After we visited Carcassonne this past year and had our
“adventure”, we decided we needed to do/see something positive and life
affirming. So, on a roundabout (traffic circle for Americans) on our return to
our hosts house, we saw a sign for a “
vignoble”
we’d never heard of and quickly took the turn to go pay a visit.
LeChateau de Pennautier (an historical monument nicknamed
Le Versailles de Languedoc), is
beautiful and the wings were designed by
Louis Le Vau, the architect who designed
Versailles,
and the gardens were designed by the landscape architect
André Le Nôtre, who designed the
gardens at Versailles.
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| Le Chateau in all its magnificence |
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| Stairway on the side of the chateau leading up to vineyards |
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| A view of the stairs from the front. There used to be a fountain and pool where the lawn is now (in front of the bench). |
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| By the wine shop a beautiful, peaceful grove of Sycamores. (Plantane) |
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| Walking in the gardens |
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| Beautiful conifers to one side |
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| Hamming it up in front of the chateau |
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| "In the Languedoc great wines aren't born, they become" In the wine shop on the wall. |
Some of the wines we tasted...
We visited during off season and found the wine shop/café
open and quiet. The shop is modern inside an historical building, full of well-placed
lighting, deep reds and wood. Tasteful and elegant, like the chateau itself.
After a wine tasting, we bought four bottles of wine, then walked from the
garden across the street up to the chateau on the edge of the village of
Pennautier. The chateau was closed to the public for the season, but the
grounds were open, and we walked them thinking of an earlier time, when
King Louis XIII stayed here. The young
king might have walked the same paths we did.
The chateau and its
vineyards did what we’d hoped it would
do and restored our festive attitudes. We hope to visit it again when the
chateau is open to the public. The family still keeps rooms there for their use
when they’re in town.
Video to see inside
Missed some of my A to Z 2019 posts? Well look no further...
Unique Concord One of A Kind
Photos by Buie-Collard
Ok, now time to have a rest and take a sip of wine ;)
ReplyDeleteToo right! We had all the bottles before we left France. Luckily, we have lots of friends and family in France to share them with!
DeleteBeautiful house and gardens, wine - what's not to love? I take it off season meant winter?
ReplyDeleteYes, well, early spring. But the mansion itself isn't open until the summer...
DeleteSuch a fascinating and beautiful place. The grove of Sycamores looks so beautiful and spooky at the same time :D
ReplyDelete