Luberon, France
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TRAVEL: LUBERON Six of the best wineries to visit Left: perched on a hilltop, Gordes is one of many H Domaine de la Citadelle, H Château Turcan, Ansouis villages offering an ideal Ménerbes In the same family since 1860, Turcan base to visit the Luberon Luberon’s flagship estate, launched in offers a range of well-made wines and sample delicacies 1989 by film producer Yves Rousset- alongside a museum brimming with made from local truffles Rouard and now run by his son Alexis. wine-related curiosities. (top) as well as Banon Polished wines, a shop and a corkscrew www.chateau-turcan.com goat’s cheese wrapped in museum. www.domaine-citadelle.com chestnut leaves (above) H Domaine Guillaume Gros, H Château la Canorgue, Bonnieux Maubec Photographs: David Sailors/Corbis; Mary Dowey; Bon Appetit/Alamy. Maps: Maggie Nelson Famous as the setting for Ridley Scott’s One of the Luberon’s most exciting new film A Good Year, though that shouldn’t names. Silky, hedonistic reds made in eclipse the wines made by Jean-Pierre tiny quantities are his forte. No visitor The Decanter travel guide to ‘The Luberon has managed Margan and daughter Nathalie – facilities; appointments essential. to retain the rural charm organic and pure. +33 (0)4 90 75 81 01 www.domaineguillaumegros.com which made it so appealing H Bastide du Claux, H Château Val Joanis, Pertius France La Motte D’Aigues This huge property may not make the Luberon, in the first place’ Sylvain Morey fashions exquisitely Luberon’s best wines, but is a lovely poised wines with a Burgundian place to visit. The 18th-century-style focus on minerality and freshness. garden is one of the most beautiful in Appointments recommended. the south of France while the shop sells FACT FILE With its pretty hilltop towns to everywhere from Vauxhall to Vancouver, Peter From a wine point of view, those cool summer www.bastideduclaux.fr fine local products. www.val-joanis.com Planted area Mayle’s account of life around Ménerbes gave the nights are vital. The long ridge of the Montagne du 6,000 hectares please walkers, and superb food Luberon a clear, compelling identity. Here was a Luberon, rising to more than 1,000m, cools the Main grapes and wine for gourmands, ‘Peter place where you could feast your eyes on ravishing region, slowing down grape-ripening. So the warm on offer alongside delectable goat’s cheeses – the How to get there White Grenache Blanc, Mayle country’ is still as enticing landscapes, gorge on truffles, drink decent local southern Rhône’s southernmost appellation is more local star among them, Banon, hogging attention By plane to Marseille or Clairette, Vermentino, wines and move through life at the same slow pace capable than many further north of making crisp with its distinctive chestnut-leaf wrapping. Avignon (flight time less Bourboulenc, Roussanne, as ever, says Mary Dowey as the ancient Citroëns on the roads. The book whites, delicate rosés and elegant reds in which Summer is the time to enjoy this bounty in the than two hours from Marsanne, Viognier transfigured the whole image of Provence, making cool-toned Syrah tempers heat-loving Grenache. Luberon’s most idyllic setting – on a terrace of various UK airports); then Rosé Grenache Noir, Syrah, the hotspots of the Côte d’Azur seem infinitely less sun-warmed stones shaded by a canopy of vines. a 30-minute drive to the Cinsault HAS ANYBODY NOT heard of the Luberon? Some appealing than the languid Luberon. For all seasons Because the region’s raw ingredients are so good, vineyards Red Syrah, Grenache Noir, 25 years ago the world would have put its hand up Or so it seemed to the English-speaking world. Visitors still see the Luberon as a summer talented chefs like Edouard Loubet, Reine Sammut By fast train (TGV) to Mourvèdre, Carignan in answer. The pretty countryside tucked under the In fact, the Luberon’s emergence as a tourist destination. Even in the August heat it is greener and Eric Sapet count among its most passionate Avignon from London St Soil types Varies, but hem of the Southern Rhône was a sleepy backwater destination had begun in the late 1960s. Wealthy than other parts of the south, its melon fields and supporters, spinning magic out of everything from Pancras (about six hours), includes sand, limestone – east of Avignon, north of Aix-en-Provence but as Parisians came south in summer to restore quaint, orchards watered by the Durance river through an poppies and thyme honey to 40 kinds of basil. plus a 20-minute drive scree, red clay vague in its impact as the mountain of the Grand pitifully deserted villages such as Oppède-le-Vieux, ingenious Roman channelling system. Heaped with But other seasons can be just as entrancing, not More information visit Luberon blanketed in autumn mist. while well-to-do Marseille families migrated north, impeccable produce all year round, the markets in least because the sky is almost always blue. Spring www.provenceguide.co.uk That changed in 1989 when A Year in Provence swapping the bustle and heat of the coast for rural summer seem especially enticing, with cherries, brings blossom and tender asparagus; autumn, and www.vins-luberon.fr became an immediate bestseller. For readers calm and a less sweltering climate. peaches, apricots and Cavaillon’s famous melons wild mushrooms and the scent of woodsmoke; ➢ 114 | December 2 0 1 1 • DECANTER DECANTER • December 2011 | 115 TRAVEL: LUBERON Luberon WHERE TO STAY, SHOP, EAT AND RELAX Superb accommodation, fine dining, tasty souvenirs and history HOTELS & B&Bs BARS & La Roumanière Above: summer is the Bastide de RESTAURANTS This sheltered workshop for the perfect season to enjoy Capelongue Auberge de Lagnes mentally handicapped in Robion is the region’s famous Just outside Bonnieux, this country worth supporting. Using luscious Cavaillon melons house hotel and Michelin-starred Luberon fruits, it produces more restaurant is run by ambitious chef than 60 splendid jams, prettily Edouard Loubet. Dishes are often topped with Provençal fabrics. divine – and never less than www.laroumaniere.com intriguing. www.capelongue.com L’Art Glacier Château Grand Callamand The perfect village restaurant – friendly, cosy and inexpensive – presenting simple, tasty food with a flourish. Not completely French, however: chef Stewart Luxton is a native of Ipswich. www.aubergedelagnes.fr Above: wineries to ‘The Luberon can show two Strange but true: a sensational visit in the Luberon artisan ice cream producer AC include (from Auberge la Fenière faces: the one with vineyards, Recent recruits to wine production The Michelin-starred restaurant operates in the wilds of the country top) Domaine de la near Pertuis, Nathalie and Albert with rooms run by the Luberon’s near Ansouis. Sample at least a few olive groves, lavender fields and Citadelle, Château la Souzan have created three culinary first lady, Reine Sammut, of Olivier Perrière’s 50-plus Canorgue and red cliffs smiles warmly’ charming rooms for B&B guests in and her sommelier husband Guy. flavours on a terrace with a view. Château Val Joanis their handsomely restored Brilliantly vibrant, unfussy food www.artglacier.com 16th-century bastide. with an inspiring wine list. Left: Reine Sammut, winter, diamond-bright light, truffles and the olive www.chateaugrandcallamand.fr www.reinesammut.com TOURIST TRAIL chef at the Michelin- harvest, followed by the grassy taste of the new oil. starred Auberge la Abbaye de Sénanque To compound these seasonal variations, it is Deep in a valley beyond Gordes, Fenière in Lourmarin Le Moulin des Le Thé dans l’Encrier often said that the Luberon can show two faces at Sources This nifty little bookshop café is a this 12th-century Cistercian abbey any time of year. The one with vineyards, olive A stylish yet well-priced B&B in a great spot to stop off for coffee, surrounded by lavender fields Top left: monks at groves, orchards, lavender fields and red cliffs former olive oil mill conveniently tea or a light lunch in the centre of rewards visitors with a calm, the Sénanque Abbey smiles warmly. The other, with its stark grey close to Gordes. L’Occitane Lourmarin. Quiches, crumbles mystical beauty in a way that near the hilltop mountains, forests, gorges and bare limestone toiletries, pool towels, robes and and cakes are all home-cooked endless postcard photos simply village of Gordes dwellings known as bories, appears more austere, here for generations, and a low but significant delicious breakfasts add to the by owner Mapie Lamy. can’t. www.senanque.fr grow lavender for especially under the icy blast of the mistral wind. number of glitzy investors from elsewhere. The Below: Roussillon’s famous appeal. www.le-moulin-des- +33 (0)4 90 68 88 41 their livelihoods Even the picturesque, precariously perched Côtes du Luberon appellation, now known as red ochre cliffs sources.com Château d’Ansouis villages – Gordes, Ménerbes, Bonnieux and the rest Luberon, was created in 1988. Although it has taken Restaurant du Lac There’s no better place to absorb a – look wary and guarded, as if they still fear the longer to develop a momentum than has the region Philippe Sublet gives Provençal swathe of French history in an hour. sort of attack which, in 1545, saw 11 Waldensian as a whole, there are 49 wineries today compared food a gentle modern twist in his Behind its classical façade, this (Protestant) communities massacred in one night. with 25 just 15 years ago. (Houses are expensive, lakeside restaurant. Fish fresh off magnificently preserved château is but vineyard land remains relatively cheap). the boats in Marseille are a special medieval on one side (don’t miss Small growers, big investment Wine prices are a shade ambitious simply draw.