The roman ruins of Montcaret

the church of St Pierre ès Liens - the tower on the left is 11th century
 but the rest of the church destroyed and then rebuilt much later

Spent a Sunday afternoon at a local church, or more correctly, investigating the roman ruins on which this church was built.

Adam and Eve

St Peter and St Paul

you can see the original roman walls beneath the church

This extensive villa complex was started in 1^st century AD and inhabited until the 5^th century. 

old grave stone

tranquil setting

Benedictine monks came along in the 11^th century and built a church on the site using materials from the abandoned villa and some of the original walls as foundations. There are even a few medieval burial sites in the walls and floors of the old villa.

medieval burials

Some of these medieval burial plots were made almost directly onto the old Roman tile floors when it was turned into a medieval cemetery. When more recent excavations were made they found the tombs and remains sitting on the tiled floors as seen in the photo below.

 Because of this the church takes up a large space in the centre of the complex so there is much of the roman ruins that cannot be accessed. The church was partly destroyed during the wars of religion in the 16^th century ( this area was deeply protestant) and later rebuilt.

sea creatures

now this is a bath !

shield design

fishscale design

knot design

There are remains of cold and thermal baths, colonnades, a gallery and the rooms of the villa itself. The mosaics are made of local limestone and terracotta and use various motifs including fish, flowers, fish scales and knots. The colours are not as bright as they would have been, but then they have been underground for fifteen hundred years. You can also see the watercourses built underneath the floors for heating. The buildings are on a gentle slope facing south so I can imagine the villa having views to the river Dordogne and across the valley.

the inside of the villa - those are two skeletons discovered buried in the mosaics

magnificent mosaic floors

underfloor drainage

and yet more mosaic

seems a shame to disturb his sleep

A mosaic was first discovered during local building works in 1827. Then again in 1873 more objects were unearthed during more building activity. Pierre-Martial Tauziac, who collected finds from here as a child, later led the excavations in 1921 working with the Archaeological Society of Bordeaux. The site was listed as an historic monument in 1926. 

Montcaret is only ten minutes from our home, and roman ruins have also been found in Sainte Foy la Grande. Unfortunately, most have been lost over the centuries, but it does show that there has been a settlement of some sort here for at least two thousand years.

roman ruins at Ste Foy have been relocated to a lovely terrace overlooking the river

See, everyone who comes here loves the Dordogne.

Très bonne semaine à tous mes amis

A birthday lunch in the Médoc

I have been following Mimi Thorisson’s blog, Manger, for a couple of years. Her energy and style is amazing. In the last two years she and husband, Oddur, have had another baby ( they have seven children all together between them - and nine dogs), bought a large house in need of renovation, produced a cookbook, started giving cooking classes , and now have opened what they refer to as a ‘pop up’ restaurant in their home in the Médoc wine region northwest of Bordeaux.  I told you Mimi has amazing energy. 

1 rue de Loudenne, Saint Yzans -de-Médoc

So this is the place I chose to celebrate my birthday this week. The restaurant is only open on fifteen set dates through the summer for either lunch or dinner, so you have to be quick for a reservation.

It’s a two hour drive from our house so we took the opportunity for a little wander around Pauillac on the way. This is one of the main towns in the Médoc and sits beside the Gironde.

The pale stone of Médoc buildings in Pauillac

how to draw attention to your wine shop

A suitable welcome on the jetty at Pauillac

It was not far to the little hamlet of Saint Yzans-de-Médoc and the house wasn’t difficult to find.

if you have the space, then why not a beautiful big dresser

what a fabulous corner cupboard

prep room

busy in the kitchen

If I'm very quiet perhaps they won't notice me watching them eat 

The décor is casual french country style, and we shared a table with an English family on holiday.

The atmosphere was relaxed and friendly and Mimi and Oddur were very attentive. They really know how to make you feel welcome.

simple table decoration

The food was excellent and their wine choices made for interesting discussions about wines we have all tried from the region. The menu offers three courses with two choices for each, so naturally we ordered everything .

started with a glass of champagne and a platter of saucisson, radishes and bread

gazpacho with garlic cream

krispy kale and garlic cream tartlet

So enthusiastic that I forgot to photograph our mains, a steak au poivre and a duck confit parmentier. Both delicious, of course.

For dessert we had chocolate meringue and walnut cake with a generous dousing of alcohol.

Oddur's photo of the chocolate meringue - very decadent

the walnut cake came with a birthday candle and Mimi and Oddur sang
 'happy birthday' - sweet and thoughtful

Graham's wine comments: 

After starting with a Billecart-Salmon Brut Reserve champagne we were then introduced to a selection of local Medoc wines.

With our entree we tried two local Listrac white wines, basically both being a Sauvignon blanc but with a significant difference in nose and taste. Both were 2013 vintage, but the first had a strong "pear" taste and a dry palate. The second was more the standard Sav Blanc with a strong dry palate. Unfortunately, for the whites we did not take note of the producer so no guidance there.

Onto the main courses and we tried three different local 2010 north Haut-Medoc cabernets, starting with the lower grade wine and moving up to finish with a Grand Cru Classe Pauillac.

While the first rouge, was a basic local Saint-Estephe wine, we found it still a little heavy on the tannins and needing plenty of time to breathe. We then moved onto  a Cru Bourgeois Saint Estephe, Chateau Mayne, which by comparison was more fully bodied with settled tannins and a broad black currant flavour.

Finally to finish, we tried the Grand Cru Classe Pauillac wine, Chateau Lynch-Moussas and this wine put the previous two into perspective. Lynch-Moussas was a relatively dark and soft, full bodied wine with subtle flavours of black currant. This vineyard is a neighbour of the well respected Chateau Lynch-Bages. Overall, the "smoothness" and flavours of this wine were clearly superior to the two earlier wines and the one that both Kerrie and I preferred.

Many of the recipes are available in Mimi’s cookbook so it is well worth acquiring. I have made her endive au jambon ( ham and endives) and her lemon and saffron ice cream. Both were easy to make and delicious.

Mimi’s blog is at mimithorisson.com

And her cookbook is called  A Kitchen in France

Oddur, Mimi, and little Audrey - apologies for the photo quality
but this was after a wonderful lunch and on our way out !

Mimi and Oddur, if you decide to repeat the experience in other seasons, we would love to return.

Bon chance with this enterprise.