Chateau du Payre

Tonight we traveled on our bus for about an hour to reach Chateau du Payre, our optional evening tour. This vineyard and winery is a 5th generation woman owned business that has expanded into a Bed and Breakfast wine touring venue. Located on the edge of a small town, our hostess owns acres and acres of vines stretching as far as the eye can see.
We got to walk through her Chateau grounds to the vineyard and she explained how grapes grow, how she prunes the plants to create better ventilation for the fruit and how she harvests differently for each variety of wine.
Later, she took us into her winery where she showed us the tanks that store the grape juice as it ferments for three weeks. Next came the underground cement storage vats where the wine can wait before being blended and bottled.
This winery makes 15 types of wine, including some white, rose and many reds. After a short video about her winery, she served three different white wines to taste. Then she brought us to a dining room where she served us a three course meal with a rose and two red wines to sample. A charcuterie board was followed by Quiche Lorraine and salad, and then a creamy fruity dessert wrapped up our evening.
Spirits were quite high as we said our goodbyes to this very industrious entrepreneur, and returned to our bus for our trip home.Read more