It's pissing down!

Chris W, who runs this excellent site, popped round yesterday for a slap up meal, on his birthday, at auntie Jan's pie shop and to check out a venue for his wedding next year. As I'm now the resident wedding expert that bit was easy.

A little later in the day we popped over to Domaine Costeplane for a couple of boxes of red. As we were sitting outside, under the nèfle tree, tasting their various wines with Clare and David, Cecille put the corks back into each bottle. Hoping that we could finish them, I asked her the rather stupid question as to why she was putting the corks back in the bottles and she said, 'to stop anything falling inside the bottle.' At this point, the farm cat shot up the tree scrabbled about a bit and then pissed on us. I kid you not.

Domaine Costeplane

With visitors coming tomorow, today was all about completeing those shitty little jobs that you have been putting off for ever. Jobs like taking all our empty wine bottles for recycling, cutting the weed in the orchard to make it look like a carefully planted and nourished lawn and taking a bunch of, mostly plastic, crud out of the garage, to the dechetterie. Such joy.

***

Getting a bit low on local wine, I popped across the village to see Vincent at Costeplane. For the last three years his rosé has been our rosé of choice. I know that the Vermentino is good this year and he cracked open a bottle of his 2005 oaked Chardonnay for me to try. It was just excellent. His wines just get better and better each year. Not forgetting Jan, he gave me the remains of the Chardonnay for her to taste and a bottle of Plan de Savalous which he thinks is about ready to drink. He's so kind, and aren't we lucky?

Simply the best

Back to earth with a bang. Whilst it's good to get back into your own bed, it's blowing a gale and it's cold. In retrospect I think putting up with idiots fighting over pool loungers was infinitely better. As promised Jan made a great Panang curry tonight. We tried Domain Costeplan's 2006 Vermentino to go with it. Excellent, and the curry wasn't bad either.

***

Sad people that we are, we joined a Beauceron club when we got Max and reading their latest magazine we noticed that Max's parents have both been elevated to Elite A, the highest ranking that a Beauceron can achieve. Both his parents and his grandparents have better pedigrees than me (that's hardly difficult - Ed).

Domaine Costeplane at Vinopolis

That was a very interesting day. With the exception of travelling on the underground at rush hour, which I hated, it was very enjoyable. We arrived at Vinopolis at 09.00 as they were unloading the pallets of wine that the exhibitors were having delivered. The halls were beautifully laid out for the over 70 wine producers from all over France. On a practical point the wine was cold, so cold that you couldn't possibly sample the reds, so it was a relief that only a few people turned up during the morning session, which then allowed the red stuff (that's a bit too technical - Ed.) to get up to speed. Vincent speaks English quite well but understands it less well, especially when it is gabbled and spoken quickly. But then that's true for all of us. The afternoon session was an undoubted success. The place was buzzing. We had a steady stream of tasters, some just out for a good time and others serious. What was fascinating, was to hear Vincent point out the 'tourists', those that were not serious wine buyers, as we watched their over elaborate and unnecessary tasting rituals. A process that's very specific and that doesn't actually take too long. But hey, if they order some wine then they can stand on their heads for all I care.

The afternoon was also very valuable for us, because Toby K very kindly visited us with contacts that he knows and Kevin got out of his sick bed later in the afternoon. Good effort chaps, and many, many thanks. Vincent made several very interesting contacts which the optimist in me thinks will be converted to sales. Hmnnn, but we have all been there before, haven't we? We shall see.

***

Business over and after a couple of pints in the Dog and Duck in Soho, we walked round to The Red Fort, 77 Dean Street, 020 7437 2525, for a curry. Forget flock wallpaper, this is a beautifully decorated and very posh curry house and the food is excellent. After the strident music in the pub, it was a haven of peace and calm. The service was understated and elegant and Vincent couldn't get over the man who opened the toilet door for you and handed you a towel when you needed it. This is no ordinary toilet, this is a Red Fort toilet! Unfortunately you find nothing like this around Nimes or Montpellier. From your food obsessed corespondent in London, it's back to you in the studio. A good choice Kevin, thank you.

No more information, please!

It's 4.06 am on Monday morning and I can't sleep. I'm nowhere near a computer and so I'm handwriting this. On top of that, I have a huge thirst and have resorted to drinking chlorinated tap water. I once read that London tap water has previously been through several people, so the drinks only partially quenched my thirst and the thought made me feel sick.
Anyway, yesterday's journey went well. That is until Vincent realised that that the cost of the return rail journey from Luton to London was costing more than the journey from Nimes to Luton, and for the rest of the stay he was noticing the cost of different airport/London transfers. We finished the day with a very nice meal at PJ's, 52 Fulham Road, 020 7581 0025. I had a delicious rib eye steak and we shared a bottle of Argentinian Malbec. Good gear, and as long as you have deepish pockets, recommended.
We chatted long and hard on the flight and over dinner, as I tried to cram a tiny fraction of his 20+ years of wine knowledge into an even tinier brain. Bear in mind that he is speaking French and the strain of keeping up makes it very tiring. In order to get a better handle on how I could be of practical assistance, I asked him what would make him happy as a result of this little trip. He told me how many bottles he would like to sell, so now he's talking my language and gives me a clear objective.
I've no idea how we got onto the subject, but at one point over dinner I mentioned old farmhouses and windows and that older properties could be quite dark and gloomy inside. He said that in ancient France there used to be a window tax so if you had 10 windows you paid ten times the tax. In one fell swoop we covered building construction, its place in the economy and tax matters. It was no wonder I had a headache when I got to bed and why I'm pissed off sitting here wide awake.

Jan de Cannes

After we had an aborted trip to the dentist (his chair had broken down) in Quissac, Vincent Coste of Domaine Costeplane popped round this morning to ask for help with the English translation on an email he is about to send out. It transpired that he has quite a few names and addresses for wine importers in the UK and he wants to mail them with an invitation to Vinopolis on 22nd January 2007. Vincent exports wine to several countries in the EU and wants to break into the tough UK market. As a little business challenge for myself I'm trying to see if I can help him.

***

Jan's art class held a vernissage at Mas de Roux tonight and several hundred people turned up. The cynic in me says that the free drinks and canapes helped but so what. As we walked into the room I heard a group of people commenting on a rather nice painting of tomatoes on the vine. Because we had only taken it the day before it wasn't included in the catalogue but the anonimity had created a little excitement. I proudly pointed to Jan as the artist. Well done 'Jan de Cannes' (her new artistic name). By the way, I'm now her manager and agent.

In charge of bullshit

A couple of months back I promised to help Vincent Coste (above with his family) of Domaine Costeplane at a wine fair in London. He turned up this morning to say that he now has the dates. He, with others, will be showing their wines at Vinopolis in London on Monday 22nd January 2007. He will be the wine expert and I will be in charge of bullshit (at last you have found your calling - Ed.).

***

Vincent D also turned up as agreed this morning to finish filling trenches, putting in a new land drain and levelling. Vincent likes a drink and last night I went glass for glass with him. Mistake!

***

Apart from a visit to the dentist to fix a broken tooth, an appointment that I had to wait three weeks for, a lot of time was spent this afternoon getting ready for a drive to England to deliver some wine left here by friends, see family and to buy our Christmas goodies. Hopefully we will leave at about midday. We shall see.

Ceps and award winning rosé

This village never fails to surprise, with pleasant little encounters. Whilst we were visiting Alain yesterday in his studio, drinking an unusual Lambrusco, Vincent Ducros turned up with a basket of ceps that he had gathered that morning on Mont Aigoual. The artist in me (yes, piss artist - Ed.) just had to take a picture.

***

A little later, I took Toby and Alison up to Domaine Costeplane because Vincent Coste had very kindly offered to give them a behind the scenes tour and explanation of his wine making facility. He makes our favourite rosé which he was proud to tell us had just been awarded two stars in next years Hachette Guide. It's good to know were not drinking rubbish!

***

Tonight, we managed to get into our favourite local restaurant, Le Fourneau de Clelia. The last few times that we had tried to book they were full, so this was also a pleasant surprise.