Thursday, July 8, 2021

Wine & Food of Le Tour 2121, Stage 12: Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux to Nîmes

Where are we? Heading from the Drôme to the Gard.

Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux: The regional tourist site tells me that: Rich with surprising history, which you will discover as you bop around lanes and squares, this little town has many a secret to unveil to visitors. The Provençal charm of Saint Paul Trois Châteaux will leave you filled with wonder, because of the white stone shaped by centuries, and boasting magnificent Provençal architectural works. These living memories from bygone times never cease to inspire us, such as the cathedral’s romanesque style, or the façades of private mansions.
The historical centre of Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux is full of surprises and architectural masterpieces of various styles, including the Cathedral Notre Dame, in the Provençal romanesque style. Now a listed monument, it was built in the 12th and 13th centuries. A trail indicated by 30 signs or so leads you through the town centre of Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux so that you can see its entire heritage. As it is just a stone’s throw from the Cathedral, do not hesitate to take a little break at the Tricastin Archaeology Museum and see Europe’s largest mosaic – 108m² wide – as well as an Ark of the Covenant dating from the 15th century, unique in Europe.

Nîmes: Another day for a museum: Museum of Romanity The largest cultural project in the Occitanie region, opened in 2018, offers a permanent collection, a temporary exhibition space, a 3,500 m2 archaeological garden and a restaurant with a planted terrace, offering a 360° panoramic view. The museum welcomed 160,000 visitors in the six months following its opening, which is the equivalent of one year's attendance. Jean-Paul Fournier, mayor of Nîmes, is behind this initiative, which follows the discovery of some very rare mosaics during excavations on the Allées Jaurès. This museum offers a permanent collection of 5,000 pieces, including the mosaics of Achilles and Pentheus. It offers a unique experience for a journey back in time through the history of Nîmes, from the 7th century BC to the Middle Ages, through a very innovative museography and an immersive scenography (augmented reality, monumental audiovisual technologies...). At the entrance, a spectacular remnant of a propylaeum pediment, entirely reconstituted and restored, placed 15 metres above the ground, symbolises the entrance to the sanctuary of the spring that gave birth to the town. It is the entrance to the museum and the archaeological garden.

Le tour specialties: 
Saint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux: Tricastin black truffle. Wine from the Coteaux Grignan-les-Adhémar, olive oil, lavender.

Nîmes:  brandade of Nîmes, Villaret croquants (dry cakes), picholine (green olive AOC), olive oil from Nîmes (AOC), small Nîmes pâtés, gariguettes of Nîmes (strawberries), Costières de Nîmes (AOC wine). Jeans originate from Nîmes (Denim).

Christian Prudhomme says: After a journey along the magical Gorges de l’Ardèche that will for the first time be entirely visited by the Tour, this stage should end with a bunched sprint in Nîmes, like in 2019 with a similar finish. One will however have to be extra careful: the wind could be a key factor on wide open roads and echelons could occur.



The stage: A sprint stage, which should be a relief for many riders after the stress of yesterday. Could it be number 34 for Cavenidhs? Maybe. But many felt tired legs might make it unlikely. Not starting today, Peter Sagan, so another sprinter gone from the race. But also, one of the most entertaining things to watch:
Echelons! After that excitement, the break of the day formed consisting of: André Greipel, Edward Theuns, Julian Alaphilippe, Imanol Erviti, Nils Politt, Stefan Küng, Stefan Bissegger, Connor Swift, Harry Sweeny, Brent Van Moer, Luka Mezgec, Sergio Henao, Edvald Boasson Hagen.
Indeed, as they continued on, it was very much looking like a day for the break, with a strong group up front with a large gap.  Forty nine kilometers to go and an attack by Nils Politt, with company. One would expect those to continue throughout the rest of the stage as the riders would want to drop both Alaphilippe and some of the faster riders.
A split came with Küng, Sweeny, Politt and Erviti. They had about twenty seconds with thirty six kilometers to go.

Twenty five kilometers to go and they had twenty seven seconds and the gap kept going out. As they continued, Küng was dropped. As they continued, a strong attack by Politt.
He would hold on the for the win. Well done!
 
os.Rider Name (Country) TeamResult
1Nils Politt (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe3:22:12
2Imanol Erviti (Spa) Movistar Team0:00:31
3Harry Sweeny (Aus) Lotto Soudal
4Stefan Küng (Swi) Groupama-FDJ0:01:58
5Luka Mezgec (Slo) Team BikeExchange0:02:06
6André Greipel (Ger) Israel Start-up Nation
7Edward Theuns (Bel) Trek-Segafredo
8Brent Van Moer (Bel) Lotto Soudal
9Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Deceuninck-QuickStep
10Sergio Henao Montoya (Col) Qhubeka-NextHash



The wine: Licence IV Rouge 2018 LITER
From the producer: One thing unites every bar, brasserie and restaurant in France: the Licence IV placard.Licence IV is the permit in France allowing cafes, restaurants, hotels, and nightclubs to serve alcohol. The official enameled placards can be found bolted to the walls of these establishments throughout France.

Licence IV Rouge is Grenache, grown in the coldest corner of the Southern Rhône. Born cool, so to speak, like a Jazz tune or a beat poem written in black cherry-scented letters. Licence IV Rouge is ready for every moment: you, turtlenecked in the corner, swirling your glass of wine like a yo-yo master, nonchalantly wafting aromas of licorice and thyme with a smile. Licence IV Rouge doesn’t care what time you arrive. What matters, mon ami, is that you’ve finally made it.
85% Grenache, 15% Syrah

The Food: Nîmes brandade
Brandade is a speciality of Nîmes made from cod or, more precisely, hake, which was the name given to salted and dried hake, a fish caught in the Mediterranean, before becoming the local name for cod.
The story goes that a woman from Nîmes had the idea of grinding the cod meat in a stone mortar, diluting it and mixing it with the fragrant oil of the surrounding garrigues. This new dish was called brandade, from the word brandado, which means "stirred" in Provençal. Brandade was first mentioned in 1788 in the Encyclopédie méthodique. It states that hake are cut into pieces and put in a pan with finely chopped garlic. Oil is added little by little, which "should bind with the garlic paste and the fish".
It would be an overstatement to speak of "terroir" for brandade... although it is true! The brandade was born from the meeting of three ingredients that could only be found in Nîmes: sea salt harvested fifty kilometres away, local hake later replaced by cod, and olive oil, which is abundant here. It also undoubtedly owes its success to the social structure of this industrious town from the 17th to the 19th century when the recipe was popularised.

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1 comment:

  1. Dr. PablitoJuly 8, 2021 at 12:48 PM

    Always cool when a relative nobody grabs a stage win. Plucky riding today by Nils with a very good kick at the end. Chapeau!

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