Our vineyard journey didn’t start with land purchased in 1863 that was handed down through the generations – quite the contrary…we had round trip tickets to the South of France and Italy and a rental car, it was May 2004 and we called it our “Honeymoon”.  We were newly married  and had much anticipated this two week break with a car and a few tour guide books and nowhere to be! After a few days unwinding on the beaches in Nice and Juan Le Pins we headed out north towards Aix en Provence on a road trip.  We toured the countryside (mostly we were lost), enjoying the quaint towns, architecture and rolling vineyards.

We stumbled upon areas called Orange and Chateauneuf du Pape and a small estate called Beaucastel.

After many delicious meals and days of driving (probably in circles, but we didn’t care) we found ourselves bringing up the same topic:  “Why can’t we do this at home?!” How hard could it be to build a petite chateau and a small vineyard, really?  The French made it look so beautiful and easy… or so we thought!  to be continued.