22. Les parfums du vignoble

As we wander over the hillsides, a sweet aroma wafts up from a bunch of grapes yet to be picked from the vine on the side of the track. The wind, meanwhile, whips up the leaves changing colour and a swirl of dead leaves brushes our faces. The wine, tasted with sneaky pleasure in the vinegrower’s cellar, colours our cheeks a shade of pink and the hints of red fruits of all kinds – blackcurrant, blackberry and blueberry – deftly blend in with the bitter hazelnut hitting us on our first mouthful. The dark, Bordeaux-coloured robe adds a touch of autumn colour to the cellar where the smell of the oaken casks tickles our smarted nostrils. We slide our fingers along the metal vats, and brush the sanded wood of the barrels, like an Ariadne’s thread guiding us from the wine to its source, or completely the other way round.

Like a heady wine, the garden of sensations is there to be smelled, listened to, seen, touched and visited. This is the whole significance of this garden: a tour deep into several regional grape varieties, each with its own qualities, organised around a central room where flavours gush forth.