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Running almost concurrently you can indulge in a feast of summer music with the Cahors (46 Lot, Midi-Pyrenees) Blues Festival running from 15–19 July 2008. Amongst the attractions is Rolling Stone Bill Wyman (well musically perhaps)and a free “cocktail” jazz session. Be advised that the term “Blues” here encompasses jazz, rock, gospel and swing – so there should be something for every taste!

Meanwhile just 40 or so miles to the north, still in the Lot departement, but actually on the Dordogne river, the Souillac Jazz Festival runs 14–20 July 2008 – both with some events held in the surrounding villages.

For more info see www.cahorsbluesfestival.com or www.souillacenjazz.net or www.tourisme-gramat.com

Tags: music

Duck, Goose, Foie Gras, Cassoulet, Madiran, Armagnac and all the other good rich produce of the land feature in Martin Calder’s book A Summer in Gascony: Discovering the Other South of France which offers a good summer read if you are interested in absorbing a bit of “la France profonde”.
This is the story of a student summer working in Gascony a few years ago, based at the isolated Auberge in Peguilhan (31 Haut-Garonne, Midi-Pyrenees)in the Comminges area of Gascony. Staying several months on a working farm and auberge gives a different and well-informed and affectionate view of the land, its people and traditions. I suspect many of us head south to try to capture just a glimpse of the essence of a place where people and nature seem to have found a natural harmony, enriched by the bounteous harvest of its farmers and winemakers. In between the story of the summer’s work and play Martin Calder offers you a wealth of snippets of information, whether it be about the wine (and Armagnac), the history (and the links between the Gascons and the British), the fiercely independent Gascon character (decidedly not French!), the Gascon beret and tradtional cooking. It is perhaps the sense of being distant from the pressures of modern city life which pervades the region - the rhythms of the seasons and the weather. I suspect that much has changed at the auberge since his days at Peguilhan (as suggested in his epilogue), but Gascony still has many quiet hidden corners; the people remain as down-to-earth and welcoming, the food, wine and Armagnac as good as ever.
A Summer in Gascony: Discovering the Other South of France

The Lot departement (46, Midi-Pyrenees) offers an attractive and varied landscape – sinuous valleys, quiet pretty villages, beautifully stark moorland (the Causses), forests and vineyards. As such it lends itself to photography so well that almost everyone can capture an idyllic view as a souvenir of the region.

But you could take it a stage further and enrol in a digital photography course in the village of Castelfranc, west of Cahors where the river Vert meets the Lot. In July the village celebrates its annual Fete (13 & 14 July 2008) when the village is in festive mood with theatre, music, dancing, a market of local produce etc. Every year there is also an exhibition of professional photographers (which continues throughout the summer).

To coincide with this a series of courses are being held in the village for anyone interested in digital photography under the title Itinerances Photographiques. Over the weekend there are 4 three-hour sessions for beginners – everything from using the camera through to using Photoshop to enhance your images and printing.

During the week (15–19 July 2008) there is a more in-depth course designed to help you perfect your skills, and visiting suitable locations for images and providing constructive critique on your photos of the region, whether it be moorland, vines, markets, local people, local and historical sites – with such a wealth of stunning subject matter within reach you could learn much and enjoy more! The 5–day course is offered on either a residential or non-residential basis.

For more info see www.itinerancesphoto.org or contact Maxime Bessieres

To learn more about the region I can recommend Helen Martin’s Book “Lot – Travels through a limestone landscape in SouthWest France” See also the local tourist office www.tourisme-prayssac.fr

France has big rivers and great bridges – the spectacular Viaduc de Millau on the A75 autoroute(12 Aveyron, Midi-Pyrenees) and the Pont de Normandie on the A29 autoroute between Le Havre and the Normandie coast (14 Calvados, Normandie) being great recent examples.

Almost simultaneously the birth of 2 other spectacular bridges is being celebrated – the medieval Pont Valentre in Cahors (46 Lot, Midi-Pyrenees) celebrates 700 years, whilst the latest Pont Gustave Flaubert (see picture) is due be opened in time for the Rouen Armada (4–5 July 2008).

Rouen’s latest crossing of the River Seine is in the heart of the city and will take the A154 autoroute from the nothwest (Dieppe) through the city to connect with the A13 Autoroute from Normandie to Paris.

Because is is a city centre site, and the Seine carries ocean-going ships (and was a Transatlantic Cruise ship terminal) there is not enough space to build a traditional high span bridge, so this will be the largest vertical lift bridge in the world. When high masted ships need to pass, both dual carriageways will be lifted by cable to allow the ship underneath. For such a massive task the structure seems remarkably elegant – each roadway is 18m wide and 120m long and weighs 1300 tonnes.

When opened in the next few weeks (early July 2008) the notorious congestion in the city centre will be eased considerably.

Meanwhile in Cahors the South West, the fortified medieval Pont Valentre celebrates its 700th anniversary – and this was open to road traffic until only a few years ago, But now the city will pay homage to its most distinctive landmark On 4^th July 2008 there will be a banquet on the bridge itself prepared by some of the best chefs in the region – with music and dancing. From Wednesdays to Saturdays from 17 July 2008 to 9 Augusr 2008 the bridge will be lit up every night from 10.30pm for 2 hours with a sound and light show which promised to be spectacular.

There is a website about the bridge’s 700th anniversary which has been inviting photographers from around the world to show their images of the bridge in all its moods – www.lepontvalentrea700ans.com.

Throughout France over a weekend in June (14 -15th June 2008) there will be thousands of sites open to the public to celebrate national Journée du Patrimoine (Heritage Days) and Journée des Moulins (Mill Days).
Over 1,500 events are planned with open days, demonstrations of traditional crafts and skills, exhibitions, tastings - with this year’s theme being centred on “places of production” - agricultural, craft and industrial - some still working businesses.
So you can visit working farms, water mills, have a guided tour of a village to discover its history and heritage, visit an old Railway goods shed, an old tile works, a quarry, a vineyard, a working windmill, a brickworks, see some architectural conservation in progress, an working nut/oil mill, visit a cabinetmaker’s workshop, see bread making, painting and photographic exhibitions….

This is just a selection of the 58 events in one small département (46 Lot, Midi-Pyrenees) - too many to list here. Best advice is to check with the local tourist office- or browse the list of events (in French) at www.journeedupatrimoinedepays.com

Pope Benedict will be doing his own version of the Tour de France with all its encumbent entourage, large crowds, blocked roads and hotels full in September 2008. Although the timetable is provisional at the moment, he is due to be in Paris 12-13 September 2008 to meet President Sarkozy, celebrate mass at Notre-Dame Cathedral and hold an open air mass on the Esplanade des Invalides.

Lourdes (65 Hautes-Pyrenees, Midi-Pyrenees) is scheduled for 13-15 September 2008, celebrating the 150th Anniverasy of the Apparition of the Virgin, on which this otherwise unremarkable market town in the foothills of the Pyrenees has built its fame and prosperity. I assume His Holiness will fly from Paris to Lourdes - its a bit far by Popemobile!

Apparently Lourdes has the second highest number of hotels in France after Paris!

For more info the the Lourdes 2008 Jubilee celebrations see www.lourdes2008.com

Jancis Robinson in the Financial Times (12 May 08) talks about the growing number of Brits who have followed their dream and bought a vineyard in France.

It is hardly surprising then that a substantial proportion of the hundreds of thousands of Brits who own French property have been tempted by the apparently bucolic life of a vigneron……
Are there any French winemakers left down there?
I asked Walter McKinlay, whose Domaine de Mourchon southern Rhône wines are some of the most successful from a British domaine, whether his Domaine de Mourchon wines were financially viable. He frowned. “Just about,” he said cautiously, then smiled. “But it’s a lovely lifestyle though.”

My own observation would be that it can be incredibly hard work and despite the attractions of the climate, landscape and the French way of life, it can also be very stressful. And as with all winemakers, a bad harvest, particularly in the early years can be devastating.

So, here’s our list of British vineyard owners (and 1 Irish couple) - that we are aware of (not an exhaustive list I am sure). Visits can be much more informative if the language is no barrier:-

Domaine de Laroux - Cotes de Gascogne, Armagnac (32 Gers, Midi-Pyrenees) - Nick and Karen Kitchener
Chateau Haut Garrigue - Bergerac, Saussignac AC (24 Dordogne, Aquitaine) - Sean and Caroline Feely (the Irish couple running an organic vineyard also known as Wild Earth Vineyards)
Domaine de Fontenay - Cote Roannaise AC (42 Loire, Rhone-Alpes) - Simon and Isabelle Hawkins

Chateau Richard - Bergerac, Saussignac AC (24 Dordogne, Aquitaine) - Richard Doughty

Domaine de Merchien - Coteaux du Quercy and beer! (46 Lot, Midi-Pyrenees - David & Sarah Meakin

Clos d’Yvigne - Cotes de Bergeac, Saussignac AC (24 Dordogne, Aquitaine) - Patricia Atkinson

Chateau des Milles Anges - Premieres Cotes de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, Cadillac AC (33 Gironde, Aquitaine) - Heather van Ekris

Chateau Lezongars - Premieres Cotes de Bordeaux, Bordeaux AC (33 Gironde, Aquitaine) - Philip and Sarah Iles

Chateau Teyssier - Saint Emilion Grand Cru AC (33 Gironde, Aquitaine) - Jonathan and Lyn Maltus

Chateau de Sours - Bordeaux AC (33 Gironde, Aquitaine) - Esme & Sara Johnson

Domaine Gourdon - Cotes de Duras AC (47 Lot-et-Garonne, Aquitaine) - John Coulthard
Domaine du Grand Mayne - Cotes de Duras AC (47 Lot-et-Garonne, Aquitaine) - Andrew Gordon
Domaine de Begude - Limoux AC (11 Aude, Languedoc-Roussillon) - Catherine and James Kinglake
Domaine de Mourchon - Cotes du Rhone Seguret AC (84 Vaucluse, Provence) - Walter McKinley
Maison des Bulliats - Regnie AC Beaujolais (69 Rhone, Rhone-Alpes) - Fred and Helen Lockwood
Chateau Méaume - Bordeaux Superieure AC (33 Gironde, Aquitaine) - Alan and Sue Johnson-Hill

Domaine a Sauvageonne - Coteaux du Languedoc AC, Vin de Pays d’Oc (34 Herault, Languedoc - Roussillon) - Gavin Crisfield

Domaine Sainte Rose - Vin de Pays d’Oc (34 Herault, Languedoc-Roussillon) - Charles and Ruth Simpson

Chateau Bauduc - Bordeaux AC (33 Gironde, Aquitaine) - Gavin and Angela Quinney

Domaine Sainte Croix - Corbieres AC (11 Aude, Languedoc-Roussillon) - Jon & Elizabeth Bowen

Chateau Monplaisir - Bergerac AC (24 Dordogne, Aquitaine) - David and Helen Baxter

Regular readers will be aware the the Lot Valley in the South West of France features frequently in these pages - in many ways the essence of “deepest France”, it is less crowded than the Dordogne to the north and yet offers a wide variety of landscapes, pretty villages, great cuisine - and is home to the often under-rated Malbec-based wines of Cahors. Hence an essential recent purchase has been the revised edition of Helen Martin’s Book Lot: Travels Through a Limestone Landscape in SouthWest France, which is packed with insights, history and information on the Lot département (46) as part of the River’s journey from the Massif Central to its meeting with the Garonne near Aiguillon (47 Lot-et-Garonne, Aquitaine).

Helen has kindly allowed us to print an extract of the section on Cahors and its wines…….
Lot: Travels Through a Limestone Landscape in SouthWest France

Chapter 8 The Lot Valley: West of Cahors
Below Cahors, the valley of the Lot belongs to the vignerons and the vineyards of the black wine of Cahors, châteaux-country in fact, but in times gone by it also belonged to the bishops of Cahors, who worked and played but mostly – in that great Christian tradition – fought along its banks.
Downstream of Luzech, the really wild cliffs you see to the east of Cahors become a thing of the past, replaced by gentler, graceful slopes, albeit with a certain grandeur to them, that, even though they may end in cliffs, are less formidable and are called cévennes. The river idles its way through the countryside in deep loops, or cingles, and was used as a major artery for transporting goods from the thirteenth century.
Along its banks grow the vines, and it was mostly the wine from these vineyards which used to be sailed downstream to the Garonne and Bordeaux and from thence to the world. The wine of Cahors may have had its ups and down in more recent times, but the Romans were making wine here in the third century and it had something of a reputation even then, so this river trade is very ancient. Finally, though, and in spite of the efforts of competitive Bordeaux wine-makers, it was phylloxera which put paid to the wine, and thus the trade, in the 1880s. By the time it had revived again, there were better means of transport. But even when the river was at the height of its usefulness, transportation was not always guaranteed. You would be surprised to know how many times the Lot froze right over in winter; the end of the eighteenth century was a particularly critical time – in 1766 it was frozen solid for two and a half months.
In the early nineteenth century, on a river much improved with the passage of time by locks and aids to navigation, 300,000 tonnes of freight was carried down it each year, including an astonishing 90 million bottles of wine – three times the number produced today. However, just as it was phylloxera that killed the river’s wine trade, so it was the coming of the railway that killed the river as a serious form of transport. In more recent years, though, it is coming to life again as leisure craft ply their way up and down, no doubt bringing new problems of pollution.
The villages along this western stretch of the river, unsurprisingly enough, are notable for their wine-producers’ houses – usually big and square with bolets or pigeonniers and sometimes both. You will notice, also, the use of decorative brickwork, the bricks being produced along the valley. Read more on this…

Albas (46 Lot, Midi-Pyrenees) holds its annual Fete du Vin de Cahors on Saturday 3 May 2008 - situated in the heart of the Cahors vineyard to the west of Cahors, the day goes under the banner of “open our cellars to the fresh air!” - another celebration of the arrival of Spring and the start of the growth of the vine for another vintage.

The day includes open tastings, music, a banquet and other attractions such as a barrel-maker (tonnelier) - and amongst the wines will be Impernal, Prieuré de Cénac, Château d’Anglars, Château Beauvillain-Monpezat, Château Carrigou, Château Eugénie, Château Leret-Monpezat, Clos Triguedina and Domaine la Borie.

If you can tear yourself away from the festivities in the town, it is worth taking a trip to the “Point-de-Vue” on the hill above the village for a spectacular view of the river Lot and its vineyards. Take the D37 south west from th village and follow the signs.

The Observer (27 April 08) features a visit to Chateau Lagrezette in Cahors (46 Lot, Midi-Pyrenees), owned and restored by Alain Dominique Perrin, a controversial figure in the Cahors wine community, who was the key figure in Cartier’ luxury goods empire.

His vigorous approach to marketing and the production of high value wines has not always been popular with traditionalists in the area, who fear that whilst he may be promoting the name of Cahors, his wines tend to be too commercial and distant from the traditional character of the appellation. Certainly other winemakers are making extraordinarily good top quality wines, whilst still retaining distinctive Cahors character.There is also the inevitable local suspicion about a wealthy incomer in what has been one of the poorest départements in France.

Lunch in the farmhouse kitchen is nowhere near as terrifyingly chic as I’d feared. Instead, his son Clement, a 27-year-old musician, and his winery manager, Jean Courtois, sit with him at a long wooden table in front of an open fire and eat ratatouille made with vegetables from the kitchen garden, herbed chicken with braised endive, goats’ cheese from Rocamadour and an amazing tarte tatin, all prepared by housekeeper Nadia, while Perrin explains how he restored his vineyards.

Lagrézette’s vineyards are some of the oldest in France and there are references to them from the 1500s. But they were decimated in the last century by the vine disease phylloxera and then by flooding in the 1950s. At the request of the locals, who had seen and approved of Perrin’s work on the château, he set about bringing them back, ripping out the unimpressive hybrids that had replaced the original diseased Malbec plants, replacing them with new Malbecs on three-quarters of the estate and Merlot and Tannat grapes everywhere else. He brought in renowned wine expert Michel Rolland to help in 1989, but remained closely involved himself.

‘Monsieur Perrin,’ says Courtois, ‘is above all interested in… quality. Quality is the most important thing to him in all things.’

The château’s winery was built from scratch, although it incorporates some original pieces, like the enormous wooden door, which dates from before the French Revolution, and a large stone fountain picked up in Toulouse. Having decided it should be built underground, Perrin had the hillside dug out, built the cellars and the workrooms, and then replaced the soil on top, no small feat considering the winery is 55m long and 19m deep. Now all that is visible from outside is the winery’s beautiful fascia. The final touch was a 150m tunnel connecting the winery with the château.

At the end of the tunnel you find yourself in a tasting room, formerly one of the château’s cells. ‘This is where Monsieur Rolland comes to blind-taste each vintage,’ explains Courtois. ‘It is also haunted, like most of the castle.’ In the course of the restoration, Perrin made a macabre discovery: the ruins of an oubliette, a dungeon that opened only from the top, into which people were thrown, literally to be forgotten. It contained human and animal bones that Perrin had analysed. ‘The theory is that it was probably closed up in the 18th century, and erased from the records because it was a source of such shame.’ Perrin claims that the circular bedroom at the top of the south tower, where his friends Tina Turner, Elton John, Richard Gere, Cindy Crawford and Tony Blair stay when they drop in for a weekend, is also subject to visitations from former inhabitants.

The Chateau has a nicely designed and informative website and blog - see www.chateau-lagrezette.tm.fr

Whilst the wines of Lagrezette are undoubtedly of high quality, personally I would prefer the wines of Chateau du Cedre or Chateau Eugenie.

Chateau Lagrezette Cahors AC is available from www.bertrandandnicholaswines.co.uk amongst others.

See our customised Google Map of the Lot and Cahors