FrenchDuck UK - Latest

The Telegraph (19 Aug 08) includes a boat trip up the Rhone Valley as one of its top 10 river cruises:

Navigating France’s mightiest river is a favourite for wine aficionados and foodies. A cruise through Burgundy and Provence gives you the chance to visit vineyards (think Côtes du Rhône and Châteauneuf-du-Pape), explore Lyon – the gourmet capital of France – and enjoy historic towns such as the fortified city of Avignon and the Roman ruins in Arles. The countryside is equally superb: its fields of lavender and sunflowers were an inspiration for artists such as Vincent Van Gogh, and as the river drains into the Mediterranean you’ll see the famous white horses of the Camargue.

The route includes many worthwhile stops for visits to suit all tastes, but it is also remarkably rich in potential wine visits as you’ll pass through appellations such as Costieres de Nimes, Cotes du Rhone (north and south), Lirac, Tavel, Chateauneuf-du-Pape, St Joseph and Hermitage - and if you branch onto the River Saone north of Lyon you can explore Beuajolais and southern Burgundy!

It should come as little surprise that rivers and canals tend to offer good access to good vineyards - vines often grow best on the steep valley sides with their good drainage and aspect to the sun.

A more modest trip than the Rhone, could be a canal trip from Auxerre (89 Yonne, Burgundy) close to Chablis and down the Canal de Bourgogne to Dijon and the Burgundy vineyards; or a trip down the Canal Lateral de la Loire for Sancerre AC, Pouilly-Fumé and Coteaux Giennois. By using the Canal du Nivernais and the Canal de Briare you could even manage a circular route via Auxerre.

Of course, Rick Stein’s French Odyssey was based on a canal trip along the Canal du Midi and the Canal Lateral de la Garonne and included the vineyards of Bordeaux, Cotes du Marmandais, Buzet, Fronton, Minervois, Corbieres and the Coteaux du Languedoc.

For another set of options try Hilary Wright’s book Water into Wine: A Wine Lover’s Journey Through The Waterways of France which also includes itineraries in the lower Loire. Cognac, Alsace, Lorraiine and the Lot.

For more info on the canals of France see the website for VNF (Voies Navigable de la France) now much improved and in English!

Every year the city of Lyon (69 Rhone, Rhone-Alpes) stages a remarkable festival of lights, its Fete des Lumières - this year the festival is taking place from Thursday 7th to Sunday 10th December 2006.
“A path of light will go all the way from the plateau of the Croix-Rousse down to the Place Carnot.” originally established to celebrate the anniversary of the unveiling of a statue of the Virgin Mary on the Fourvière hillside - a celebration of thanks to the Virgin Mary, who purportedly saved the city from a deadly plague in the Middle Ages. Every house on the route has a candle in the window which together with the torchlit parade provides a stunning winter spectacle. Other sites in the city will also be floodlit, such as the Church of Saint Nizier and the hill of Fourvière, City Hall (Hotel de Ville) and several bridges over the river Rhone.
Lyon, of course prides itself as being the gastronomic capital of France, so it is awash with plenty of restaurants and “Bouchons, small intimate bistros serving local Lyonnais fare - lots of local pork for the famous Lyon sausages; andouillette à la lyonnaise (a sausage stuffed with tripe, veal and served with fried onions), salade lyonnaise (lamb and chicken liver). For wine there is a wide choice from Beaujolais to the north and the northern Rhone to the south - the local Coteaux du Lyonnais AC is a light Gamay red, little seen elsewhere. (although the Wine Society stocks one) Parts of the old town (Vieux Lyon) are recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage site with their narrow passageways (traboules) that pass through buildings and link the streets either side.
For more info see www.en.lyon-france.com

Personally I have never liked the idea of investing in wine as a financial game - if a wine is good it should be drunk not kept in dark cellars and mainly featuring on someone’s spreadsheet or auction catalogue.
But many of us do harbour the dream of having our own vineyard and living the bucolic or stylish life we assume goes with it. My experience suggests that you need to be a chemist (and an alchemist), farmer, labourer, mathematician, warehouse operative with some business and marketing acumen thrown in. You do need to know what you are doing; it can be back-breakingly hard work; the stresses of the uncertainties of the weather, the market, pests and diseases could dent the otherwise attractive liefstyle choice.

Another way is to invest in vines. Several companies offer the opportunity to “rent a row of vines”, Wineshare is one such company, offering rather more than the nominal ownership of vines on some distant vineyard - they actually offer real opportunities to get involved and feel as though you are a part of it - visits, tastings and events at the vineyard and tastings in the UK make this more than just a financial investment - it could also make a great gift for any wine lover (prices start at £75).You can even go and pick the grapes!!
Wineshare has vineyards in Italy(Tuscany) and three in France:-
Chateau de Pizay in Beaujolais
Château Constantin-Chevalier in Provence
Domaine du Grand Mayne in the Côtes de Duras, South West France

For more info see

Gauloise cigarettes, the Morris columns and now the iconic French (well, mainly Parisian) urinal is under threat. There is apparently only one of the original Vespassienne edifices left - designed by no less than Eiffel (of Tower fame) and that is in poor condition (near the Sante prison).

Named after the Roman Emperor Vespasian, whose footnote in history is that he was the first to introduce a tax on toilets, this has always been a spectacularly French and male edifice. Usually smelly in the extreme, these urinals (pissoirs) offered a minimum of discretion to both users and passers-by. By comparison the Victorians provided Britain with a pretty good system of public conveniences which is seldom matched “sur le continent”, and which probably spoils the visitor to French shores. Even where they are provided in France they are often a rude shock to the uninitiated - I’ll say no more on that subject!

In Paris and other big cities they have been largely replaced by the “Sanisette” - the tardis-like self-cleaning booths which even adorn British streets. I’ve always been terrified that either the cleaning cycle would start too soon, or that I’d get locked in - I would probably prefer a Vespassienne!

BUT the good news is that in Paris the Sanisettes are to be free of charge from now on, instead of charging €0.40 (about 25p) a pee.I have some worries about the reasons for the change of policy - is it for health reasons to encourage the Parisians to go more often? Or is it because the charges discouraged too many people and they have been finding other less environmentally friendly ways of meeting their needs!?

Cafe and bar owners may not be so happy - I know many visitors stop for a coffee/beer etc just in order to use their “facilities”.

Another of those little things which reminds you that France really is a foreign country! - Remember “CLOCHEMERLE”, a fictional story based on a maverick mayor in small Beaujolais town who decides that the erection of a magnificent municipal urinal in the town square is a perfect symbol to celebrate the virtues of the Republic - civic mayhem ensues. Although the screenplay was by Brits the original story was by a Frenchman!!

The original basis for “Clochemerle” was the village of Vaux-en-Beaujolais (69 Rhone, Rhone-Alpes) in the western part of the Beaujolais vineyard. The village trades outrageously on the fame of the novel written by Gabriel Chevalier in 1934.