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Tour de France 2020

Another day, another stage, another journey through comparative wine wilderness, another Slovenian win, another hunt for anything approaching a relevant bottle.

Today the cyclists skirted the fringes of the IGP (formerly VdP) Vins de Balmes Dauphinoises area. Slightly too far north for me to find a vineyard on the route (although I’m sure there must be a winemaker based in Morestel I can’t find one, which is annoying) so we have to settle for Domaine Meunier in Sermérieu, a couple of km south. However, I feel like celebrating managing to find anything at all, so I suggest a bottle of fizz. Their Méthode Traditionnelle Blanc de Blancs won’t break the bank at 7€.

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It’s a rest day tomorrow - perhaps the OP might like to compile a list of the bottles so far? No, I guessed not.
 
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Marchbanks said:
It’s a rest day tomorrow - perhaps the OP might like to compile a list of the bottles so far? No, I guessed not.
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Well, I've dropped back to the team car several times today, filling my bidon gilet with bottles that may have been favoured on the bike by riders back in the day but today would get me kicked off the tour by my director sportif.
Many thanks to Marchbanks and other contributors for such an entertaining journey through the vineyards of France, Slovenia, Denmark and beyond.
Hopefully next Sunday when we reach Paris we can celebrate with a traditional glass of champagne or whatever is recommended!

I've included links where provided but more importantly perhaps the post numbers so you can read the context of the recommendations.

Stage 1 Château Redon / Cotes du Ventoux. Absinthe? Still up for grabs?! #various
…but now the winner is HR Giger Absinthe Brevans. #162
Stage 2 https://www.terredevins.com/degustations/coup-de-coeur-jean-michel-sorbe-reuilly-2018 #47
Stage 3 https://www.vinsetchampagnes.fr/2331-vdp-des-coteaux-du-verdon-thuerry-l-exception-rouge-75-cl.html#47 https://gorges-du-verdon.net/blog/decouvrir-le-vin-de-pays-des-coteaux-du-verdon/ #49
Stage 4 Cviček #59
Stage 5 l’Élémentaire #77
Stage 6 Amazon link #97 https://www.cardenpark.co.uk/the-estate/vineyard/ #91
Stage 7 https://www.cave-pottier.fr/4-vins #106
Stage 8 Tracteur Rosé by Thomas Finot, Genoble. #110
Stage 9 Domaine de Cabarrouy, « Ambre de Samonios », 2015, blanc moelleux #120
Stage 10 https://www.lescavesjulesgautret.co...ois/cognac-millesime-1970-jules-gautret-70-cl #133
Stage 11 Domaine de la Roussille http://www.domaine-de-la-roussille.com
( & local info ) https://fr.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haut-poitou_(AOC)) #135
Stage 12 I reckon the Bielsee is a tiny bit closer, so we’ll go there. fineswisswine.com informs me that we have a choice of Chasselas (nein danke), Müller-Thürgau (meh), Pinot Noir aka Blauburgunder #143
Stage 13 https://www.hachette-vins.com/guide...el-tourlonias-chateaugay-2016-2019/201925801/ #145
Stage 14 Here it is... Skaersøgaard, located in Almind made from Leon Millot, Rondo and Regent grapes and is aged for a year in barriques. #158
Stage 15 Méthode Traditionnelle Blanc de Blancs #163

See also;
Jonathan Harris-Bass’s daily tdf food and wine recommendations. https://fanculamedia.wordpress.com/ #123
 
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Today’s stage winner comes from Wedel, next door to Hamburg. An area not far from Denmark, and with a similarly nascent wine industry. But the nearest vineyard I could find was in Delingsdorf, 30km away, and as a German wine guide I found stated rather sniffily ‘quality wine cannot be made in Schleswig-Holstein’ perhaps we should draw a discreet veil.

The Tour passed within a couple of km of the Chartreuse distillery today, but that felt like a lazy option. A little further on, as the riders descended from the mountains towards Grenoble, they passed about 1km from a Chambres d’Hôte run by a chap with the excellent old French name of Michael Ferguson. Twenty years ago M. Ferguson planted a hectare of his land with vines, and nowadays produces about 2,500 bottles of wine a year.

The grape is Verdesse, an old local variety which makes white wine. ‘Served with a cheese and artichoke soufflé it is a revelation of flavour’ says Michael. As I know that happens to be a staple in the diet of many pfmers I suggest Mas de Bruchet Verdesse for today’s bottle.

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http://lemasdubruchet.com/vignoble/
 
Looking forward to tomorrow's stage to Col de la Loze.
Meribel is my summer stomping ground for a bit of walking and (downhill mountain) biking, have cycled the Col (OK, I admit, mainly down..., got a lift up, I'm on a heavy full sus bike OK...), and bits are V steep.
More importantly, might bring a surprise or two to the race.
Decent wine around there too :)
 
IIRC Col de Madeleine, which features tomorrow was David Millar's nemesis. He describes his struggle on the Col as the reason he joined the dopers. Wonder if he'll mention it in commentary?
 
The DOPE has a fairly dreary voice for comms, though I m sure he knows his stuff. Well, certainly THAT stuff.
 
Today’s stage went into the Savoie wine region, but just to make life difficult the organisers plotted the route up the north-facing side of the valley some kilometres away from the vineyards across the Isère. So sod ’em, we’ll look to Colombia, where winner Miguel Angel Lopez comes from. He was born in Pesca, around 60km east of Tunya, according to Wikipedia. Google Maps can’t find Pesca, but it is apparently in the department of Boyacá, and happily so is the town of Villa de Leyva - where we can find an award-winning vineyard. Good enough!


Viñedo Ain Karim has been making wine for about 25 years, using vines imported from France and the Napa Valley. Their award winner is a Sauvignon Blanc, so that’s my suggestion for today. A bottle of wine costing 66,000 somethings sounds a bit pricey, but fortunately in Colombian Pesos it is equivalent to just £13.75.

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Well of course defending champion Bernal went home today, Lopez seems to have got third place the on podium but the TT up La Planche des Belles Filles will be very interesting! How will Roglic cope without a team? A mechanical could be devastating. Will this years winner dominate for years or will pre race injuries and COVID affected training regimes / Tour selections mean that things change as radically as they have this year? ( ok of course Roglic wasn't an outsider last year )
More importantly will Marcbanks be on board for next years PFM tour of France?
 
Landa annoyed me today, worked his team into the ground & was nowhere near the pace, bit of a fraud. One of his team would have done better.
 
Roglic seems cemented in no.1 place now unless totally unforeseen things happen.

A good race this year. Hopefully the decision to run it has been or will be approved by all.
Certainly a 'brave decision'

Hoping the Giro and Vuelta can be as good.

Less baying fans without masks would be very nice
 
Stunsworth said:
They mainly seem to be where the nutters always are - on the lumpy bits. The odd thing was quite a lot of them were wearing masks, but had lowered them so they could bellow at the riders.
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Great that so many wear masks over nose and mouth
Those that have a mask and pull it down to shout haven't done the arithmetic
Those without can be identified and should be fined.
 
Woodface said:
Landa annoyed me today, worked his team into the ground & was nowhere near the pace, bit of a fraud. One of his team would have done better.
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I have never been in the situation but I wonder if you just don't know until the moment comes. DM's comments about the team taking the lead away from Jumbo Visma led to most of Rog's team to drop leaving him only with Foss. If Landa had the legs it was a great strategy. Worth a go I'd say.
 
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