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| May 18, 2008 |
Pauillac (33 Gironde, Aquitaine) celebrates a wonderful pairing - Spring Lamb and claret - well the wines of the commune of Pauillac AC - a small village and port in the Medoc which also has the distinction of hosting 3 of the 5 “first growths” in the 1855 classification of Bordeaux wines - Chateaux Lafite, Latour and Mouton-Rothschild! I somehow doubt if the celebrations will include liberal samples of these elixirs!!
The event takes place on Sunday 18 May 2008 and includes a banquet, sheep dog demos, “meet the sheep”, sheep shearing, a Spring market, boat trips, an art exhibition and a chance to buy a beret!
Lamb is a specialty of the area, as there are marshy areas near the river which are totally unsuitable for vines, but excellent for rearing saltmarsh lamb. It makes Pauillac quite a contradiction and rather more lively than much of the Medoc - especially as there is the incongruity of an industrial port and oil terminal juxtaposed with some of the most valuable and celebrated vineyards on the planet.
For more info see www.pauillac-medoc.com
The Independent (5 April 08) has another article based on research (this time from the French National Statistics Institute) which shows that your chances of getting to a healthy old age are better in France than in the UK, and that this is probably due to both diet and red wine!
Despite the French passion for cream, eggs and foie gras, le digestif after a meal, and an addiction to Gitanes cigarettes, they have half our obesity levels, less than half our death rate from heart disease and lower rates of cancer in women (but not men). They play boules and cycle, even in their dotage, which keeps them active enough to enjoy lunch. And lunch they take very seriously – a proper, sit-down, three- or four-course meal from an early age…. there are regional differences. Expectation of life is higher in the south of France than in the north, and especially high in the south-west. If you truly wish to live to be 100, you could try the red wine, olive oil, poultry, fish and haricots of the typical French south-western diet.. Then there is the wine. There have been rapid increases in wine sales in the UK in the past decade, yet British consumption at 27 litres a head per year still has a long way to go to match the French at 64 litres. Despite drinking in greater quantities, the French drink more moderately, with meals, as opposed to binge drinking in Britain.
This tends to reinforce the value of tannic red wines such as Madiran with its high levels of procyanadin which is thought to have beneficial effects on the heart.
I suspect that is also has something to do with the pace of life, as outside of Paris things do appear less frenetic than in the UK - people do stop for lunch and generally seem less hassled - athough not necessarily better humoured! The availability of fresh, locally sourced seasonal food is also clearly better in the many small local markets - and shopping at the market itself can be less stressful than going to the supermarket.
The Red Wine Diet
The Telegraph(28 Mar 08) has been running a series on eating locally in the UK, both to be environmentally friendly and to discover quality food beyond the supermarket shelves. It’s not too much to extend the focus another 22 miles across the English Channel to Calais( 59 Nord, Nord-Pas-de-Calais) - train and ferry are both environmentally relatively benign, and into the bargain you benefit from the French obsession with quality produce.
There is a grand marché every Saturday morning in the Place Crève Coeur, where farmers bring freshly dug produce from their smallholdings. Look out for the lush, locally grown broad-leaved watercress and extra-long leeks.
Inside the covered market, buy ripe-flavoured, air-dried sausages - I loved the dark meat of the wild boar (sanglier), the pork with walnuts and the rich, buttery tarts filled with prunes and custard or savoury cheese, smoked pork belly and onion.
This is also the place to buy an athletically built poulet fermier (farmyard chicken), mussels, live langoustines and little fresh goat’s cheeses made 10km from Calais. If you want to avoid dull hotel breakfasts, note that the market cafés serve only coffee.
Instead, nip around the corner to the Café l’Impérial in Rue Lafayette for croissants and petit pains, but expect to share it with the café’s honoured canine guests.
But even in France, and especially in the larger towns, these traditions are being threatened by edge-of-town super/hypermarkets which inevitably threaten small producers and retailers. Calais has more than its fair share, especially with the Cité Europe Mall near the Channel Tunnel terminal. Tesco and Sainsburys are key players attracting many Brits who prefer the familiarity of known brands rather than the more risky adventure into foreign environments, French people who do not (or will not) speak English, and produce which is not uniform in shape or colour or nicely wrapped in plastic.
The escape route from the ferry terminal whisks you away onto the autoroute system via a chemical works and the usual untidy landscape of warehouses and freight yards, but it is worth exploring the town of Calais itself, which does retain the character of a fairly typical French town, with its impressive Town Hall (Hotel de Ville), markets and small shops.
And despite the disatrous exchange rate with the Euro there are still bargains to be had (especially on wine and spirits after the budget), ferry crossings are still cheap and the gallic atmosphere is free!
Fuel prices in France, now much the same as in the UK (except that Diesel remains cheaper) reflect the double impact of increasing oil costs and the poorer exchange rate:
Exchange rate £1.00 = € 1.2254 (as at 27 March 08)
Unleaded (sans plomb 95) € 1.345 = £1.10 per litre
Super unleaded (sans plomb 98) € 1.369 = £1.12 per litre
Diesel (gazole) € 1.2390 = £1.01 per litre.
Tarn-et-Garonne (82 Midi-Pyrenees) lies between Toulouse to the south, Agen to the West and Cahors to the North. The main town is Montauban.
(see map)
Please check locally before heading for any of these markets - some do not run every week and many do not run in the winter. Some may also be held in the evening rather than morning.
Beaumont-de-Lomagne - Saturday
Bourg-de-Visa - Sunday
Castelsagrat - Sunday
Castelsarrasin - Thursday, Saturday
Caussade - Monday
Caylus - Tuesday
Finhan - Wednesday
Grisolles - Wednesday
Labastide-St-Pierre - Wednesday
Lafrancaise - Wednesday, Sunday
Laguepie - Wednesday
Lamagistere - Sunday
Lauzerte - Wednesday, Saturday
Lavit-de-Lomagne - Friday
Moissac - Saturday, Sunday
Molieres - Friday
Monclar-de-Quercy - Thursday
Montaigu-de-Quercy - Saturday
Montauban - Wednesday, Saturday
Montech - Tuesday
Montpezat-de-Quercy - Sunday
Montricoux - Friday
Negrepelisse - Tuesday
Realville - Saturday
Roquecor - Sunday
Septfonds - Wednesday
St-Antonin-Noble-Val - Sunday
St-Nicolas-de-la-Grave - Sunday
Valence-d’Agen - Tuesday, Saturday
In the east of France and to the east of Burgundy adjacent to Switzerland, the Ain is probably a little overlooked by most visitors.
With Bourg-en-Bresse as its principal town it is a region of gentle hills and river valleys - which is one of the hidden parts of France.
The departement includes Bugey and the wines of Bugey. These are VDQS wines (Vins Délimité de Qualité Superieure) - a classification between full Appellation Controllee and VIns de Pays. As such there are restrictions on grape varieties used and planting and harvesting techniques - and the grapes must be grown in the designated region. White wines from Chardonnay, Roussette; Rosé wines from Gamay and Poulsard; Reds from Gamay, Pinot and Mondeuse; and sparkling wines from Chardonnay. Seldom seen in the UK.
For an opportunity to taste some of these wines there is an open tasting in Lyon from 25-26 January 2008 - click here for more details
For more on the wines of Bugey see www.vinsdubugey.net
One of the highlights of the year is the celebration of the famous yellow corn-fed chickens from Bourg-en-Bresse - the Glorieuses de Bresse held every December shortly before Christmas (for 2008 it runs from 16-21 December 2008 - in the form of a market and other festivities held in Bourg-en-Bresse, Louhans, Pont de Vaux and Montrevel-en-Bresse - see www.glorieusesdebresse.com
More info - see the Ain Tourism Office
For an English run B&B in the region with a knowledgeable host and guide see B&B Burgundy
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