A new find

Friday was fun. In the morning I had a test d'effort in Nimes and, despite Dr F pointing out that I ran out of steam earlier than when I weighed a lot more, I passed with flying colours (for an old git - Ed). I seem to remember that Jim Fox said pretty much the same thing just before he went out for his last jog.

In the afternoon it was off for wine tasting with Glyn and Gill. First off we hit Domaine de l'Hortus. As we entered the cave, in the distance we could see two women talking animatedly near the tasting table. They were very friendly and agreed to a tasting. You could tell that something was wrong when we were offered the top end white before the second. Bells started to ring when at one point one of the women suggested that we add cassis to a nine euros bottle of white to make it more palatable and more alcoholic. Whilst this was going on another, younger woman entered and took over the tasting. What really made us fall about laughing was that the two original women then picked up their buckets and mops and went off to finish their cleaning duties. Excellent.

We then moved on to a new find. G&G had recently drunk a really nice white from Chateau La Clotte-Fontane which they were told was near Salinelle. We searched and searched and couldn't find the place but eventually we found a chap in Lecque who gave us proper directions. What a find. We have lived here for eight years and had no knowledge of this place. Alaine the winemaker showed us around and we tasted some excellent whites and reds all very reasonably priced. Recommended.

More wine tasting

After a picnic lunch at Elie's in Sommieres today, with James and Pauline, it was off for a little wine tasting over in Pic Saint Loup.

This was instigated after drinking a wonderful bottle of Domaine de L'Hortus (Grand Cuvee 2007) last night. I'm talking a seriously good red here, the best I've had in a long time. So we set off trying to find something nice at one of the other vineyards that we hadn't yet visited.

First was Ermitage du Pic Saint Loup above St Mathieu de Treviers followed by Chateau de Lancyre. Interestingly, I wasn't massively enamoured by the reds, not that they weren't good they just didn't ring my bell, but I loved both their top end whites.

From Ermitage it was a Roussanne, Clairette, Marsanne, Grenache mix and in the case of Lancyre a lovely Roussanne Marsanne mix. Both excellent and highly recommended.

And, before you start complaining, just remember that all this information is for free.

A very pleasant day out

We had a very nice afternoon with James and Pauline exploring a lovely area around Pic Saint Loup and had tastings at Mas Bruguiere and Domaine de L'Hortus. We weren't too keen on the reds at Bruguiere but they sold an excellent white. A Marsanne Roussanne mix.

Then it was down the road to Hortus which is an extremely interesting cave being made entirely out of wood with a balcony overlooking the wine making process. There was a bit more choice here with nice whites (Viognier and Chardonnay mixes) and some elegant reds. Neither place was particularly cheap but both places had reasonably priced wines and you could taste your way through their offerings. I would definitely recommend a trip to Hortus.

As if that wasn't enough we popped into Chateau de Cazeneuve and L'Auberge du Cedre next door to see if we could taste and/or eat. The first was shut and the restaurant was full. Hey ho, the menu looked interesting and with either a 30 euros or 39 euros menu is worth trying.

El Sequé

When Ben last came up from Barcelona he brought us a present from friends.

Tonight, we fancied a drink and, as Jan was cooking lamb, we drank it. Hell, it was nice. I tracked it down and this is the link to buy some more. It's pricey but, unlike L'Oreal, it's worth it. Very highly recommended.

Le Fourneau de Clelia

Out with Gill and Harry last night to Le Fourneau de Clelia for a double birthday celebration for Jan and Harry.
As far as we know, this is still the best restaurant around here although of late restaurants in Nimes, which is a little too far to be deemed to be local, are raising there heads.
What was interesting is how the owner of the restaurant, Laure, has changed things as a result of 'le crunch'. The menu used to offer a choice of three from starters, main and pudding for around 35 euros. Now, she offers no choice for the three course meal, which changes weekly, but has reduced the price to 24 euros. The food was still good.
Last night we had salmon gravlax, blanquette de veau a l'ancienne and pear tart. The wine list has also shrunk but a local domain, Domaine d'Orviel, from just down the road, featured well and we really enjoyed the wine. Overall very good.

More friends to play with

Our next door but one neighbours, Glyn (above), Gill, Tom and Katie arrived yesterday evening for a summer break. That made nine of us for a barbecue meat fest of lamb steaks, pork kebabs and saucisse. Excellent. Whilst I normally don't drink red wine in summer, this time I remembered to get some out to lower its temperature. In addition to the Gris from Domaine du Grand Chemin, we tried three different reds from a local cave cooperative in Carnas. They were all nice but one was a stunner so I'll nip over to Carnas soon and see if they've got any left. When I've bought my fill I'll tell you what it's called!

Spanish wine

Last year's newly weds W & C arrived today, and when asked how married life was suiting him W said, "The sex is great." Don't you just love people who are honest and straightforward?
Whilst my beloved cooked up a storm, I did my bit by opening a storm. My saintly, sober persona took a bit of a bashing last night because we tried a couple of different Spanish wines. Both W&C know and enjoy their wine so it was a sensible time to open some stuff that had been burning a hole on my pocket, as it were. The first, a barrel aged Palacios Bornos Verdejo 2006 was excellent, (not unlike a decent Chardonnay - Mark) just my style of drinking white and the second a red Celeste Rioja from the Torres stable was right up there as well. Unfortunately we drank just a little too much, so much so that at 09.29 this morning I remembered that I'd agreed to meet Bryan at 09.30. I just hate being late for anything.

Domaine Costeplane

With guests coming tomorrow I popped over to Domaine Costeplane, here in the village, to buy some rosé. Françoise and Vincent are a great couple. They're bio champions and advocates and very nice people. I'd already been told that the rosé was good and so it proved. This is the fifth consecutive year that we have decided that their rosé is our rosé of choice. They just get better and better. I'd also been told that because they lost 40% of their production last year through mildew, they had no Vermentino, but that the unoaked Chardonnay was good. It was.
Both oidium and mildew are problems again this year and the vignerons are spraying like crazy. Over a cup of tea I sympathised with Françoise and Vincent and commiserated with them about the loss of production last year. 'Ah,' said a philosophical Françoise, 'but if you never have a poor year how can you ever have a good year.'
That shut me up!

Torres

Another early breakfast this morning, before we set off for the Torres Vineyard in nearby Pacs. The vineyard tour was all very swish, with multi media presentations and a train ride, a bit like Universal Studios, but frankly it was a little bit boring. The best bit was the tasting at the end (now there's a surprise - Ed) where, for a small charge, you could try any of the wines they make.

One of their single vineyard wines, Mas la Plana, was selling for over 50 euros per bottle. Given that I was never going to buy any, I decided not to be seduced and concentrated on finding something a bit more affordable.

After a couple of false starts, Jan and I settled on a tempranillo, Celeste, from one of their estates in Ribera del Duero. Job done.

A clever idea

I don't remember having seen this before. How many times have you tried to pour wine and dripped water all over the table cloth. This simple idea is a napkin with a hole in the corner, meaning that you can more easily hold the bottle with the napkin, prevent water drips from the ice bucket and drips from the wine. Cool! (It doesn't take much to keep you amused - Ed)

Mas de la Barben

Harold and Peter stopped off at Mas de la Barben yesterday afternoon to taste some wine, something that I've been meaning to do for ages, so last night's dinner turned into a bit of a wine tasting. The vineyard is situated half way between home and Nimes and looks very impressive from the roadway.

Harold found two very good and very reasonably priced wines. Now I'm definitely going to go.

The downside to the meal however was that I woke at 04.30 with my head buzzing and that horrible sensation when you can hear your carotid artery thumping away and it won't go away. Bum.

The last few days has seen a lot of laughs but this morning both families returned home and we were very sad to see them go.

Boot camp

With the wine finally chosen for Christams (I've often wondered what a post would look like with all the typos left in, so this is it. I rather like Christams!) we now have no excuse for our little winetasting sessions. Not that bwe've evver needed an excuse in the past.

It was off to 'boot camp' for the dogs this afternoon. They are getting far too soft or, more to the point, we're getting soft (in the head). Each and every time we sit down to watch television the pesky dogs try to sit on our laps. We let them do it occasionally which is a big mistake because they have started to see it as a right and it has become a nuisance. They need toughening up a bit so a couple of weeks in kennels will sort them out (hmnnn, not sure about that one - Ed).

More geese

The bloody geese were back again this morning. Not just the usual dumb male but the female as well. I took Max out on a lead to shoo them away but the female turned aggressive (but then you knew she would didn't you girls?) so I beat a hasty retreat (sensible move boys?) and decided to divide and conquer. It worked. Just got to clear up all the shit now.

***

Having decided what wine to take to England I popped out to buy it. We have decided to take a 2004 Revelation from the cave cooperative in Carnas and a 2001 AOC red from Domaine de Baubiac. Getting the wine from Baubiac is an interesting experience. Raoul sat me down in his 'office', a backroom of his house filled with small trinkets, insisted I had a drink and showed me his latest designs for childrens toys. Excellent.

Wine worries

We're travelling back to England for Christmas, when we will sleep in no less than eight different beds. Oh joy! Already, I can't wait to get back! Anyway, amongst other things, we are taking the wine for the two festive days. We have already decided on one wine, bearing in mind that it has to appeal to quite a wide range of tastes and typically we have left it to the last minute to finalise the other. This morning we set out for Chateau des Hospitaliers, in a snowstorm, before a quick trip into the market in Sommieres. After forcing a few drinks down Jan, Gill, Peter and Bryan (all the others had left because of the cold and snow) we headed off to the cave cooperative at Carnas. They always have dependable, reasonably priced stuff, that pleases most palates. I looked forward to all the tastings on Sunday! But before that we decided to eat out at Baraka in Quissac with Bryan and Gill and got to taste a 2001 Domaine de Baubiac (no website available). I'd forgotten how good this wine is, and how very reasonably priced. In fact, seated across the restaurant was Raul one of the owners of the vineyard, who invited me to visit him anytime. Next week looks good!

Max and Minnie (above) playing in the snow for the first time ever.

Domaine du Grand Chemin

We must have a reputation as a couple of old soaks (er....yup - Ed) because we were invited to lunch, along with 50,000 other people, at Domaine du Grand Chemin today. Admittedly, their bag-in-box gris and Viognier are just excellent, and suitable for any occasion, and they have nursed us through many a withdrawal sympton.

***

OK, so you think that you are the honest and faithful type. Take this test. For what it's worth I scored 8.

***

This just shows you how bored I was today. Go to Google Maps.

1 Click on Get Directions at the top of the page.
2 Enter New York as your starting point.
3 Enter London as your ending point.
4 Click on Get Directions to the right.
5 Scroll down the directions and in particular look at number 24.

Now that's bored!

A meal fit for the French

We hosted, what turned out for us, to be quite an interesting dinner last night. Feeling guilty about being invited by various French friends to their houses over the last year or so, we decided to return invites to the most pressing three couples. In no particular order, the first couple was Gilles and Odile. We have two very good, Hachette rated, winemakers in the village and he is one of them. His Pouges wines, both red and white, are legendary around here and he also makes a vin de table which he sells at about 20 euros a bottle. Jean Francis and Marie Helene are a lovely couple and have invited us over the years to their annual summer picnic. He runs a very successful terrassement business and, last but not, least Alain and Christian. He is the local village artist. I can't say that we weren't nervous. Whilst we know and like them all, we had no idea whether they liked each other. Ours is a small village and goodness knows what enmities bubble beneath the surface but there was no hint of tension and everyone seemed to get on really well. One man admitted to being an anarchist, another a collector of the most mundane artifacts and the third said very little, but attempted the wine drinking record. He turned out to be fussiest drinker amongst us all. Naturally I served Gilles' wine, not wanting to offend him by serving his competitors and, as the night went on, I brought out some Baubiac from Quissac. This was also well received. It was a good night spoilt only by the fact that they all spoke French. Drinking and concentrating at the same time doesn't half tax the brain!
The French have a bad attitude towards English food (or food cooked by English people), earned no doubt by travelling through the UK as poor students in the 60's and 70's. Anyway, Jan put that right. A smoked fish and spinach starter, couscous with a lamb tagine (who said she can't cook English food?), salad, cheeses and two great puddings got them reassessing their opinions.

Le Mas de Roux

A friend from Liverpool emailed this morning in a bit of a panic. He is coming to France, for a wedding, with his family next August and he needs at least 7 bedrooms. Everywhere he had tried was full so he turned to me to sort it all out. Within 3 hours I had him fixed up with excellent accommodation at nearby Mas de Roux that suited his needs perfectly. Don't you wish you had a friend like me? (Err, no - Ed.)

***

Because H&E like to eat and drink, and because we sort of like to as well (well blow me down - Ed.), we popped into Domaine de Baubiac at lunch time to pick up some of their delicious red. Nothing extraordinary about that, but when I asked him how much of his year 2000 (my favourite) he had left, he said not much. As an aside to myself I murmured that I'd better buy some more, when he helpfully suggested that he would put away as much as we needed. What a helluva offer. He mentioned a pallet which I think is about 600 bottles but I increased it to 2 because he hadn't counted on Jan! Our own private wine supply kept at the perfect temperature to buy whenever we want. Isn't that nice. Slurp.

***

Because we had dinner with H&E on our own last night, and I couldn't stand another, (just kidding) Jan invited Bryan and Gill over for dinner as well tonight. It was a big one, and the Baubiac went down a treat.