Chateau de Goulaine, Loire Valley
Nantes is a beautiful city on the western side of the Loire River, about 50 km inland from the Atlantic coast, and almost 400 km southwest of Paris. Thank God for the TGV fast train which only takes about 2 hours for the journey from Paris.
Just south of Nantes, the Pays Nantais region has been producing wine since the Roman era.
The region is best known for its crisp, light white wine styles, the most famous of which is unquestionably Muscadet, which is not related in any way to Muscat. Muscadet is made from the grape variety, Melon de Bourgogne or Melon.
The other main wine from the pays nantais is Gros-Plant, which is made from the grape folle blanche. Gros-Plant has greater vivacité or liveliness than Muscadet.
Today was my second attempt to explore the Pays Nantais region. But once again, the vineyards I found were not very beautiful, as they stretched out on flat ground.
So I took the opportunity to visit Chateau de Goulaine, which is situated in the midst of the vineyard area. This property has been home to the family of the marquis de Goulaine for over a thousand years.
I arrived about an hour before the opening time to find the gates closed to this beautiful old chateau, sitting in a vast park of lovely trees. Strangely, when I turned the door handle to the gate, it opened.
So, I entered and walked around. It was an eerie but wonderful experience wandering around alone, seeing the old chateau through the trees.
When the chateau opened, I did an interesting guided tour, along with three French guys, who were big, old and friendly like me.
One of them said to me in a typical French manner — “you don’t have chateaux like this in Australia” — to which I responded, “but this is a vestige of feudalism, a shameful period in French history where royalty and nobility exploited the masses”. My new friend was taken aback, but seemed to swallow my comment.
At the end of the tour, the French guys treated me to a Perrier along with them. As it happened, they were three old bikie mates, motards (see photo) who from time to time ride off for lunch together and take in a cultural visit.
One final anecdote comes from my taxi ride out to the Chateau and vineyards. The driver asked me about my situation, to which I cheekily responded that I was an immigrant. He retorted that I was an expatriate, and that only Africans and Arabs were immigrants. Nuance is always important in cultural discussions in France!
Overall, another pleasant day out!