France | Why You Should Experience A Campsite With Its Own Vineyard At Least Once..
Everyone knows France is serious about its food and wine as we discovered at the vineyard tour & degustation at Domaine de Masserau’s campsite. With the region’s history wedded to it’s strong agricultural tradition, where better to learn about wine making than in the Languedoc Roussillon?
So we’re pretty sure campsite visitors will love the wine tasting vineyard that’s twinned with the campsite…. It’s a hidden gem and well worth the detour so here’s a few reasons you should take a closer look
Have you every seen inside the wine making progress? Nor had we….
Seeing flourishing vineyards less than 90mins away from the coastline at Leucate or nearby Pont du Gard just shows the variety within the south of France….. So grasping the opportunity to visit this tranquil 50 hectare vineyard, we wanted to find out just why it produces wines that have rivalled some of it’s more celebrated French Fizzes… and if you stay at the campsite, you can even visit on a Monday, Wednesday or Friday (4pm) for free to find out just what makes it so quaffable.
Knowledgable, enthusiastic staff make for a great experience
So if you fancy visiting a vineyard but aren’t sure where to start? And fancy visiting someone who runs informal but regular tours then this might just be the perfect place to start your ‘Taste of France‘. It’s hard to pinpoint why you feel so relaxed in this campsite/vineyard…. until you pick your way through the photographs you took in the wine making cellars and the degustations afterwards…. Everyone seems to be smiling or keen to show you how they managed the process from ‘Grape to Glass’ (see here for more on exactly how wine is produced) It’s infectious and had both girls desperate to find out more information on the process, where the wine is stored and what makes red wine differ from white (it’s the skin…)
This unique and fascinating 60 minute tour takes you all the way through the wine making process to the most important part – the tasting…. all in the capable hands of the manager or deputy manager who were fantastic throughout.
it’s always amazing to see how things are made in real life …..
As the tractor chugged past, it prompted Lottie to ask just why it was so narrow… yet another question posed by one of the girls to the every helpful guide…. The behind the scenes tour gives a brief history of the vineyard’s history, the wine from the region of Languedoc and some wine tasting towards the end… But in fairness, there was plenty to see up close and personal… only metres away from the actual process taking place in front of your eyes (from distillation to fermentation, each stage was covered in interesting and simple English (or French))
You’re never too old to learn new things…!!
Having brought the girl’s grandparents on this leg of our European Adventure, this was their first ever wine tasting (can you believe it!) and they were enthralled by the whole process…. Firstly, intrigued that the family have owned this ‘Domaine’ since the 14th century and even more interested in how different grapes are used, or how sugar is either added or reduced to produce certain varieties of wine… it was absorbing stuff!!
everyone loves a new experience! makes it extra special….
Having loved every minute (almost!) of our European Roadschooling Adventure (see examples below), we’ve always looked to take the girls to new experiences. Allow them to learn by seeing or doing not just reading… so with Lottie starting to grow up, it seemed the ideal time to let her experience what a ‘degustation’ really means….
happy smiling faces…. You can’t beat it when they enjoy it so much!!
With over 9 different varieties of wine to choose from… ranging from Cazalet Blanc to the impressive ‘vin rouge’ La Tourie… We worked our way through a multitude of tastes including Viognier, Vermentino, Syrah, Grenache and Cinsault…. Each very, very small taster was met with a grin from Lottie as she enjoyed that first taste of ‘growing up’…. It’s been a special day at an even more unique campsite/vineyard, and one that we’d happily return back to in the future!
Domaine de Masserau
so where did we park the bus for the night?
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