Sousse Expats go wine tasting in Grombalia

The sun was shining at 9am this morning when we met up with the group of Sousse Expats who’d booked for a day’s visit to Domaine Atlas, a vineyard near Grombalia.

The majority of the group were made up of Belgian and French, many gourmets of viands and fine wines, with one Swiss and one Scot!   Many are expats who have retired to Tunisia; others have businesses here – mostly factories and one lady was telling me that she’s packed up and ready to leave, she’s heading back to Belgium.  Her husband’s manufacturing business was badly affected during and after the revolution and it never recovered.  They are now moving to Madagascar!

Our 29 seater coach arrived on time and after many greetings and kisses, Parisian style, three………we all took our seats on board and set off from the Club Kantaoui at 9.30am.   Weather was lovely travelling up although the nearer we got to Hammamet, the darker the sky became – ooh la la I thought! But the weather held out for us luckily enough.

Just over one hour later, we arrived at the gates of Domain Atlas located in a little town called Bou Argoub just a few kilometres before Grombalia.

We started with a really interesting guided tour of the vineyard and were shown how the wine is stored and bottled and then the serious business started – the wine tasting!

We were given a dry white, a medium rose and a light red to taste initially.  There were grills on the floor (leading down to drains) where you could throw any wine that didn’t suit your palate – not much was thrown away.   They then opened some of each of their wines, from Chardonnays, Punique Blanc and Grand Patron to Ifrika Rose and Catarina Rouge and everyone could drink as much as they wanted to.

A fwe other tourists arrived by car and had the same tour as we did.

Lunch was then serv ed.  Hot taboona bread was served pure olive oil to dip it into, followed by salad mechouia, tuna, Tunisian salad, potato & vegetable salad, olives, harissa and newly baked bread and then huge chunks of beef cooked in a light herby sauce accompanied by chunky potatoes cooked in oil.   All washed down with more wine!  Then the unwelcome cup – the hic-cup!

 

We were given order forms to complete and I was amazed that most people were ordering in the region of 200 dinars worth of wine and liqueurs.  Money may not buy happiness but it will buy wine – theirs started from 4 TD per bottle and they also had Cognac at 30 TD per bottle, Tequila 15 TD half bottle, various ports and also a lovely selection of marmalade.  Unfortunately, the orange marmalade had run out when it came round to me, so I bought a bottle of Cognac instead!!!

We then waited a while for the orders to be delivered to us by wheelbarrow, checked and packed then into the waiting coach and we set out on our way back to Port el Kantaoui where we arrived at 5pm.

Whether wine is a mourishment, medicine or poison depends on the dosage     Most had a good dose and  most people felt well and nourished and slept on the coach on the return journey.

All in all a fantastic day out – good company, good food, great conversation and lots of laughs.

Cost of the outing was 39 TD – meal 25TD, coach 14TD – and the cost of any purchases et voila, something different to do on a Sunday afternoon!