ParisSummer 1964. I meet Rika Zarai, a classmate of mine at Beit HaKrem High School in Jerusalem, all excited about a performance she had in the Loire Valley, in a charming town called Doué-la-Fontaine (in 2017 it was united with six of its suburbs under the name Doué-en-Anjou).
Half of its inhabitants are winegrowers, the other half are rose growers. It has ancient remains of cave dwellers carved into the rock, of a Gallo-Roman amphitheater and underground quarries of soft limestone, from which sarcophagi were made. These quarries now host, as they do every year in July, a spectacular rose festival. “You have to go see it,” Rika concludes in an indisputable tone.
I traveled, with my wife Aviva and our two sons Gilad and Eyal, and we did not regret it. We were greeted by Jean Bego, a rose grower who served as mayor for three decades and at the same time as a member of the National Assembly. He guided us along a dreamy path through the underground quarries where thousands of roses bloomed among green lawns, accompanied by streams of clear water. I felt like Alice in Wonderland, as she entered the Queen's rose garden.
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The Rose Queen of Europe
Douai-le-Fontaine has been known as the “Queen of Roses of Europe” since 1790, during theFrench RevolutionOf the 12 million rose seedlings marketed each year in France, 7 million (45%) are grown in Douai-le-Fontaine, in nurseries covering 3,000 dunams and containing over two thousand different rose varieties. The Rose Festival did not take place in the 2020-2021 Corona years, and is scheduled to resume this year on July 14-17.
As we emerge from the magnificent quarries into the open-air amphitheater, a surprise awaits us. Douai-le-Fontaine is located in the heart of the vineyards of Loire valley, and on that day a festive conference was held of vintners and winemakers, members of the Order of the Knights of the Delicate Palate of Anjou Wines, dressed in red robes and hats adorned with white feathers.
The head of the order handed me a large glass of rosé wine, and after I passed the test and gulped down its contents, he declared me a knight joining the order, placed a knight's ribbon around my neck, at the end of which hung a silver-plated tasting cup with the coat of arms of the Anjou region imprinted on it, and gave me a certificate in archaic French, with a wax seal.
The Gentle Palate Knights of Anjou Wines
Years passed, my duties took me to Africa, the Far East, Eastern Europe, and back to Israel. With the help of Google, I located the Order of the Knights of the Palatinate and renewed contact with them via email.
It became clear to the leaders of the order that after fifty years I was probably one of the oldest knights still alive, and they decided to mark this by promoting me from knight to officer, in a festive ceremony held inBrissac Castle September 2015. There are approximately 1,200 knights in the order, but only 12 hold the prestigious title of Officer, which is certainly a great honor.
The order holds two major annual events, one at the end of the grape harvest season in September, and the other on the occasion of Saint Vincent's Day, the patron saint of vinedressers and winemakers, which falls at the end of January.
In recent years, except for the two years of Corona, my wife and I have made a point of traveling to France and the Loire Valley to take part in the harvest celebration, each time at a historic palace or castle in the area.
At the same event, new knights and knightesses are welcomed into the order, and they all sit down to a rich lunch including delicacies for connoisseurs and wines for the most delicate palates, and sing the order's anthem:
Cup up, cup down,
Poor is he whose cup is not full.
Cup up, cup down,
Let us have mercy on those whose cup is empty!
“Elisheva” wine from the Jordan Valley arrives in Ein Kerem thanks to the Loire Valley
In the eyes of the Knights of the Order, I serve as an ambassador for the wines of the Anjou region in Jerusalem and the Holy Land. As a replacement for last year's St. Vincent event, which was canceled due to the Corona virus, the Knights of the Order were asked to mark this day each in their place of residence and document their part in the decentralized meeting.
I took a picture by the spring at Ein Kerem, the place where, according to the New Testament, Mary, the mother of Jesus, met her cousin Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, when they were both pregnant. I raised a glass of “Elisha” rosé wine from the Orna Adam winery, from the grapes of the Karnei Zvi vineyard near the Jordan Valley, to the Knights of the Order, a wine similar in color and flavor to the wines of the Loire Valley.
My story and photographs retrospectively won third place in a competition among the Knights of the Delicate Palate, which I did not know about in advance. It should be noted that the winemaker Orna Lev is the daughter of the late Major General Kuti Adam, who studied for two years at the Higher War School in Paris in the 60s, which her brother, Major General (res.) Udi Adam, also later graduated from. Another French connection…
And finally, back to Douai-le-Fontaine: For those who plan to visit this wonderful place, especially in July during the Rose Festival, another attraction awaits – a unique zoo, located in the ancient residential cave complex, part of which has been converted to house exotic animals.
The "Biopark", the zoo of Douai-le-Fontaine, was established about two decades ago in the ancient cave dwelling complex.
Yoel Sher Jerusalem, 22.1.2022