Chinon from above

Chinon is described in these terms in the Michelin green guidebook I have :

...le vieux Chinon serre ses toits pointus et ses ruelles tortueuses entre les quais de la Vienne et l'escarpement du château. Le quartier a conservé de nombreuses maisons médiévales : façades à pans de bois aux poutres sculptées, pignons de pierre flanqués de tourelles, fenêtres à meneaux, portes ciselées.

I know when I took these photos. It was in October 2000 on my first visit to Chinon ever. I can't remember, and wish I could, whether I took any of them from the top of the Tour de l'Horloge. I know I climbed up to the top of the tower once, but I can't remember when. My last visit to Chinon was in 2018. I think I feel another one coming on.

Video: a Chinon winery (5)

Here's the last installment of the video series about a young vigneron taking over his parents' winery near Chinon and about his trip to North Carolina to try to sell one of his first vintages. Watch for: French people eating sandwiches in a parking lot after meeting with the staff of the Angus Barn restaurant; Americans touching, smelling, and even licking rocks that were gathered in the Chinon vineyard; and the good-natured session with an American audience.

Yesterday I posted, in a comment, a link to a site with more information about the Domaine Grosbois. Here's another French wine site you might enjoy looking at.

Video: a Chinon winery (4)

In this six-minute video clip, our young vigneron from the Chinonais goes to the U.S. to try to sell his new-style wines. He goes to North Carolina, where he knows a Frenchman who's working there. He packs a bag of rocks that he has gathered in his vineyard in Panzoult to show the Americans what kind of soil his grapes are grown on. For him, those rocks explain the mineral quality of Chinon red wines. Along the way, he says things that are funny to me. For example, he says N.C. is a very wealthy state (it's actually number 39 out of 50 in terms of per-capita income) where people enjoy fine cuisine.

The fast-food culture hasn't reached N.C. yet (is there any American state where fast food isn't a great share of the people's diet?). To try to sell his wines, he ends up going to one of North Carolina's best known restaurants, the Angus Barn, a steakhouse between Raleigh, the state capital, and Durham, where I went to college. I had a couple of dinners there when I spent four years in Durham, 50 years ago. I don't think I drank much wine back then. I couldn't afford it. My first trip to France was in 1970. I drank wine but it probably wasn't Chinon wine.

Video: a Chinon winery (3)

Our young vigneron's father, who at the time was retiring from the wine business, turning it over to his son, is mystified by the vendanges vertes strategy for improving the wines made from grapes grown on his property. The son mentions that it is time for him to hit the road to try to sell his new-style wines. He will go to the United States... This a six-minute video clip.