It seems the trains don’t always run so frequently on the day after Easter in both France and Italy. So, once again I have been "stranded", this time in the Haute Savoie in Le Chinaillon. Pity.
I am researching the Pre-Alp wines of the Savoie, and today we had to go to two Chalet’s and try two Apremont wines. Same producer, but curiously two different bottle types and two different levels of alcohol. At the higher altitude, the chalet had the lower alcohol one. It could only be reached by ski, snowboard or cross country hike.
My face is now well tanned for sunny Vinitaly. This is the first time down I have had since September and I barely know what to make of a day or two of leisure. But I will endure. If only for the cause of researching the wines of a country I am less familiar with.Fear not, my Italian wine lovers; I will soon get back on the wine trail in Italy. Until then, the Savoie is getting one closer to the source.
Again thanks to my gracious hosts, Wink and Brett. Mondeuse, anyone?
written and photographed on the sunny slopes of the french Alps by Alfonso Cevola limited rights reserved On the Wine Trail in Italy