Monbazillac



I forgot to mention that the Église Notre-Dame was built in 1863 and in 1865 four enormous bells were placed in the Belfry. The largest was called (and la petite Jasmine will love this) "Mary Immaculate" and weighed a mere 2,383 kgs. Today I went to the Château Monbazillac with my friend la belle Kti. This magnificent vinyard with some 5 hectares of grounds produces a prestigious sweet white desert wine and has stunning views of Bergerac and the Dordogne valley from its lofted height. The grapes are picked once they are over-ripe and thus have a high sugar content thanks to the "botrytis cinerea" or noble rot, a fungus that attacks the grapes in the autumn. The Château dates back to around 1550 and was a Protestant stronghold, which fortunately remained unscathed during the iconoclastic Wars of Religion  and the French Revolution periods. Monbazillac has everything one would want in a château, such as towers, a parapet walk, battlements, cannons and of course, the obligatory moat. The interior is equally impressive with its Renaissance interior staircase, mullion windows, stately rooms and complex wood structures. A really wonderful daý and, of course, I went home with a bottle of Monbazillac!

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