Hi,
Here’s my guesses on the mysteries.
1) Grenache comes in both red and white varieties. Those might be grown in the same vineyard. Here in Burgundy we sometimes see Pinot gris vines among the Pinot noir. A certain percentage of pg is allowed in pn wines. The business of mixing red and white to produce rose is an American idea and only for very cheap wines. Real rose is made by only allowing contact with the skins for a short period in a vat of red grapes. In fact in champagne they make white wine from Pinot noir ( blanc des noirs) by not allowing skin contact at all .
2) The air base in Orange is home to a fighter squadron as well as the Patrouille de France, the Air Force exhibition team. Other larger airplanes, tankers and transports, use the base as well.
Those are my best guesses.
Lovely tour, by the way. Having ridden many of the same routes you have taken, I’ve been following along reminiscing.
Cheers,
Keith

True - prettier. But too early in the day and on a busy highway. This one was quieter.

Maybe the vineyard that had both red and white grapes in a row was one that made rose wine

It's a natural "rosé" :)

Anne and I don't have a tandem, but we'd be game for touring with you sometime. Doing it your way: hotels and someone else cooks :)

Anyone offer you some wine, cheese, chocolate? :)

It is easier to spot the chateau in your's Sanna, good view of the river from Chuck's

The previous bus stop would have been better/prettier🙂

Now what does this remind me of, getting lost in labyrinths, that never happens!!!🙂

Oh, but wait until you read the next day … a must is in that story!

Clearly, yours is best because it has the framing of the shrubbery in the foreground and Chucks is best because it is an unadorned shot of the chateau across the river.... Well, what did you expect? Stop asking questions to which we can't possibly give a honest answer...

Ah - Domaine Pontifical - an excellent choice, we know it well - I still have a few of their 2015 in stock as they used to be at the Toulouse Christmas wine fair pre-covid, we'll have to see if they are back this year so you can stock up!

Thanks, Rod. Must’ve been because we were going slow so as to not arrive before 5 pm. The tailwind was messing with our timing!

All you blogs are great but this is superb & with fantastic pics best so far!!!!x

I don't know if it explains the airplane, but there's a surprisingly busy military airport just outside of Orange. I was pretty amazed at how much air traffic was going over us in that area on our Via Rhona trip last year.

And I'm not going to get involved in picture competitions! :)