Pic St Loup

Travel for 30 minutes to the east (you come to Pic St Loup), or 30 minutes to the south of Cannes and you will find a host of seriously good wine producers. I can't believe the number. Travel even further east and you will find hundreds, travel further south and you will get very wet (sorry, you're in the Med.). Languedoc is seriously good wine producing country. I love it. I love 'discovering' the wines nearly as much as I enjoy drinking them. Prior to moving to France, neither Jan (above - doing what she does best) nor I drank any French wine. Our tastes were almost exclusively reserved for 'new world wines'. This area has been a real eye opener. I'm afraid that our view of French wine was based upon the inflated prices and overrated quality of both Bordeaux and Burgundian wines. These areas still have a lot of catching up to do and they certainly need to stop feeling so superior. The world is marching on and they are stuck in a rut. I realise that they have very strict laws governing their production, but they will only get into further problems if they don't change quickly. Just a thought, but maybe Jacques could argue for an increase in his farm subsidy! Anyway, the Languedoc region is far less rigidly controlled and the vignerons have more opportunity to experiment and change age old habits. They are doing an excellent job.

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James leaves today, so yet another trip to Montpellier. Yippee. It's a pity that Jan was so poorly for his stay, however he helped enormously with the cooking early on and with exercising Max, whom he adores. Thanks, James.

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I've just realised that last Friday, July 8th, was the third anniversary of our move to France. I remember driving towards the village hoping that we would be accepted. Cannes has about 400 inhabitants and we subsequently learnt that there were 4 permanent English families in residence and another 2 holiday homes. The eight Brits amount to 2% of the population, an extraordinary figure given the location and size of the place. Two families are however moving on (it must be something that Jan has said), thereby reducing the impact of my call for an English mayor and representation on the local council. Hey ho.