Travelling in an almost nine metre long motorhome with three children isn’t exactly the perfect recipe for enjoying some of France’s vineyards – or so we thought! Thankfully, we quickly discovered that this isn’t an experience we needed to have written off!
My favourite wine has always been Chateauneuf-du-Pape, we drank it at our wedding and its been a treat at almost every Christmas dinner since! So my heart skipped a beat when I realised that in heading to the beautiful city of Avignon we were passing through this infamous wine region!
It didn’t disappoint; we drove past row upon row of beautiful ombre-coloured vines - coloured by their leaves, these twisted plants were sat as if in hibernation awaiting the warmer weather! After some research on the CamperContact app we found a chateau vineyard situated on the edge of the Chateauneuf region offering a free parking space for the night, with the unsaid assumption that you would try and buy some wine! (without then needing to drive anywhere afterwards!)
Chateau Maucoil was a beautiful spot with breath-taking views across the valley, and it provided a good hard-standing carpark. There are no services on site (they do have a pool, free to use, but it’s only warm enough in summer), but they do lock the gates overnight so it felt secure, and we had a peaceful night’s sleep.
Upon our arrival the cellar was opened and we were invited to taste a number of the different wines including their house Cotes-du-Rhones and their various vintages of Chateauneaf-du-Pape. The friendly staff member was quiet and not very forthcoming about the wines, but he spoke good English, was polite and answered all our questions. We walked away, very happy with our purchases, and having been blessed with a great night’s rest.
Further along our trip through France, we enjoyed another happy night at a vineyard. Once again CamperContact was great at offering suggestions and its users recommended Domaine Mi Cote, on the outskirts of Beziers for the night. This small family run vineyard gave us the warmest of welcomes and we again enjoyed another tasting. This time given by the owner, Jérémie (I think I have his name right) a third-generation vintner here, who welcomed us as neighbours rather than strangers. He was absolutely lovely, very down to earth and wonderfully passionate about his work. We had a great conversation that was a jumble of French, Spanish and English and included some great tips from him about interesting places to visit in the local area! With only 12 hectares of vines, he tends to work with neighbouring vineyards to produce some very smooth viognier (an ideal companion to seafood and the stinky Roquefort that Andy loves) as well as some very drinkable red that was light and yet bursting with flavour (and cheap too!).
As dusk fell we could see Béziers Cathedral lighting the night sky, and a short walk in the morning revealed we were very close to the fascinating nine locks of Fonseranes and the Canal du Midi with views of Cathedral. Again, another peaceful night spent in our motorhome, tucked away behind locked gates. Whilst there was no access to services here either, it was very easy to get to from the autoroute and the parking spot itself was large and therefore easy to access.
In both cases we were more than happy to purchase some of the wine, in exchange for the kindness of the vintners for allowing us to park on their land for the night. In both cases we didn’t feel pressured. Instead we were left with a feeling of joy, that we had been able to enjoy staying in such beautiful countryside, and sample produce of the area. It felt a great way to support smaller vineyard businesses too. We’ll definitely be looking out for further stays like this on our journey.
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