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 Irish holidaymakers. Crumbling Romanesque abbeys, medieval villages and fortified market towns… it’ s little wonder that Picas so, Matisse and Chagall all pitched up here.
Uzes 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.
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 bullfighting) 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 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