Lavender day

This week Mirabel friends,, Olivier and Sue, took me to see the lavender fields in full bloom. It was glorious! These fields are located on a lovely small road just outside of Vinsobres, 5 km away. We spent hours meandering through row after row of perfect purple blossoms, drinking in the fresh lavender scent. Legions of bees buzzed among the flowers while cicadas sang their distinctive song from trees nearby. It was amazing to see how the lavender thrives in the very rocky soil. A memorable morning outing! We couldn’t resist taking picture after picture. Here are a few to give you an idea. –Dory

 

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Discovering the Drôme and Vaucluse on foot

Our family’s favorite way to get to know a place we love is to explore it on foot. While Jordan and Laura were with us here in Mirabel, we did a lot of hiking together. Mirabel is located in the département Drôme Provençale, just over the border from the the Vaucluse. The weather has been perfect for exploring our region on foot.

In this post I will tell you about three different ways to find great hikes in our region. We didn’t bring any maps or guide books from home. We found it easy to get information and resources here, mostly right here  in the village.

 

Itineraires de Randonnées dans La Drôme  The tourist office here in Mirabel sells a wonderful guide to hiking in the Drôme. Included are 20 hikes in varying levels of difficulty. Each hike has a step by step page with directions (written in French), a detailed map, and background information about the landscape and villages you will see. We went on three of these hikes and enjoyed each one. The variety in the landscape is astounding. We walked through gentle hills and vineyards on one hike, on another we hiked through steep gorges and ravines with wildflower filled meadows overlooking ranges of mountains in the distance. I’m sure we will make our way through all 20 in time.

Promenade & Randonnée guide  For Father’s Day, Jordan and Laura found this hiking guidebook in  La Maison de la Presse bookstore in nearby Vaison la Romaine. Although it is in French, it is easy to interpret because it uses simple symbols and categories to convey information about each hike, as well as stunning photographs. This book really whetted our appetite to explore areas all over the Drôme.

 

 

 

Carte de Randonnée IGN 1:25000-1 cm=250 m Jordan led us on a truly memorable ramble around the twin ridges of the Dentelles de Montmirail, located in the Vaucluse. We bought the very detailed IGN maps at our local tabac just around the corner.  Jordan figured out by consulting the map where we could park, where to begin the randonnee to circumnavigate the twine spines of the rocky formations at the top, and an interesting route to navigate through the landscape. Absolutely stunning views and scenery.

Here is a 360 panorama of one viewpoint along the hike.  Here’s another viewpoint.

 

View of one of the holes in the rock wall at the top of Dentelles des Montmirail.

View of vineyards below, another spine of the Dentelles in distance.


 

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Living room chandelier

Hurray!  Max, our wonderful new electrician, hung the large (and heavy) wrought-iron chandelier yesterday. We think it looks marvelous – the perfect finishing touch to our living room. Today he began making necessary changes to update and upgrade the electrical system throughout the house.  He is working floor by floor, room by room.  On Monday the new boiler and water heater will be delivered and he will begin the installation.  Some changes are more visible than others but they are all vital ingredients to a well-functioning, comfortable home. –Dory

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Views of la terrasse – before and after

Jordan relaxing on the newly refurbished terrace.

Laura and Steve enjoy a glass of wine from a favorite Vinsobres domaine. Note the newly remodeled plancha BBQ grill in the background.

One of our favorite features of Chez Mirabel is the spacious, sunny terrace.  Because of its favorable southwest orientation, even during the winter months we enjoy sunny al fresco lunches and red-gold sunsets. During the past weeks the crumbling enduit (plaster coating) on the walls of the terrace have been completely resurfaced.  The result is beautiful!  We are very happy with the soft warm ecru color, made with ochre colored sand found nearby.

We asked our mason, Dominique, to remodel the BBQ on the terrace. He resurfaced the tile with enduit, built a cabinet, and installed the plancha grill. We are new converts to plancha cooking  – grilling meats, vegetables and even fruit on the hot, flat cast iron cooking surface.  Easy and delicious!

 

 

Here are some BEFORE photos:

You can see the poor condition of the walls of the terrace in this "before" picture. We like the new lighter ecru color in place of the darker rose tones you see here.

As you can see, we completely re-imagined the BBQ! This is what it looked like when we bought the house. It took a bit of work and imagination and we are thrilled with the result.

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Les Vins de Vinsobres

We recently met Paul Barker who runs Rhone Wine Tours. He and his wife Rebecca live in Nyons, a lovely small city 7 km from Mirabel-aux-Baronnies.  Over a glass of wine at a neighbor’s house, I asked him to tell me about the wines and winemakers of our local region.  He suggested three domaines in Vinsobres to visit and gave tips on the wines he particularly enjoys from each winemaker.

  •  Domaine Jaume (wonderful reds, located right in the center of the village)
  •  Domaine Chaume-Arnaud (a superb white and wonderful Cotes du Rhone and Vinsobre reds, located on the road from Vinsobres to St. Maurice)
  • Domaine Pequelette (wonderful, small production Cotes du Rhone and Vinsobre reds. A bit of a challenge to find but well worth the effort to meet the Cedric Guillaume-Corbin and wife at their charming home/winery/tasting room with spectacular view of Mt. Ventoux. Located on a tiny road just outside the  Vinsobres village center)

Vineyards co-exist with fields of lavender in the countryside around Vinsobres

Over the past two weeks, we’ve enjoyed visits to all three, tasting superb reds and whites.  We are enjoying them now and putting some away in the cave here at Chez Mirabel for the future.  Vinsobres is the village we see from our terrace, just 5 km away. What fun it is to take a few relaxing moments out of the day and taste wine!  –Dory

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Lunch at Boulangerie in Faucon

Tables are placed on the terrace overlooking green hills and vineyards.

My morning was spent supervising Max and Dominique who finished the installation of the cabinet for the built-in BBQ on the terrace. Steve spent the morning in the basement, sanding and staining the window shutters for the bedroom facing the Impasse des Fleurs. We had heard great reviews of the bakery/restaurant, Boulangerie, in the charming nearby village of Faucon and wanted to give it a try.  We were delighted by the open air terrace,  lovely view of hills and vineyards below, and the friendly, casual ambience.  Laura decided this was her favorite restaurant so far! Everything they serve is made by hand in the kitchen and bakery inside. We enjoyed superb savory quiches and their justly renowned sweet tartes for dessert.  The 9 euro lunch included pate, green salad, quiche, and wonderful bread fresh from the oven. –Dory

Bernard, the chef at Boulangerie, takes a break after the lunch crowd.

The four of us chose three different tartes and one cherry clafoutis for dessert.

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Progress report

Here is a picture album telling the story of recent progress here at Chez Mirabel. Take a look – this house is truly becoming a home! –Dory

DINING ROOM: Portes Anciennes re-fitted and installed antique doors to create a broom closet in the dining room.

KITCHEN: inside-cabinet lights installed this week; light fixture above sink installed; window painted; back splash area resurfaced, ready for the installation of tiles.

LANDING WINDOW: Here's the window and grille from the exterior of the house. This window is at the top of the photo, above the French doors and balcony.

LANDING WINDOW: Laurent Duclos, our ferronier, created and installed the wrought iron grille for the bedroom landing window.

LIVING ROOM: View of the living room, looking into the fireplace room with new cushions, and the stairs to the bedroom level beyond.

LIVING ROOM: Another view of the living room. I reupholstered the two footstools with fabric leftover from the curtains after shortening them for the landing window.

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Family and Friends at Chez Mirabel

Laura and Jordan at Chez Mirabel

It’s a joy to finally share Chez Mirabel with our children, Jordan and Laura.  Jordan (architect in Beijing) met Laura (grad student at Harvard) in Rome for a few days before flying into the Marseilles airport.  Steve arrived on the same day from Portland, having just finished grading his students’ final exams. Friends Alice and Hal McCartor were our house guests at Chez Mirabel too.

Its been a  busy mélange of work and fun: we unpacked all the boxes in the basement, outfitted the kitchen, matched lamps with lampshades and rewired lamps, hung art, sealed the travertine bathroom tiles and wood doors, hemmed and hung curtains, upholstered chair seats and much more.  At the end of each day is a beautiful meal, prepared in our fully functioning kitchen, often with delicious items purchased just a few steps away at the epicerie.  Last night we tried the superb caillettes aux chataignes  (veal and chestnut paté), sauteed green beans, roasted eggplant and a hearty local grain called épeautre, with a red wine from Rasteau and a rosé from Puymeras.

Hiking through the vineyards surrounding the village of Vinsobres. We see this charming village from our terrace at Chez Mirabel.

We are having a great time exploring the neighboring countryside by taking hikes, mapped out in the terrific Drome Provençale hiking guidebook Alice and Hal got for us at the tourist office here in Mirabel.  Steve, Laura and Jordan also walked to the village of Piégon just 2 km away.  The weather has been warm and beautiful, perfect for hiking and dining outdoors.

Alice and Hal’s last day began with a visit to the fabulous Thursday market in Nyons.  We shopped and tasted and bought two market baskets full of fresh vegetables, fruit, olives, tapenade, cheeses, nougat and homemade sausages.  For lunch we took Lynda and Jim’s advice and ate at La Girocedre in nearby Puymeras.  It was wonderful!  Dining al fresco in the flower-filled shady patio was divine. The the food was seasonal – fresh and delicious. At 18 euros for entree, plat and dessert, we will return often.  –Dory

Dory at the window looking down on outdoor patio at La Girocedre

Lunch at La Girocedre


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May 2 – Our Last Day At Mirabel

Our days at Mirabel in April were so filled with remodeling chores that I didn’t take time to post blog entries. The days came and went and soon nearly five weeks had gone by without a full day off from work, but by May 2nd – our last day in Provence – we thought we’d reached a stopping point and could take the day off. On Monday, April 30th, our maçon François, cut the last tiles for the upstairs bathroom and ceased creating dust, so we used the May 1st holiday with no workmen in the house to clean ferociously in a frantic effort to get it in shape for the arrival of Dory and her entourage, since they will be the first to inhabit our almost completely remodeled house.

Jim and Francois installing the glass shower panel

Jim and I had planned to hike a little in the Baronnies and drive to the small town of Buis-les-Baronnies to explore its shops on our last day, but first we stopped at Mirabel to pay François and consult with him about his next work tasks. François was happy to see us for many reasons, not the least of which was that he desperately needed help installing the glass shower wall for the downstairs bathroom shower.

The glass was extremely heavy and unwieldy, impossible for one person to deal with, so Jim was enlisted as sous maçon for the project. After a couple of hours, the shower glass was installed and we left François to finish his work on both of the bathrooms. It was, however, too late for our excursion into the Baronnies, so we decided to limit our horizons and explore quite a bit closer to Mirabel-aux-Baronnies. We knew that Puyméras, a village only about 2 km from Mirabel, is the closest of the named Côtes du Rhône Villages wine villages to Chez Mirabel. We had never been there, but our friends Jean-Marc and Kristin Espinasse from Domaine Rouge-Bleu had recommended a charming restaurant in the village called Le Girocèdre owned by a woman who is also the village mayor. This would be a perfect time to explore this little village and its wines, so we drove down the road a couple of kilometers toward Vaison-la-Romaine and turned off at a rond-point in the direction of Puyméras.

Puyméras is a delightful small village located on a rock promontory in the middle of vineyards and lavender fields, overlooked by the ruins of a castle destroyed during the French revolution. Its narrow, winding streets flanked by lovingy restored village houses are a delight to explore and the views of Mt. Ventoux and the surrounding countryside from the top of the village are exquisite. We parked at a small car park midway up the main route to the village just below the ruins of the castle. It was shortly after the first round of the French presidential elections and the car park was lined with posters of many of the candidates, some of whom, based on sentiments expressed in their posters, might have joined in the burning and pillaging of the old chateau were it still extant.

We followed the arrow on the chalk-board sign across the street leading us to Le Girocèdre. Its welcoming gates were open. The day was lovely, perfect for dining en terrasse, which we requested. The auberge in which the restaurant is located is ivy-clad and cheery. Its terrace is spread over a large space so there is ample room for enjoying a fair amount of privacy, even when it is filled with people. Vegetables and herbs grow amidst the flowers in the garden.

We ordered the Menu du Marché for 18 euro and chose a Côtes du Rhône rosé from the Domaine le Puy du Maupas, a winery located on the outskirts of Puyméras.

 
As an apéritif accompanying our first glass of wine, we were served toasts with tapenade and hummous. The first course was a large salade composée with cucumbers, tomatoes, artichokes, olives, tapenade and a fig paste. It was garden-fresh, simple and delicious.

The bread served with it was great, so we asked whether it was from the local bakery. They said no, the Puyméras bakery was not good enough so they bought their bread from the Faucon bakery. We decided that nearby Faucon would be one of our next destinations to explore. (We have never been there, but we know it is lovely because we purchased a painting of the village a few years ago.)

Our main course was fish (a delicate dorade with crispy skin in a sorrel sauce). It was garnished with fresh vegetables and a balsamic vinegar reduction, and served with petit épautre (a traditional Provençal grain which is a type of spelt, but much more tender and tasty than the larger spelt grains which we get in the US.)
Dessert was moelleux au chocolat à la guimauveMoelleux au chocolat is like a chocolate lava cake and guimauve is marshmallow. In this rendition, the small, moist chocolate cake had a pistachio marshmallow filling with a raspberry purée garnish. We forgot to take a photo before devouring it so you’ll just have to use your imagination!

Our wine was a lovely, very pale and crisp rosé from the Domaine le Puy du Maupas, and we enjoyed it so much we planned to stop at the Domaine to buy some bottles on our way home. It was labeled as a simple Côtes du Rhône rather than a Côtes du Rhône Villages Puyméras, so we knew it would not be very expensive to acquire.

After leaving the restaurant, we took a walk exploring the narrow streets of the village, enjoying the beautiful houses, fountains and architecture, and finally taking in the views at the high points of the Vieux Village.

We had a lovely time exploring the village, but needed to get back to our house in Cairanne to start packing up for a trip back home. We didn’t have time to stop at the Puyméras Cave Cooperative, but did take time to stop at the Domaine le Puy du Maupas to pick up some of the lovely rosé wine we had so enjoyed. The Puy du Maupas turned out to be located just off the rond-point which marked the turn-off to Puyméras from the main route between Vaison-la-Romaine, Mirabel-aux-Baronnies, and Nyons.

We had a great time tasting their wine and were happy to find that the beautiful rosé we so enjoyed was only 6 euros a bottle, so we purchased a half case. We were also happy to note that the Domaine was so easily accessible to our house in Mirabel. We can purchase wine there at any time. It’s easier than going to the supermarket!

The Côtes du Rhône Villages Puyméras wine appellation includes the villages of Mérindol-les-Oliviers, Mollans-sur-Ouvèze, Faucon, Saint Romain en Viennois, as well as Puyméras itself. Puyméras is one of only about 20 villages that are permitted to append their names to the Côtes du Rhône Villages appellation because they have been determined to be of higher quality than those in the general Côtes du Rhône Villages appellation. We’ve now resolved to explore all of the villages within the Puyméras appellation as soon as possible.

Lynda Gardner

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Our new kitchen revealed!

Our new kitchen viewed from the dining room. Finally we are able to begin to unpack all our beautiful dishes and glassware stored away in the basement since November.

Once the kitchen was installed,  Rick and Martha were able to place the chairs around the dining room table. Its easy to imagine all the wonderful times we will spend here, with meals prepared in our state-of-the-art kitchen. Lynda says our new oven is so ultramoderne that it even speaks in English! Rick hung the chandelier over the dining room table, and installed amber glass pendant lights over the peninsula counter. Tasks ahead include installing the under counter and above cabinet lights, the lights inside the glass-fronted cabinets, and finding the perfect glass tile for the back splash. In less than a month Steve and I will be in Mirabel to see all this wonderful progress in person! –Dory

The dark, plastic-covered object you see in the living room in the background is our 18th century armoire, ready to be uncovered once all the dusty work is done!

 

 

 

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