During the 1300s, the papacy moved from Rome to the southern French city of Avignon. For decades, a series of popes, cardinals and clerics led lives of luxury in the fortress-like Palais des Papes overlooking the Rhône River – and after a split in the church, epic battles between kings and cardinals, the French papacy reluctantly gave in and returned home to Rome.
It's plain to see why the pleasures of Avignon might have looked better than those of the Eternal City. Provence and the city at its centre are lovely now as they must have been centuries ago. The Mediterranean climate supplies such abundant sunshine that fragrant, intense Gariguette strawberries are ripe by spring. Terra cotta-roofed farmhouses and limestone villages with towering churches punctuate the rolling hills. Olive groves and fields of sunflowers, golden rapeseed and lavender dazzle the senses. What's more, charming little hotels, bistros and the many excellent wineries of the Côtes du Rhône offering free tastings make a trip here eminently affordable.
A typical dinner at Thierry Piedoie, a rustic restaurant in Avignon with beamed ceilings and curtained windows, is quietly thrilling, with coral-hued crab bisque and fork-tender beef slowly braised in red wine from the Côtes du Rhône. Yet it is inexpensive, with local wine as little as $4 a glass.
The hotel across the street from where the popes partied – also called Palais des Papes – has rooms that start at just $117 for a double, including free Wi-Fi and continental breakfast (www.palais-des-papes.com). There's a medieval Provençal style to the guest quarters, with winding stone staircases and room keys affixed to lavender sachets. The medieval streets of Avignon require steely resolve to navigate in a car, but it's the fastest way to explore the region's villages and vineyards, which include the stunning, remote foothills where the famous dessert wine Beaumes de Venise is produced.
Travellers seeking a slower pace can book a barge trip down the Rhône River from Lyons to Arles. It's also common to rent bikes and cycle from village to village.
The main reasons for my visit, however, were the wineries of the Côtes du Rhône – there are more than 6,000. My friends and I are go-getters when it comes to wine, but we had to be reasonable in how many we could cover in a week. The wine region stretches along both banks of the Rhône for 200 kilometres, second in size to Bordeaux. We can thank the popes for contributing to the proliferation of vineyards, continuing a practice that began during ancient Roman times.
Côtes du Rhône is one of the wines I always gravitate toward ordering at restaurants wherever I am, not only because of its invariably plummy, food-friendly personality, but because it's often the least expensive.
On the way to our first winery, Château d'Or et de Gueules, in Saint Gilles, the buds on the vines were flowering and tall cypress trees bordered the vineyards and orchards. A grey horse placidly nibbled grass outside the tasting room, which also showcases rotating art exhibits. We sampled elegant, organic white, rosé and red blended from a range of grapes: chardonnay, cinsault, grenache, syrah, carignan and mourvèdre, ranging in price from $8.90 to $35.60.
We were in the Southern Rhône Valley, home of the legendary Châteauneuf de Pape, a wine that is usually out of my price range. We stuck to wineries where we could actually afford to buy bottles after the free tastings. In an effort to promote wine tourism – a relatively new phenomenon in Côtes du Rhône – several wine routes have been established, with maps available everywhere.
On the outskirts of Cairanne, an old village in the heart of Provence, is Domaine de l'Ameillaud, a beautiful estate encircled by vineyards and fields of purple irises. Mont Ventoux looms in the distance, the highest point in Provence and the last stage before Paris for Tour de France competitors this summer.
The winery has been in Sabine Thompson's family for 200 years and she and her husband, Nick, who is British, have run the property since 1983. They have turned the stables into airy, fully equipped apartments. For those who help during the harvest and don't mind getting their hands dirty in the vineyards, the weekly price will be reduced this fall.
