This post brings together three great offerings from France: good wine, great chant, and the Tour de France.
I while ago I wrote about the wonderful wine made by the traditional Benedictine monks of Le Barroux in S. France. I bought some, tried it, and it is indeed good.
They are working the papal vineyard from the time of Clement V, an Avignon Pope. This wine was particularly appreciated by his successor, Pope John XXII, dodged being a heretic by hair’s breadth. After WWI the land was worked again and in the 70’s the wine obtain the status of “AOC Ventoux”. Then the monks built their monastery nearby in 1986. They’ve teamed up with their neighbors in the production of Via Caritatis grand cru wines since 2016.
They’ve recently been allowed to export to these USA!
A link to an order form!
You can hear live online or on demand the monks chanting the liturgical hours HERE. They sing like men.
It just so happens that tomorrow’s stage, 11, of the Tour will take the cyclists through the vineyards of the monks on their way to climb the legendary Mount Ventoux.
Remember, too, that the Benedictines of Norcia, Italy, are making great beer. They have a beer club to which you can subscribe.
The monks reached out to me and said that for every FIVE new Club members who sign up and reference “Father Z” in the “Notes about your Order” line, I will get a free case! I share it with my friends. Everyone likes it. With savory sausages and cheeses it simply can’t be beat. Order some now.
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There is a picture on google maps street view of the “primitive” Chapelle de la st croix on Mount Ventoux with what looks like a snow drift pouring in through the doorway.