August 1 - Nyons & Vinsobres 🇫🇷

It’s market day again, this time in Nyons which is 25 Km to the Northeast of us. After hunting down all the things we “had to buy” we retreated to the local bar & restaurant for lunch and a few cold beverages. Our waiter was a real card; pleasant, funny and attentive. We lallygagged here for a while over a light lunch and some great people-watching before driving on to Vinsobres for some wine tasting. The landlord of our villa, who is from Geneva Switzerland is visiting Provence this week with his family and staying in the adjacent property on the acreage. They’ve invited us for Apéro (a 17:00 happy hour) at their home so we picked up a nice bottle of rosé from Luberon to share with them. On our return from Nyons we visit another organic farm where pesticides, herbicides and chemical treatments are strictly forbidden. Consequently, 9 different preparations are prescribed such as compost, chamomile, silica, nettle, horn-manure and other organic field preparations which are actually sprayed on the soils and vines. This method helps to create a diversified, balanced vineyard ecosystem that generates health and fertility from the ground itself. The Domaine Vallot is a beautiful boutique winery that practices organic wine production and we enjoyed some great tasting. The owner tells us that the production is similar to Châteauneuf-du-Pape but that they’ve only been producing for 12 years and not 600 years so they’re less well known. We bought Le Coriançon and L’exception to have with dinner tonight. If you come to Provence, don‘t miss this spot! After the tasting we headed home for a cooling dip in the pool then a lovely Apéro with Sebastian and Anna and their two teenage children Hugo and Émilie.

Market Day in Nyons, France

Pre-lunch beverages in Nyons

The market was packed with people at 10 AM & Vicki looks cute in her new hat walking toward us among the crowd!

We weren’t disturbing the peace! The police officer simply wanted to check out what the fun at our table was all about and Tim brought him into the inner sanctum!!

Domaine Vallot, Vinsobres France

Apéro with our landlords, Anna & Sebastian

Tim and the 1000 year-old London Plane in the neighbour’s yard