skipandmaryalice: Chateau Malherbe/La Londe-les-Maures and Back to Bormes for Lunch

We arose rather early and decided to visit the vineyards near Bormes. We have visited them many times through the years, but this time of year many are closed and wine tasting here is actually not as much fun as say wine tasting in Sonoma and Napa... maybe the language barrier has something to do with it. However, there was one vineyard, Chateau Malherbe, that I especially wanted to revisit. I remember a poster they had there and I have wanted one for a very long time. I've searched the internet, but the poster (printed in 1974) apparently is no longer in print. So off we went, deciding that if they were not open, the ride through the countryside would still be worth it. It was a brilliantly sunny day and there was no downside to our decision.

What great luck we had... they were open, and the poster was hanging there are pretty as you please. So we sampled a few red wines, chatted with the staff (who was just learning English), took pictures of the poster, bought a bottle of the wine, and left. Score one for us!

After leaving Chateau Malherbe, which is very near Fort de Bregancon (a former fort that is now used as a summer residence for the President of France), we decided to just drive through the vineyards and enjoy the beautiful weather. (It was nearly 70!)

We ended up seeing a sign for La Londe les Maures, a town which we had never visited so we decided to take that route. It turned out to be quite a pretty little town.

The town was quaint, but we really didn't see a place that we wanted to eat. So we headed back to Bormes and ate at one of the village restaurants. The village of Bormes was especially beautiful in the bright sunshine.