We are now in a large house in Samur. Because we are getting to the end of our trip this is our week to relax. On the first day we  hung out by the pool and it was sunny and warm so we were glad for a pool.

We are back in the Loire valley only 30 minutes away from where we stayed almost two months ago! There are many chateaus in France but I was astonished when I found out there are over 40,000 of them! So we went to see the Chateau of Saumur which is famous for its collections of French porcelain.

The next day we relaxed again and the day after that we went on a wine tour of the valley. My family and I learned how to make rosé wine, one would think mixing red and white wine would be best but that method is illegal in France. There are some varieties of grapes that have red skins but white juice so you use those grapes. You crush them and let them sit in the skin pulp for 2-4 days before removing the pulp from the juice. The pulp adds the pink colour and alters the flavour of the wine.

I also learned that there are three ways to ferment the grapes; in steel vats, in barrels and in concrete vats. I knew about barrels and stainless steel vats but not about concrete vats. Apparently you have to paint the inside of the vat with a special paint that makes sure the wine does not seep into the concrete. This method was used 50-60 years ago but is coming back into practice now. We are coming to the end of our trip but look forward to one more post!

Ryan in the pool.

Wine fermenting in a barrel.

Wine fermenting in a cement vat.

Wine fermenting in a steel drum.

The Chateau of Saumur.

More of the Chateau.

The main tower of the Chateau.

Wine we bought on our tour.