Also running under the banner of Wild Earth Vineyards, Caroline is passionate about encouraging people to appreciate and understand her organic wines. With a delightful gite (holiday rental accommodation) enjoying stunning views over the Dordogne valley and the vineyards, regular vineyard walks (which include other local organic vineyards), tutored wine classes (in Bergerac and Ireland!), longer vineyard walking holidays in Bordeaux, St Emilion & Bergerac - and other wine experiences which include trying your hand at being a winemaker for a day! - they offer plenty of ways of getting to know the wines and vineyard well.

Happily, all this “tourism” is secondary to the main focus, which is to produce great wines - and they do. We were hugely impressed by their clean, bright aromatic dry Sauvignon Blanc, but their other whites, rosé and seriously good red wines are also excellent and rated highly in the press and elsewhere:

‘Its gorgeous’ is what the Irish Times says of our La Source red wine. We also have our methode traditionnelle sparkling (the real thing) and 2006 saussignac available to you.It’s not just the taste that is superb. When you buy from us you are supporting:
- organic farming giving you a healthy product that does not have herbicide/ pesticide residues
- a very low carbon footprint (we do much of our vineyard work by hand, we favour natural processes rather than intervention and we have an oak forest to offset our CO2 emissions) giving us all a better future.

Well worth a visit if you are in the region, you can also order online for delivery to your door in the UK and Ireland. If you order by 8th December 2008 you can get UK delivery in time for Christmas and indulge with good wine direct from the winemaker!

Interestingly many of the small independent vineyards in the Bergerac appellation are going organic - and not just for the “feel good” factor or as a marketing ploy - sustainable vineyards and a healthy environment are needed to support the complex combination of factors (e.g. soil, climate, rootstock and people) which have to come together to produce consistently good wines.

For more info:-
Caroline & Sean Feely  E: caroline@wildearthvineyards.com
Chateau Haut Garrigue
24240 Saussignac
France
Tel: +33(0)553227271

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So you could try something a little different for your festive fizz. 10% off a mixed case of sparkling wines,

The other half of the business specialises in gourmet foods from SW France and beyond, including duck and goose products such as confit, rillettes, patés, cassoulet and soups, jams, bottled fruit, tapenade and anchoiades and even snails!

Devigne Wines and Confit Direct

Michael & Patricia Robertson, PO Box 13748, North Berwick
EH39 9AA

Tel: 01620 890860 Fax: 05600 756287

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Arras Christmas Market (Pas-de-Calais) runs 27 Nov to 24 Dec 2008
Arras, with its impressive squares (places), holds a spectacular Christmas market on the Grand Place. This market has about 50 mini wooden chalets offering offer a wide selection of arts and crafts, as well as local delicacies such as “Les Coeurs d’Arras” (a heart shaped biscuit with ginger and cheese flavourings.
Craft exhibits from Poland, Vietnam, Morocco, Indonesia and Africa; regional food and drink from the Auvergne, Savoy, Holland and Southwest France as well as the local region.

For more info see www.ot-arras.fr/

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The Quercy Blanc - named for its white stone - is a wild and sparsely populated area of rural France, squeezed between the great wine trading port of Bordeaux and the fizzing city of the south, Toulouse. It’s home to the goose and the grape, sumptuous foiegras, the mysterious black truffle and world famous Agen prunes. There are miles of walnut groves and, most important of all, acres of vines. The author introduces us to some colourful local characters, freezes from the kneecaps down whilst braving the famous winter truffle market in Lalbenque, throws herself with Gallic gusto into numerous fetes and uncovers traces of the luminaries who once called this place home. From Champollion, who translated the Rosetta stone, to the illustrious Eleanor of Aquitaine, whose marriage to Henry Plantagenet brought the area to the English crown.

Ideal winter reading in the UK, conjuring up the warmth and richness of life in South West France.

For more info - White Stone, Black Wine: OR get an Amazon Gift Certificates.

The Truffle Market in Lalbenque (46 Lot, Midi-Pyrenees) takes place every Tuesday from the first Tuesday in December through to mid-March. For more info see www.lalbenque.net

For more on Quercy on FrenchDuck see http://frenchduck.com

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Domaine le Fort

For the first time this November there will be a French Wine Growers Fair in London (21-23 November 2008 at the Barbican). The Salons des Vignerons Independents (Independent Winemakers Fairs) are well established in France and we usually try to get to one of the fairs in Lille, Strasbourg or Paris which take place each November/December. (for more info see www.frenchduck.com) - these tend to be huge events with up to 1000 winemakers attending and offering the public the opportunity to meet the people who make the wine, do some tastings and stock up for the winter.
London’s French Wine-Growers Fair attempts to replicate the format in London from 21-23 November 2008 - with 130 traditional wine makers showing their wines - more than 500 wines on taste - and the opportunity to buy at vineyard gate prices (although regrettably with UK excise duty and VAT payable).
One of the exhibitors is a favourite of mine - Domaine le Fort from the little-known appellation of Malepère AOC near Carcassonne in the Languedoc. This is a small but beautiful domaine which is centred around a building which looks as though it was a fort for the French Foreign Legion, where Stephanie and Marc Pagès make delightful wines such as the Tour du Fort, a blend of Merlot, Grenache and Cabernet Franc, aged in oak. Not otherwise available in the UK, this could be a rare opportunity to taste and buy wines which seldom get to our shores, often because the volume of production is insufficient for the supermarkets and other importers.

Half-Price tickets (£10 reduced from £20) available from www.frenchwinegrowersfair.com - Domaine le Fort is on stand 22
For more info on Domaine le Fort see www.domainelefort.com

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Lauroux vineyards in the Gers in winter

Nick and Karen Kitchener will be in London exhibiting their wines (Cotes de Gascogne and Floc) and Armagnacs at The Wine Show to be held at the Business Design Centre, Islington on 23-26 October. (Stand C35-4 in the Wine Market on the 3rd floor). It is only seldom that you get the chance to taste Armagnac and even less often can you also meet the English winemaker (is there a special name for an Armagnac maker?).
I like the Lauroux website with its tons of info and vineyard diary - have also discovered some rather good menus on the site, all of which involve Armagnac in some way, from the sumptuously seductive Chocolate, Prune and Armagnac cake to Slow Roast Leg of Lamb with Armagnac Sauce!!

For more info see www.lauroux.com
The Wine Show

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2005 Laurent Mousset Entraygues et du Fel’  (£9.10) Like the wines of Marcillac, the dominant variety here is Fer Servadou although Laurent Mousset chooses to add some Cabernet Franc for a bit of added weight and texture.  It is a wine typical of the reds from the southwest corner which we love so dearly.  The red fruit is bright and zippy and although there is some rustic grip (these are not slick, glossy wines), they are essentially light and fairly soft.  These are wines to refresh body and soul and indeed, they used to be drunk instead of water (which sounds like a recipe for a far more entertaining day than those we spend sipping piously on Evian).   Although there is fabulous earth and stone flavours underlying the red cherry and raspberry fruit, this is not a wine to be studied with reverence, rather knocked back with gusto.

2006 Domaine du Cros Marcillac ‘Lo Sang del Pais’  (£8.75) Marcillac is rarely seen outside its own little part of SW France between Rodez and the beginnings of the Auvergne. It’s not because the wines can’t be good, but there’s just so little to go round – only eight independent winemakers exist and the number can’t expand because all the best sites (particularly the incredibly steep south-facing slopes with their dramatic terracotta coloured soil) are already taken.  It’s the combination of soil and the mansois grape that gives Marcillac it’s particular taste, a sort of wild, vibrant, leafy, raspberry and bramble fruit that’s fresh and moreish.

Philippe Teulier makes two styles of wine, his basic, traditional style (which this is) and a oaked version from older vines.  While we love both, the purity of the gamey fruit in this swung it for us on this occasion

South London’s Green & Blue won Independent Wine Merchant of the Year in the Under 12 staff category. The judges praised the tiny two-shop chain run by former Conran sommelier Kate Thal, for its attention to detail, noting the fact that ’staff will even print out a tasting note’ if the wine is for a gift!

Green & Blue Lordship Lane, 38 Lordship Lane, East Dulwich London SE22 8HJ T: 0208 693 9250 F: 0208 693 9260

Green & Blue Clapham, 20 - 26 Bedford Road, Clapham. London SW4 7HJ   T: 0207 498 9648 F: 0207 498 9649

 Website: http://www.greenandbluewines.com

If you are ever lucky enough to get to the Aveyron, we can recommend some excellent cottages to rent owned by a couple of Californians – see wwww.frenchduck.com

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It can be a bit of a surprise to discover just how cosmopolitan rural France can be – a tribute to its sheer attractiveness to many nations – so a small hotel/B&B run by a Dane and a New Zealander in a French chateau near Bordeaux could be an interesting combination with an intriguing mix of cultures and traditions. Situated in Meihan (47 Lot-et-Garonne, Aquitaine) within easy reach of St Emilion and the other less-pictureseque Bordeaux vineyards – and the vineyards of the Cotes du Marmandais and Cotes de Duras.

Chez Kelly is a Hip-Chic-Boutique hotel particuliere…in a chateau, appealing to discerning customers who enjoy a unique and discrete holiday experience in premium surroundings. Located in the famous 15th century “Chateau de Sauvin” bordering the Canal du Lateral, nearby the Garonne river and medieval town of Meilhan, the Chez Kelly concept is a mix of classic French and contemporary Scandinavian design.

Unlike other B+B offerings, hosts Brendan and Keld encourage guests to relax around the pool, play tennis, boules or billiards in the lounges, terraces and parklands enjoying “hotel like” daytime residency, without the maddening crowd. This is typified by the “New Zealand” friendly, casual style coupled with “Danish” reserve and respect for the privacy of our guests, making Chez Kelly your “home” for a holiday experience. The accommodation looks very stylish – a long way from the normal rustic French tradition. They clearly offer a different approach including “table d’hote” dining with style.

Being in the centre of some serious wine-making regions they are also offering an opportunity to get really involved with the wine harvest in September/October – so instead of just drinking wine; what about actually participating in the harvest, picking the grapes, be a part of the process! Learn a bit more about winemaking, get to know some of the local wines and have a good time to boot! The region also looks stunning as the early autumn colours start to kick in. 

What are we offering? – Depending on the length of stay and picking days, we will arrange for you to spend 1-2 mornings picking grapes on one of our selected vineyards followed by participation in their harvest lunch. In addition we can arrange tasting sessions in different wine regions (we have Marmandais, Duras, Graves et Sauternes, Buzet and St Emilion all within 60km), a gourmet tour of a foie gras producer and a specialty oils producer. We can even arrange a chauffer driven service if you want to cut loose. 

 Chez Kelly, Château de Sauvin (off the D113) Meilhan, 47180

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However, my knowledge and passion for the region is completely overshadowed by Phil Hargreaves and his new book The Wines of Bergerac. This is a comprehensive and authorative guide to the 13 appellations (including Montravel, Pecharmant, Rosette, Monbazillac and Saussignac)and to ove 90 producers, each of which has a full page full of details of location, opening times, the nature of the “terroir”, how the grapes are grown and how the wine is made - plus details of UK stockists, contact details and tasting notes!

This has clearly been a labour of love, as I cannot imagine that anyone could do justice to more than a couple of vineyards a day to produce this amount of reliable detail -as always I checked out his entries on domaines which I know well such as Chateau Grinou, Chateau Haut Garrigue and Chateau Beauportail, and the entries are spot on! I share his affection for the Merlot and Cabernet reds, Sauvignon and Semillon dry and sweeter whites. His secret has been his career as a linguist and wine merchant - but also his sheer enthusiasm for the wines of Bergerac.

“..my love affair with the Dordogne started some 40 years ago when I was a student in Perigueux in 1968 . A few years later, my late father-in-law introduced me to the wines of Cahors and Bergerac and the seed was sown for an interest in wines that would lead to twenty years in the wine trade and ultimately, this little book.
1 have personally visited the vast majority of the producers in this guide and wines from every
winernaker included have been tasted by myself and my tasting team, drawn from friends and
colleagues at the Hengate Wine School and the Premier Cru Wine Club, based in Beverley,
East Yorkshire. I have resisted the temptation to give wines a star rating as I recognise that
taste in wine is a very personal thing and it does not pay to be too dogmatic. However, I hope
the tasting comments will help you establish which wines will most appeal to you.

There’s plenty of background to the region and its wines in addition to the individual producers’ pages, which makes the book both readable and an indispensible guide to visiting the region and its vineyards - I will certainly be taking a copy with me on my next trip to the Dordogne!

For more info on Phil Hargreaves, Hengate Wine School and the book “The Wines of Bergerac” see www.hengatewineschool.co.uk

The official launch of new guide “The Wines of Bergerac” will take place on Friday 26 September at 6 p.m. at Beverley Arms Hotel, Beverley, East Yorkshire. Book signing and free Bergerac tasting - see www.hengatewineschool.co.uk

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Eating and drinking in the Lot is not so much gastronomy, it is more a way of life. Simple pleasures like early-morning mushrooming results in gastronomic treats at meal times.
The food used to revolve around the polyculture practised by the small propriétaires, less so today. But fruits are still bottled, geese are still stuffed, pigs are fattened, påtés are tinned, ducks are turned into hunks of confit, and yellow chickens, dotted with oil and butter and legs akimbo, are forced into ovens to emerge an hour or so later, tasting simply sensational. It is a day-in, day-out, year-long occupation. Tout es bou per sa sason ‘To everything there is a season’ takes on new meaning. ©Helen Martin

Helen Martin writes more about the Lot in her blog at http://lotbook.blogspot.com/

To read more about Food and Wine in the Lot see………
From Helen Martin’s Book Lot: Travels Through a Limestone Landscape in SouthWest France
CHAPTER SIX: Food and drink

You arrange to meet at half-past five in the morning. Bleary-eyed, you rise and throw open the shutters to the day. The sky is white-blue and a thin summer mist, like half-whipped egg white, swirls over the valley beneath you, smothering the familiar landmarks. Only the pigeonniers can pierce it. It looks like a gigantic plate of îles flottantes.
As the mist lifts you see smoke rise from the cottage chimney. Across the fields you can hear the children shouting and then the slow rumble of the car. You pile in on top of the chatter and drive to the farm.
Everyone is up already, so we leave the children and plunge down the meadows behind the farm buildings towards the woods. Our feet are wet. The grass is soaked with dew. Through the woods we go, heads down. ‘Attention vipères!’ says Reine, but we do not see any snakes.
We are mushrooming and our eyes are skinned for the little yellow girolles with wavy up-turned caps and big bold ceps.
The floor of the wood is soft with the mould of centuries. It rained yesterday and our feet sink into a bed of moss and leaves.
For two hours we walk thus, abreast, eyes down, following the forest’s invisible paths, mushroom paths, etched across Reine’s mind in an almost subliminal way. Every year since childhood she has followed the same tracks.
We don’t find many- enough girolles for breakfast, and only one cep; it is too early in the year for ceps. We leave the woods and wade back through the grass, heading towards the children’s cries. The sun is up, the light is limpid. We enter the dark warmth of the cottage and sit at an old table in front of the fire.
Madame, Reine’s mother, examines our finds and sets tiny cups of thick black coffee in front of us. The talk is relaxed and convivial.
“Did you go to such and such a spot? What! There were none under the fallen chestnut? My God! Do you remember the ones we found here the year before last?’
It could be any day, any year, any century. We divide the spoils, sink a drop of eau de vie and I make my way home. It is only half-past ten. The day has begun well.

Eating and drinking in the Lot is not so much gastronomy, it is more a way of life. Simple pleasures like early-morning mushrooming results in gastronomic treats at meal times.
The food used to revolve around the polyculture practised by the small propriétaires, less so today. But fruits are still bottled, geese are still stuffed, pigs are fattened, påtés are tinned, ducks are turned into hunks of confit, and yellow chickens, dotted with oil and butter and legs akimbo, are forced into ovens to emerge an hour or so later, tasting simply sensational. It is a day-in, day-out, year-long occupation. Tout es bou per sa sason ‘To everything there is a season’ takes on new meaning.
If you want to know about eating and drinking in the Lot, you should read Pierre Benoit’s novel Le Déjeuner de Sousceyrac, a piece of writing in which is immortalised what was a rather dreary looking hotel in the slightly unprepossessing town of Sousceyrac, For a long time and in spite of its dreariness it had a Michelin star.* Today, it has to be said, the hotel has been renovated and the town cleaned up too.
In the days of the fictional book, Mme Prunet surprised her uninitiated guests with the offer of a simple chicken. It was just that she forgot to mention that it would be preceded by foie gras of duck and little freshwater crayfish straight from one of the many Ségala streams. Maybe she was being a touch mean, she wondered after the crayfish. Should she send the youngster to the épicerie for sardines? Then there was the trout and the dish of stuffed ceps, followed by jugged hare, then, at last the chicken, ending with a sumptuous omelette au rhum……

So what do you wash all this down with? What do Lenin, the Orthodox Church, the Tsars, Pope Jean XXII, Henri IV, Clément Marot, and the Romans all have in common? The answer is the wine of Cahors. The Orthodox Church adopted it as its communion wine; the Tsars used it at official functions; Pope Jean invited Quercy wine growers to cultivate his new vineyard at Chateauneuf (du Pape); Clément Marot called it ‘une liqueur de feu’; Caesar drank and exported it. It is thought that the slaves accompanying the Roman invaders brought wine-making skills to the area.
The English liked it enough to make the wine-growers of Bordeaux feel so threatened that they started to operate a protection racket of taxes and constraints against the Cahors growers during the Hundred Years War, François I planted Cahors vines at Fontainebleau.
A long history, therefore, but not always a proud one. Quality declined drastically in the fourteenth century, for example, and at subsequent times the wine was so poor it was only fit to be added to Bordeaux to give the latter depth. The region clawed its way back to prosperity in the nineteenth century (as much of the local architecture attests) only for phylloxera and war to drag it back down again. Cahors reached a milestone in 1971 when it was promoted to be an AOC wine and today the region produces 30 million bottles annually on about 4,000 hectares.
Traditionally a black wine full of tannin, Cahors is made from 70% Malbec, ( sometimes known Auxerrois or Cot grapes) combined with Merlot and/or Tannat, usually 15% of each, though the proportions are now being slightly modified to attract a wider market. Cahors is the only European stronghold of Malbec, a grape that has declined in popularity in Europe and which is very sensitive to frost. In recent years it has been grown very successfully in Argentina..
In spite of the tannin you can drink it young, when it is at its fruitiest, but also, sometimes, a bit harsh. Best to lay it down down - Malbec does need ageing to develop into a full-flavoured, robust, purple wine, with a long finish. It’s good with game and, as already mentioned, astonishingly good with the local cheese and duck.
But the tannin in the wine is a source of some discussion among the wine growers, some feeling that the essential nature of the wine is being altered to accommodate more modern palettes. Fingers are often pointed at incomers to the area, though there are some growers like Philippe Bernède of Clos La Coutale who are local and who successfully export less tannic, lighter wine, more adapted to contemporary taste.
The Jouffreau family take an opposite point of view. It is almost as if the wines are designed to be provocative and they pander to no one’s taste but their own. The wines they make, though, speak loudly of terroir and tannin as well as individuality and they are honest, earthy and often very, very good.
With your foie gras try a dessert wine by Jean Baldès who also makes the Clos Triguedina award winning wines- Triguedina meaning in Occitan “I am looking forward to dinner, me trigo de dina. One of his new offerings are the Vin de Lune ( white ‘moon’ wines) picked by hand in the dark, or very early in the morning when temperatures are cool. This is an apparent revival of a sixteenth century habit when the peasants used to creep into the manor and steal the grapes, which cool and fresh as they were, retained their fruitiness. Baldès also produces the 100% Malbec Prince Probus and recently started making the New Black Wine, based on a thirteenth century method of production when the black wine of Cahors was famous all over Europe.
The cradle of the Cahors wine is the area between Catus and Bagat, Soturac and Arcambal, but again disagreements arise on which is the best land, though tradition has it that wine produced higher up the coteaux of the river banks is best, albeit production on the steep slopes is also the most expensive. The wine grown along the river valley tends to be full-bodied and deeply fruity, that of the causse, lighter and elegant.
The growers’ aim is firmly set at quality now, the AOC appellation being hard-won and for this reason they try to stick together. But reclassification of the vineyards is now the big fault-line in the area, with some, like Alain-Dominique Perrin (see p 133) feeling that poorer land must be dumped in favour of zones de cru and others afraid that it is their land that will be dumped and that there will be little compensation.
Many of the château vineyards are visitable …and the Chateau de Haute Serre, high on the causse offers an interesting tour as well. Rows of vines are a heart-warming sight somehow and here in the Lot, as in some other places you will often see roses planted at the end of the rows, not to look pretty, although they do, but as an early warning system for mildew
At the end of the last century, the phylloxera parasite, all but wiped out the wines of the area. The propriétaires were advised to replant with American vines, which were resistant to the disease, but these were expensive and many of the small farmers could not afford such a venture. Moreover the wine produced was of poor quality. It was a devastating time. It is impossible to overstate the effect phylloxera had on the rural economy. Production fell dramatically, livelihoods were lost and it was in desperation that some turned to truffles.
The slow climb back, therefore has been all the more impressive, though there have been other blows along the way, such as the hard frosts of 1956 that killed the young vines, and things seem to be at another crossroads just now when harsh decisions will need to be made if the appellation is to go on improving. It boils down to quantity or quality.
The big cooperative, Côtes d’Olt (Olt is the old name for Lot) which incorporates about 250 growers, is at Parnac, where a modern plant is capable of bottling some 9,000 bottles per hour and produces 25% of the entire appellation.
You can buy direct from the cooperative at very reasonable prices, but it would be a pity not to buy direct from some of the vineyards. There is a list available of all AOC producers- livret du vin de Cahors
Names to look out for are Perrin’s Lagrezette; Bernède’s Clos La Coutale; Jean-Luc Baldès at Clos Triguedina; Georges Vigouroux at Haute Serre and Clos de Gamot, home of the late, great Jean Jouffreau. However there are many others.
And although Cahors is associated with red wine it now produces both white, rosé and even desert wines too. The white and rosé are sold as vin de pays however not Appellation Controlée.
The best years of recent times are said to be 1990, 1995 and 2000.
Lesser wine, if honest, is that produced by the Coteaux du Quercy and the Vins du Pays du Lot.
Not all that long ago it was a common sight to see portable stills, the Hell’s Cauldrons as they were known, being dragged round the communes by tractor, going from farm to farm as people distilled their year’s supply of eau de vie de prune, a strong colourless liquid smelling strongly of plums. Twenty litres was the maximum allowed, but at up to 50% alcohol.
In an effort to stamp out the practice and earn a bit of money, the government introduced a licensing system. Licenses were issued to the head of the household for life only. As the men die off, so the right to distil dies with them and soon the only eau de vie will be that available on supermarket shelves. Vieille Prune is available in pretty bottles all over the département, taking 10 kilograms of plums to make one bottle.
Another popular digestif is made from walnuts. Eaux de noix is a dark brown sticky drink, too sweet for me, although I quite enjoy its companion drink, vin de noix, an equally sweet aperitif. This is made from walnuts too though the fact that it is served on ice reduces the sweetness a bit. Noisette is a digestif made from hazel nuts and there is also now a new Valentré aperitif which combines Cahors wine, walnut and blackcurrant and is not as dire as it sounds. At Arcambal, Christophe Ratz is making Bière d’Olt, good for quaffing in the summer heat, but unlikely to make toomuch impact on the wine production of the area.
Of course wine in France is always associated with food and it is the simplest meals that are sometimes the most enjoyable. A glass of Cahors and a cabécou or Rocamadour and all seems right with the world
Oun y a pa et bi Lou rey pot Béni - Where there is bread and wine a king may come.

*Michelin star regained post-publication

©Copyright: Helen Martin
Lot: Travels Through a Limestone Landscape in SouthWest France

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The selection of Malbec is down to Fabrice Durou, the winemaker from Chateau de Gaudou in Cahors, a well-respected domaine at Vire-sur-Lot. So here is a man who knows his grapes and has made a “micro-cuvee. It all shows a rather different approach to the marketing gimmick which Australian producer McGuigan put on in London recently when they created a temporary vineyard in the heart of the City of London - a fun idea, admittedly, but ephemeral! (see www.ukwinesonline.co.uk)

For more about the Cahors wines of Chateau de Gaudou see www.chateaudegaudou.com

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A visit to Chateau Grinou (Monestier, 24 Dordogne, Aquitaine) south west of Bergerac, always takes longer than planned, and I always learn more than I expect.

On this ocassion it was to discover that Chateau Grinou is going organic! Now, whilst Guy Cuisset has a genuine concern for the well-being of the local environment and takes seriously his responsibilities as the current steward of the land and the flora and fauna of the domaine, he is no “tree-hugger”. His primary passion is to produce excellent wines. He does not compromise that objective, especially as there are so many other obstacles (weather, pest, disease) and constraints (bureaucratic, legal, financial) in the way. He is convinced that this approach, whilst being a good investment in the future health and viability of the vineyard, will produce better wines - wines which are more intense and show more of the real fruit character of the grape. The wines will evolve over the next few years as new techniques and fewer artificial interventions make subtle changes to the resulting wines.

The latest visit also included a walk through the vines, which demonstrate the complexity of the challenge. Every year is different, and every one of the 365 days of the year will be distinctively different from this year to last or next. This Spring was seriously wet with heavy downpours and sodden soil. This was followed by some very hot dry weather which dried the topsoil to an almost impenetrable concrete layer - making life very difficult when trying to get rid of the weeds between the vines - esepcially now that he can no longer apply selective weedkillers to deal with the problem.

Further on, he shows me his latest innovation - an organic water treatment plant - which collects all the waste water from the winery and treats it organically and aerobically before letting it flow into the local water course. It’s impressive with its bubbling air pumping through the water and the reed bed to filter the run-off. It may be a requirement of the EU, but few other vineyards are following his example.

It is easy to forget amongst all the hype, marketing and packaging that wine is an agricultural product, and that the winemaker is a farmer with his roots in the soil and environment of his domaine - he can see the benefits to local wildlife (some welcome, others not so), and recognises that his future and that of future generations is intimately invested in the “terroir” which makes his wines what they are.

Unfortunately the new Sauvingon Blanc (Bergerac Sec AC) is not yet available in the UK, so all the more reason to pay a visit to the domaine. English is spoken, but do not expect a fancy tasting room with award certificates, old barrels or ancient vineyard equipment - a plastic table in the middle of the stainless steel cuves is all you’ll get - plus a chance to taste some excellent wines and a small slice of Guy’s enthusiasm to take away!

For more info on Chateau Grinou and UK stockists - see www.frenchduck.co.uk/grinou.html

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It promises to be fun - plus there are plenty of good winemakers in the area.

For more info see www.pays-de-bergerac.com 

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The trouble with writing about “hidden” corners of France, is that you run the danger of sharing the secret with too many others. Places which I felt were “real France”, quiet, peaceful and unspoilt, have often changed in the last 20 years, becoming commercialised, crowded and bland. But, somehow the location and geography of the upper Lot Valley probably make this less likely.

Although I have made many visits to the lower Lot, especially around the town of Cahors and the Cahors AC vineyards, I had only ventured up-river once - and that was to the picturesque village of St Cirq-la-Popie - perched high on the limestone crags overlooking the valley about 20 miles distant. The valley even here is quite different to the lower Lot where the river, although still pleasingly curvaceous, tends to be wider.

Few vineyards are to be found upriver from Cahors, but the countryside of the Upper Lot and Célé valleys is spectacular - and quieter. The limestone crags and cliffs dominate the landscape offer breathtaking views - and although the roads are often narrow and distinctly bendy, this tends to have the effect of entering a land where time runs more slowly, where nature makes itself felt - and that is miles away from the tourist centres of the Dordogne. And the journey keeps unfolding as you head on up the valley - another 90 miles in our case.

Our objective was to get to meet with Americans Lance and Rain who have 3 cottages to rent near Entraygues-sur-Truyere ( 12 Aveyron, Midi-Pyrenees). Although we had been in contact by email, I was intrigued to discover how and why 2 Californians had settled in one of the lesser-known parts of France.

The journey up the valley provided at least part of the answer - this is a truly beautiful part of France - the valley becomes narrower, but still offers delightful villages, stunning views and plenty of opportunity to enjoy the river - whether just sitting on the bank in the shade or being more energetic with canoes or kayaks. Entraygues-sur-Truyere, which translates as “between the waters” - i.e. the river Lot and its tributary the Truyere - is everything you expect of a small rural French market town - with its bridges over the river and narrow streets - and the essentials - a bank, boulangerie, hotel, bar etc - and the quiet air of a place at peace with itself - especially on a hot summer afternoon.

The other reason for Lance and Rain choosing this spot also became clear when we found the “Sweet French Cottages” up a narrow track above the river a few kilometres out of town. We discovered a haven of tranquility - with delightful hosts and some wonderful holiday cottages - well, appointed, cleverly and carefully restored - but above all secluded and deep in the countryside - yet just a few miles from all the conveniences of the town - and in an area rich with local artisans producing wine, cheese, wine. pottery…… The local wines, Vins d’Entraygues et du Fel VDQS, had to be tasted of course (along with some wonderful goats cheese made by one of the neighbours)! The vineyards are often terraced high on the sides of the valley, and production is small - mostly drunk locally. The white we tasted from Domaine de Mejanassere was a blend of Chenin Blanc and Mauzac grapes - a light, refreshing dry wine with a pleasing floral nose and exotic fruit finish; the red (Gamay, Fer Servadou, Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Savignon), whilst being a tad “rustic” was perfect with some local saucisson. Somehow these uncomplicated straightforward wines were a great match for the time and place!

Whilst many might aspire to the Californian lifestyle, these Californians have clearly found their home in the depths of France, and whilst they remain ambitious, they are relaxed and welcoming - a long way from the stereotypical loud American we’ve all met. Indeed, there is something about the place that seems to instill some sense of peace and contentment - the world of autoroutes, big business and conflict seems, and is, a long way away - whilst nature imposes its own sense of order to things - whether it be the landscape, the river or the weather.

It is certainly an area I intend to return to - there is so much to explore, especially guided by two people who know the area well, and are keen to share it with others. Their ambitions include developing artists retreats (with a studio planned) and themed stays based on the local food etc.

For more about Lance and Rain’s SWEET FRENCH COTTAGES - see www.frenchduck.com/latest OR to enquire about availability and rates etc, complete the form below:-

cforms contact form by delicious:days

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The Bristol Wine and Food Fair (11-13 July 2008) seems to have been a great success - lots of interest and many interesting exhibitors, including the English-owned vineyard at Domaine Chater in the Côtes de Duras AC (47 Lot-et-Garonne, Aquitaine):-

Domaine Chater is a small vineyard that nestles in the rolling hills around the historic town of Duras in South-West France. We are passionate about making great wines and no compromises are made in the vineyard or the winery. Our white wines are refreshing and full of fruit while our reds are complex with layers of fruit and spice. Our range of wines has already won a huge amount of international recognition.

Although they only began producing wine in 2004, they have enjoyed significant success in gaining recognition for the quality of their wines. The Cotes de Duras is particularly renown for its Sauvignon Blancs, which they do indeed produce good Sauvignon, but unusually for the region their Cabernet and Merlot reds have drawn most praise:-

….two styles of red wines are produced at Domaine Chater; traditional (a majority of the wine aged in our stainless steel tanks) and oak aged (made from old vines and aged in 100% French Oak). Our traditional wines have the emphasis upon rich fruit flavours with subtle tannins and are great with red meat dishes. Chater oak aged wines are made with 40-year old vines and barrel-aged for 12 months in French oak barrels with one-third of the barrels being renewed every year - producing complex wines with layers of fruit, liquorice and spice. Great with red meat and rich sauces.

Importantly their wines are consistently rated by the Guide Hachette des Vins de France - what many consider to be the French wine bible, as entries are secured by blind tastings rather than paid adverts.

You can order online direct from France as they have a UK warehouse - and you can visit the domaine in St Sernin-de-Duras - just give them a call beforehand to ensure someone is around.

Domaine Chater
Vignoble de la Lègue, 47120 St Sernin de Duras, France (see map)
T:0033 553 64 67 14
Email: info@domainechater.com

For more info on the Côtes de Duras wine region see www.cotesdeduras.com

For the diary; Domaine Chater will be at the Duras Wine Festival on 10 August 2008 - see www.paysdeduras.com

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The wine fair takes place in the town of Saint-Sardos (82 Tarn-et-Garonne, Midi-Pyrenees) on Sunday 3 August 2008.

For more info see www.cave-saint-sardos.com (in French)

In the UK some of the wines of Saint Sardos are available from Devigne Wines in Edinburgh

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