The Loire river valley in January is quiet and cold. Bright green mistletoe balls are in many of the dormant trees, spread by sparrows using bark as their napkins. The wineries keep off-season hours, many reminding me of Sonoma when the small wineries had small tasting rooms and didn’t charge a tasting fee. After a delicious and friendly tasting at Domaine Bodineau, a small family winery owned and operated by a brother-sister duo, I found winery after winery with Post-It notes on tasting room doors “Retour a 14h 30 Merci!”.

So maybe I skip morning wine tasting and go to church. Oh look! I found one around the corner in sleepy Lys-Haut-Layon, a town with one barking dog and a patisserie selling gateau de l’epiphanie aux fraises. These epiphany cakes taste like soft shortbread cakes with strawberry jam filling. They also have a ‘prize’ inside that makes one a King or Queen for the day if you discover the prize in your slice - just like the Mardi Gras cakes in New Orleans.

And the wineries were …. still at lunch.

So I took a quick, marveling meander through an enchanted fairy park with a Thomas Dambo-style surprise!

Eglise Saint-Nicolas de Vihiers, Lys-Haut-Layon