We leave early today, with H & E to visit a wine fair near Montpellier. Next year I'm going to get into training for this one! There were 163 wine producers from all over Languedoc and there is some serious wine on offer. For various reasons, I am looking for a "nice" white wine. We have found it fairly difficult to find a white wine to our taste at less than 6 euros whilst there are umpteen reds that we like. Not all of the 163 make white wine, but an awful lot do, and having arrived at 11.00 am we only have two hours of sampling before lunch. We roll up our sleeves and start. Being more of a serious wine drinker than a serious wine taster, I'm more inclined to swallow than spit, so by producer number 103 (that is the upstairs hall), everything is starting to take on a very rosy glow. Bear in mind that by this time we have only tasted white wine and each producer has at least four or more reds to sample. We make it to number 163, just before lunch, and finally give in to tasting some red from a very good vigneron from our village. In the whole of Gard there are only two vignerons, under Vins du Pays, who merit inclusion in the 2005 Hachette guide to wine, and he is one of them. To our shame, and despite the fact that he lives about 150 metres from our house, we have never sampled his wine. Well now we have, and very good it is too.
Over lunch the sommelier leaves several bottles of wine on the table for each course. This was not a good idea, but we soldier on, and after lunch we are driven home. Not much was done for the rest of the day.
About Me
- Alex
- Jan and I moved from England to France in July 2002 and then, in February 2011, after nearly 9 great years in France we have moved to North Yorkshire, England, to be nearer to my ageing mother. The move to France was primarily motivated by the opportunity to, 'have an adventure', after our children had flown the nest. Well now the adventure continues. After six years back in England our delightful Beauceron Max has died and leaves a confused Minnie who has only ever known her beloved companion . She is a Beauceron, a large but very congenial, French breed of sheep dog. By a total coincidence my mother told Jan that North Yorkshire, Ripon, is where I was conceived. Frankly, a bit too much information but it just goes to show that what goes around comes around. This journal reflects the thoughts, likes, dislikes, fantasies and observations of our latest life in Yorkshire, for me, Jan, Minnie and my alter ego Ed.
Get voting
No comments:
Post a Comment