wine tasting – Page 3 – The Vigneron's Wife

the grapes are GO on Boulevard Napoleon

October 15, 2011June 5, 2012The vigneron's wife

the grapes have arrived at the cellar — grapes fresh from the vineyard, lined up waiting to be de-stemmed

Well that’s it for picking this year. All the grapes are in, busy fermenting, creating heat in the tanks and Benji can breathe a sigh of relief. We’ve had good amounts of sunshine and wind, no hail, no rot – now it’s time to leave the grapes to do their stuff in the winery and see what sort of juices evolve.

Benji and tractor at la cave (the wine cellar) on Boulevard Napoleon — Benji at ‘la cave’ (the wine cellar) on Boulevard Napoleon

These photos show the last of the grapes from the harvest – the Grenache – coming in. We hung around for a couple of hours to see the action. It might sound nerdy, just hanging around and watching grapes go into a machine for processing, but really, it was quite exciting! Really! There’s something about the odour, the colours, the satisfaction on the faces of the grape growers seeing their fruit finally picked and about to perform their transformation.

As I’ve already said, the harvest is a wonderful time to witness. And it was just great taking in the blokes’ excitement in the cellar.

Yves emptying the grenache grapes into the crusher — Yves emptying grenache grapes into the crusher

Benji and Pierre ready for the first delivery — Benji and Pierre waiting for the grapes to come through from the first delivery

Pierre photographing his fruit — Pierre (le viticulteur) photographing his babies

les filles in the 'sandpit' — les filles keeping busy in the ‘sandpit’

The grapes were carefully emptied from their ‘caisses’ (box/basket) one by one into the de-stemmer/crusher (yes, it does what it says, plucks the berries from their stems and sorts away the leaves) which then drops the glistening little purple ‘beads’ (they look like jewellery) onto the sorting tray. They are dropped down into another tray, with a huge turning ‘screw’ and then pumped up through the red hose, straight into the tank. Some of the grapes were collected into buckets and emptied directly into wine barrels (second-hand, so not full-blown wood influences on the juice). A small experiment to develop different flavours.

If the wine is as delicious as the berries tasted, everyone will be happy!…

what the poker men drank…

September 5, 2011The vigneron's wife

So no, he didn’t win. Big shame as I was doing the food shopping the next day. Ah, the trails of a housewife…

They got through a few bottles between them though! Please note, that all comments on the wines however, are mine! Even if I wasn’t playing, the wife does get to try the vino!

Here’s the damage:

Chateau Maris Rose 2010

Macon-Peronne en Chassigny 2008

Chateau Maris ‘Continuite de Nature’ 2008

chateau maris carignan 2008 — Chateau Maris 'Continuite de Nature' 2008: yes, you've seen this one before. One of our absolute faves at the moment and tasting well everytime.

Chateau Villerambert Julien Minervois Rouge 2004

Chateau Villerambert Julien 2004 Minervois: a very old family winery dating back a few generations, in Caunes-Minervois, one of the most picturesque villages around here, known also very well for its 'Caunes marble' - a rich, deep pink/ochre colour streaked with white. I think this is a syrah/ grenache blend and was enjoyable but the wood a little too strong.

Chateau Maris ‘Las Combes’ 2009

Benjamin Darnault AOP Languedoc 2010

There you have it. If it sounds like I’m biased towards Benji’s reds, it’s correct! But please be aware that I am very open-minded when it comes to tasting all the wines. It just happens that I tend to enjoy his. Fortunate that!

allo allo – an update from the vines

September 2, 2011September 2, 2011The vigneron's wife

yesterday morning — Morning light over the neighbour's vines across the road

the vineyards with our olive trees in the foreground — The vineyards with our olive trees in the foreground

Who would have thought, with this beautiful, serene morning…

That by evening we’d have a huge storm with some of the loudest ‘tonnerre’ (thunder) I’ve ever heard.

It was suddenly POURING with rain in the strangest directions, the rain lashing at the window before me while I was chopping at the kitchen bench and Lilas asked me if I thought we’d have an ‘inondation’ (flood).

‘Umm, I don’t think so sweetie!??!!!’ .Not necessarily such a big exaggeration either. We had a huge flood in the Minevois in 1999, and I’d only been explaining it to her a few days earlier.

Pretty strange weather, but hopefully not that strange.

last night 1 — looking over at the neighbour's last night

last night 2 — path leading up to the Montagnes Noires

It didn’t flood, but we had about 30mm of water. Not a great thing for the vines at this time of year. The grape bunches are now so big and beautiful – and almost there! It’s humid too, so not a great combination. The last thing the vineyards want is to rot.

Our friend at dinner last night mentioned the story of a vineyard in Burgandy, where she witnessed a helicopter hovering over a rain-drenched vineyard, fanning it dry! Those Burgundians.

last night 3 — looking over to the neighbours' houses in our hamlet

last night 5 — ...it's starting to clear at least

Not quite the decadence of Burgandy here. Benji’s hoping for some good old fashioned wind and keeping the ‘soucis’ (worries) at bay with a little night poker!

I’ll be back later with the checklist of what they drank!…

so typically French!

August 29, 2011October 6, 2012The vigneron's wife

chez le coiffeur — the barber shop in Carcassonne

Do you ever find yourself smiling at some of the things you pass by during your day?

I love those moments and have started to record them with my camera. I can’t help it. Everything in France seems so exotic to me, being a ‘non-Frenchie’!

Here’s some pics to share with you, but be warned! There’s a few of them, so I hope you don’t get bored!!

baker at the market — Pierre the baker having a ‘tranquil’ pause at the morning market

Citroen 2CV — A lovely orange 2CV, shining like a beacon in the morning light

chien chic — ‘Chic Dog’ (you know how they put their words backwards!) – every pooch needs a parlour

Hotel de Ville de Narbonne — Hotel de Ville in Narbonne flying the Bleu Blanc Rouge

hanging out to dry — …and not so frilly bits

les chaussures roses — …les messieurs like a bit of pink too

Mamy Jeanne's recipe book — It’s the real thing! – one of Mamy Jeanne’s much-loved recipe books

…a Mamy Jeanne dish

(& check out the brilliant photo of her!)

our village library — And while we’re on the topic of books, I just love this. It’s the bookshelf in our local village library… gives you a small taste of what the public are reading up on! Recipes, winemaking, a history of Europe, a history of France and, bien sur, a little bit of psychotherapy. Tres francais.

colon poster — Yes, it’s the GIANT COLON!! Be curious!! Roll up for a visit to the centre of the giant colon!… (thanks for the poster Mat, you know me too well!)

the cheese trolley — Colon health, giant ‘chariots de fromage’ (cheese trolley). Ever heard of the French paradox?

At the local ‘brocante’. This poor guy got caught, but we still hear his friends in our garden at night

french doorhandle — the doorhandle to one of my favourite brocantes

Cine — a cinema in Limoux (where Blanquette is made)

baguette in a basket — take-away baguette

a trip to the patisserie — Really love this one too. The scene, the clothing (so now!) and the little guy at the back just happens to be some Vigneron I know…

lady of minerve — a regular vision in these villages

les hommes de Toulouse — les messieurs sur les bancs

Still there? Hope you made it!

a Naked tasting… time for some wine

August 24, 2011August 30, 2011The vigneron's wife

cadavres on the table — 'cadavres' (what Benji calls empties) on the table

Thought you were going to see a cheeky image of naughty bits??

Sorry, no, it’s Summer and this is often what our table looks like the morning after…

Glasses are cleared but the bottles are waiting to be packed and emptied at the village recycling bin (and how the old mesdames and messieurs of the village, seated on their bench, must love counting how many wines that Aussie girl manages to consume).

one of my favourite postcards! — ...well it's not exactly the 'dames du village', but one of my favourite postcards. Can't bring myself to asking the real local ladies if I can take their photo!

It’s now past the middle of August and I can’t believe how quickly Lilas’ school holidays have passed, how many interesting people have stayed or called by, and how much wine and food we’ve consumed. It seems like a non-stop degustation here sometimes, with the Beroccas coming out first thing in the morning, but things will certainly slow down now that ‘les vendanges’ (harvest time) are approaching and Benji prepares the cellars for receiving grapes. Soon he’ll be working a seven-day week and mostly absent from our daily timetable. It’s an intense time until all grapes have been picked and are safe in the tanks or going through the press, so it’s good to make the most of it with family and friends time in this heat.

The bottles photographed above are the empties from an evening with some of the ‘Naked’ crew. Joe from Naked and is family came to visit, one warm and windy night and an informal tasting turned into a bottle fest (with Lilas and the kids meanwhile transforming the living room into a Playmobil playground) with everyone trying the whites and reds from Benji’s range together with local cheeses, bread and mountain lamb (big merci to our friends Vincent and Isabelle who were staying that week and gave us a huge help in the kitchen – the bbq’d lamb was a treat!). It’s always great to meet new people around a table of wine, glass in hand and every Naked tasting we’ve had has been full of laughs with interesting people from all parts.

a Naked tasting at home. Thanks Joe, Anna et al!

Benji's labels for Naked — The prototypes for Benji's Naked Wines range - a collboration between Vincent and Nick

You’re probably wondering what on earth Naked is. It’s a company in the UK called Naked Wines and Benji makes and sells wine with them. It’s been just over a year since the collaboration started and we’ve met so many great people – customers and other winemakers – and had lots of fun tasting the range over dinners, lunches and informal evenings like this one. I know it sounds like a plug – and it is! But seriuosly, all puns aside, it is an energetic company run by young people with enthusiasm and a love for wine, and fuelled by a community of customers – people buying and tasting wine from anywhere in the world and then sharing their experiences online. Benji’s range has done well and we’ve learnt a lot from the forums and the feedback people have offered. Thanks to everyone, Rowan, Joe, Amy, Sam, Fran, Simon, Frankie, Kevin, everyone, for the ride so far!

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: