour into neighbouring Provence unaware that some of France’s most remarkable sights are less than half an hour away by car. Crumbling Romanesque abbeys, medieval villages and fortified market towns… it’s little wonder that Picasso, Matisse and Chagall all pitched up here.
Uzes – once the proud capital of a hereditary dukedom – is such a gorgeous cliche of France that it could have been knocked up by Hollywood. Add a splash of sunshine, a slurp of chardonnay and a chunk of local saucisson and you could be forgiven for wondering if you’ve died and been transported to Gallic heaven – one which smells of lavender and tastes of fresh truffles.
The Gard region has lent its name to the world-famous Pont du Gard, an immaculately preserved Roman aqueduct that spans the River Gard in majestic two-storey arches.
Yet the Pont du Gard is by no means the only Roman monument in the area. The city of Nimes boasts two of the most spectacular buildings in the Roman world: a perfectly intact amphitheatre (still used for bull-fighting) and the Maison Carree, the finest preserved temple to be found anywhere in the former empire.
Perhaps the most unusual taste of classical times is to be found at the Mas de Tourelles winery, run by two generations of the Durand family. Step inside their cellars and you’ll quickly see that this is unlike any other winery in the world: the ancient foundations reveal that it was already functioning when Augustus was crowned emperor in Rome. When the family realised they were sitting on a unique piece of history, Monsieur Durand called in archaeologists. Over the months that followed, they unearthed a veritable treasure trove of objects: amphorae, Roman wine-making equipment and the ruins of the ancient winery, allowing for a tantalising glimpse of a lost world. The discoveries sparked the idea of rebuilding the original winery and making wines as the Romans did. These days, a portion of the Durand family vines are trained across the olive trees, just as they were 2,000 years ago. The sun-ripened grapes are then crushed by foot – children even wear togas when they squash the fruit – before undergoing a final squeeze in a hammer-beam wine-press.
In classical times, the wine was then sealed into amphorae before being transported across the empire. These days, it’s bottled and sold in the winery shop.
‘And now,’ says family matriarch Diane as she reaches for a corkscrew, ‘you must try a glass.’ Roman wine was very different from today’s wines. The Durands have used a recipe from the Roman epicure, Lucius Collumella, for their white, Turriculae. It contains seawater, fenugreek and grape syrup, and while it may sound disgusting, it’s delicious.
The Gard is dotted with family wineries, most of which offer tours of their cellars followed by a tasting. One of the most eccentric is the Chartreuse de Valbonne.
I’m led into a cloistered courtyard – the geometric sides are so long that they shrink into converging lines in the far distance. ‘It’s said to be the largest cloister in the world,’ explains Sarah Lefranc, who helps to run the winery. I can believe it: you could recite half the Old Testament in a single circuit.
CHARTREUSE de Valbonne was a five-star wonder of the monastic world. Sarah pushes open a door to one of the old cells and I find myself entering a large apartment complete with living room, bedroom and adjoining vegetable gar-
den. The monks who once lived here knew about the good things in life. They had abundant food, lashings of fine wine and only a couple of religious services a day.
Yet their laid-back approach was unable to save the place from ultimate decline. Abandoned in 1901, the place became a temporary centre for leprosy sufferers until parts of it were converted into a winery and hotel, with the rest left empty and allbut abandoned. It’s so huge that no one knows what to do with it.
The Gard clings tightly to its secret corners and you’ll need a car to root them out. Just a stone’s throw from the Chartreuse de Valbonne is the village of La Roque-sur-Ceze, which has recently joined the coveted ranks of ‘Most Beautiful Villages of France.’
Its little houses cling precariously to the steep rock, with cobbled passages leading upwards between them. In the heat of midday, giant horsechestnuts provide shade on the banks of the nearby river. It’s a place to picnic, slurp a glass of rosé and snooze.
Another stunner is the village of St Laurent-des-Arbres, whose most spectacular draw is the fortified Romanesque church that stands defiantly against would-be attackers. Once, its crenellated towers and battlements were guarded by halberdwielding villagers who pitched burning oil on to unwelcome intruders. Now, the gloomy interior has been refurbished in an authentically medieval fashion, providing a snapshot of life at the time of Louis IX.
If the villages of the Gard are resolutely medieval, then Nimes is authentically Roman – this was once one of the great centres of the empire.
But the most extraordinary sight of all is not in the city itself, but 12 miles to the north-east. The Pont du Gard, built in the reign of Augustus, is the most spectacular survivor of the 35mile system that was used to bring fresh water to the city.
Come here at sunset, when the monumental structure is slowly transformed into a silhouette, sharply defined against the evening sky. It’s not hard to imagine it 2,000 years ago, when it was guarded by Roman legionnaires clanking across the flagstones as they scoured the gorge below for unwanted intruders.
This is the perfect place to settle on the banks of the River Gard and uncork a bottle of Turriculae. Better still, get a slave to do it for you.