In The World Of Wines, Who Are You?

Tags

Boutanac, Corbieres, Languedoc Roussillon, Vin en Vacances, Wendy Gedney, Wine

So, this afternoon, I was having a conversation with my friend, boss, mentor, and ‘Yoda’ of the wine world, Wendy Gedney. The conversation bounced around a variety of subjects, an upcoming transfer tour from Barcelona to the Languedoc, our imminent trip to plan a tour in the Rhone, an evening celebrating the twinning of Carcassonne with Tallin, her recent visit to Amsterdam, and an evening last week when I held a supper at my house investigating the effects of tannin on food.

One of the wines on the table was from Ollieux Romanis – a lovely winery and one we visit regularly on our Corbieres Boutenac Tour. It was a 2006 Cuvée Prestige Rouge from 2006. Wendy asked me what it was like; a question that instills fear and dread into most people.

How do you talk about wine ???  Say ‘nice’ and you might as well sound the death knoll. Say ‘interesting’ and the winemaker may visibly bristle. Say ‘quaffable’ and you might as well absolve your tastebuds of any further responsibility.

Often we opt for the generic for fear of looking or sounding foolish. But why? Taste is subjective. I might not be getting peaches and lychees, but that doesn’t mean you aren’t.

Another friend, Daniel James – late of Domaine Sainte Hilaire in Montagnac, first introduced me to the concept of grape varietals as people at a party, and to be honest, I’ve mercilessly hijacked the notion, and developed it for my own amusement.

My description of the Ollieux 06 ? Miss Havisham. In her day, clearly a great beauty, now sadly, a little dusty round the edges, and devoid of much structure. Get your hands on a more recent vintage, and the class and elegance are there for all to see – even dare I say it, a little of the bodice ripping verve displayed here by the superb Helena BC.. But, she hasn’t aged well. There I’ve come clean. And it was a bit of a shame.

So where does this concept take us? Well, whereas specific wines can be drilled down to particular characters, I suppose grape varietals can, in broad strokes, be more generic ‘types’. Let’s look again at the ‘people’ at a party, scenario…

Your hostess, Sauvignon Blanc : everyone’s current favourite socialite; inoffensive, pretty lightweight, and as pleasing on the eye as she may be, not the person with whom  you want to spend the evening discussing Sartre. She’ll take your coat, introduce you round a few people and then flutter off to greet the next arrival.

Your mate, Chardonnay Dave : everyone has a mate called Dave, and on the whole, you’re pretty pleased to see him. He’s reliable, friendly, and always prepared to bore you for 10 minutes by reciting stats on football or rugby. Some people find Dave a bit heavy going depending on their predilection for wood ( insert your own joke <- here )

The mysterious girl you haven’t met before, Viognier : to be honest, this could go either way.If she was treated badly by her last boyfriend, she’s probably the girl with her knickers tucked into her skirt, sat on the piano, drunkenly singing show tunes, by 9pm. But if she’s in a ‘good place’ she’ll be the one seductively curled up on the chaise long with men hanging on her every word.

Of course, no party would be complete without those quirky friends you only seem to meet at these social occasions : the likes of Penny from accounts, whose astringent vetting of your expenses is spookily akin to the ‘brut’ Loire Cremant, she always turns up with – Sour grapes indeed. And of course, we can’t possibly forget the charming contingent from Alsace, who cares if they’ve overdone the perfume – open the damn window – it’s worth suffering the Arctic blast to get to know these wildly underrated creatures..

Maybe next time I’ll tell you who my Idris Elba of the Wine World might be, or perhaps you’d like to venture a guess…

We Don’t Need No Education!

Tags

accent, France, Minervois, Pink Floyd

First of all I hope my teacher friends aren’t having conniptions at the title…all will become clear!!

Learning the local lingo…watch French TV they said, read French newspapers they said, listen to French radio they said…so of course we did as we were told and still do! 

Driving through the lovely Minervois yesterday enjoying French radio (a mix of French and English/American songs as usual)…when Pink Floyd started playing…

We don’t need no education, we don’t need no thought control… and so it went on. 

But it got us thinking…if a French person learning English was given the same instruction – watch English TV, read English newspapers, listen to English radio etc – this is what they could be learning!  Add in Eastenders and The Simpsons and who knows how their English would end up!

So we are listening to French radio and French songs and for all we know we could be listening to grammar that is equally as bad as Pink Floyd’s anthem!  Do the French get the irony of this song?  Would we get the irony (do they do irony?) in any French songs?

We constantly meet French people that appear to speak english to a proficient level.  If we ever comment they will always say “no, it is really bad”.  Our observation is that the French like to be exact – shown in the many times we have been corrected on a minor point and they expect the same of their english.  Or they won’t speak it!

When we first arrived in France we both had basic school French from 1972/3.  We tried to speak it whenever we could…until one day 6 months into our renovations (oh, we knew ALL the bathroom and renovation terms in French!), and a friend mentioned they had been talking to the owner of our local superette…apparently she had said how well OH’s french was coming along and how I appeared to be going backwards!  I was mortified to say the least.  Then I realised that as we had had a couple of lessons I knew that what I was attempting to say was wrong so I didn’t say anything (fear of getting it wrong was overwhelming!)…in the meantime, Mark didn’t worry about the odd mistake here and there and kept on trying.  So I guess I understand how the French feel about ‘getting it right’!

I happen to like someone speaking English with an accent…not always sexy but it usually is if it’s a Latin based language of origin so the French qualify!  The other funny thing we have observed and been guilty of is speaking with a pseudo french accent when speaking English to a French person.  It’s almost impossible not to – it’s certainly not meant to be patronising – just how the human brain works!

I could go on but you get the idea – and to keep my teaching friends happy, of course we need education – some of us more than others!!

Give Sweet A Chance…

Tags

baking, blanquette, chocolate, Gastronomy, muscat, Pav, Wine

I do love to bake; I think it’s a family quirk. My paternal grandfather was a chef on board Royal Mail Lines, my maternal grandmother was an excellent baker, and my mum is a dab hand at it too. It seems to be a Winter pursuit for me. Particularly on a Friday; I think that’s a throwback to my grandmother having a thing about ensuring there was cake for ‘tea’ at the weekends…  But I cannot get on with French flour. There, I’ve said it. I hate the bloody stuff. Now, it’s perfectly conceivable that I’ve convinced myself of it’s inferior baking ability, and I may be doing it a huge disservice; but I can’t get on with it – so I now just use it exclusively for biscuits (cookies) and shortbreads…. things where getting a good rise ( ooh err ) don’t matter.

This testimony to the excesses of all things chocolate was baked using good old British self raising flour. It’s just a simple double chocolate sponge with a cappucino icing ( half butter, half mascarpone ) and decorated with maltesers and cadburys chocolate fingers, but it pleases me – even though, slightly ironically perhaps, I do not have ‘le bec sucré’

Thankfully, there are flour free options for desserts, chief among them, the mighty ‘Pav’.. The glutton’s gluten free delight.You can fill it with whatever you like, but I love the combination of creme fraiche and strawberries. I also prefer to make the meringue with light brown sugar; it gives that caramel chew.

So, a fairly chunky part of my life revolves around not just food, but wine too. And dessert is often ( in my opionion ) unfairly bypassed when it comes to choosing something delicious to drink as an accompaniment. It’s a shame to take enormous trouble selecting the perfect match for your main, if you’re going to neglect your dessert! Until you’ve tried a glass of maury with a dark chocolate fondant, or a blanquette ancestrale with christmas cake, or even a muscat with the aforementioned pavlova, then you’re missing out. Perhaps next time we’ll talk about cheese…“Dessert without cheese is like a beauty with only one eye” so said Jean Anthelme Brillat – Savarin, mind you, he was also the author of this choice epithet “A man who was fond of wine was offered some grapes at dessert after dinner. ‘Much obliged’, said he, pushing the plate aside, ‘I am not accustomed to take my wine in pills’.”. Sounds like a wise man to me…

Foodie Fads, watching your supper go up in smoke

Tags

foodie, Gastronomy, Languedoc Roussillon, Wine

I like food, in fact I love food. Shopping for it, preparing it, cooking it, and eating it. And there’s not much that I won’t try – living in the Far East in the 70s and 80s prepared me for some fairly wild culinary adventures. A dozen freshly landed oysters, a glass of Picpoul de Pinet and some bread and butter, and I’m a very happy camper. But equally I’ll take my cue from Les Mères Lyonnaises; particularly when I have time on my hands, to prepare somewhat less fashionable cuts of meat or offal.

So – molecular gastronomy? Seriously, who wants to force coriander leaf into little globules of sodium alginate, just because they can? There’s even a name for it. Spherification. I kid you not.

The linguistics of food should be beguiling : I want to know the difference between brunoise and chiffonade; julienne and batonnet. What constitutes a jus? A demi glace? Yet somehow once we delve into the murky underbelly of molecular gastronomy, syringes, enzymes, and transglutaminase aka meat glue leave me wanting to know less, rather than more.

Whilst I do love a bit of food theatre, I don’t need my main course hidden by a carrot mist, or my entré subjected to the Leidenfrost effect. Nothing pleases nor humbles me more, than a table groaning with honest food, prepared with love, and surrounded by friends ready to eat, drink, carouse, and enjoy.

I entertain all year round – cozy Winter lunches which bring friends together for extended rowdy lunches – relaxed Summer dinners, with windows wide open, music in the background; I love them all, and I guess it’s what spawned the phrase ‘Kate’s Kitchen’. It’s probably a good thing the walls can’t talk !

 

A Fête worse than death; socializing in France…

Tags

culture, Food, France, Languedoc Roussillon, tourism, Wine

So life in the Languedoc never fails to surprise, particularly when it comes to how the French love to throw a party. Life ‘en province’ is an almost perpetual, year round celebration of something. Truffles, cherries, artichokes, apples, rice, all things pig ( praise the lard ), goat cheese, and even ‘transhumance’ – the annual migration of the sheep to new pastures. Then of course, we have the fig festival, the chestnut festival, the cepes, and multitudinous parties in aid of the grape – in varying states and it’s a wonder that we ever get any work done.

We love to eat and drink – en famille, in restaurants, picnics, at friends’ homes, we really aren’t fussy. And it’s the connection of breaking bread, and raising a glass that connects us to one another in a truly special way. One of my favourite experiences of this community style eating, happened 3 or 4 years ago. It was a fundraiser in aid of our local volunteer firemen & women. The Place de l’Europe was cleared of cars – replaced with long trestle tables and chairs. Forget your gluten free, fat free, meat free, allergic to white pepper brigade. This was rural France, and you ate what was put in front of you, or you went hungry. A rather euphemistic tomato salad landed first.  I passed – I’ve got a bit of an issue processing lycopene. Then followed pork chops, and a bag of crisps. Yep, the firemen BBQ’d, right there in the car park. Now I don’t know how many people had signed up for the event – but I felt pretty sure the firemen did. Although the volume of food could have lead you to believe otherwise… The pork chops just kept coming… Seconds, thirds if you wanted, and then came – sausage. God know how many kilos of sausage. It was a veritable oinkfest.

But as mentioned above, we celebrate plenty of other things too. Music, Patrimoine, History ( who doesn’t want to see two guys jousting from what appears to be a gondola, on a canal, with no apparent safety gear. I mean come ON ). But it’s when we gather with friends, that’s when the memories happen… Who can resist going to a truffle market with friends, purchasing, cleaning and cooking with our local black gold, and then sitting down together and eating? Who is left untempted by our wonderful oysters, our local breads, our outstanding regional wines – celebrate Grenache day ( it’s the 16th of September this year – stick it in your diary ). In fact, the more I think about it, the more I think the French are absolutely bloody right. We are here for short time, why not make it a good time!

Non Sensical French Sounding Phrase…

Tags

Flight of the Cochords, France, French, Kiwi, language

Apparently the French language is about to get a shake up, for example important stuff like oignon is changing to ognon!  Quintessentially French and they want to change it?!  I am not sure who this will be harder for – those who already know the language inside out or those of us that are still learning…

Now, anyone who knows the ‘KW of wine’ will know she speaks fluent French and anyone who knows me will know that I don’t (but I’m trying really hard!!)!

Where is this taking us?  Only to our (the KW’s) mutual love of Flight of the Conchords – and by coincidence they are from NZ! – and where our blog name came from!! 

They had a cult tv show and would always break out into song at least once during each episode.  One of the songs from the show is called Foux Du Fafa…check it out and you’ll know where the basis of my French comes from (other than one year at school in 1973!). 

PS  I’ve used the version with the English translations as this somehow makes it funnier – well for me anyway!

Ooh la la!

Tags

amusing, birthday, France, Languedoc Roussillon, ooh la la, rural France

Hello from the other KW – who’d have thought eh – we decide to set up a blog together and have the same initials?  Funny thing is this completely passed me by and it was only when reading Kate’s latest post I realised!!  I blame it on the paint fumes from doing the B & B maintenance…

A couple of things have tickled me this week…well, probably more than a couple but I can’t remember them all now (paint fumes, remember?).  Most of all it was the lovely party we went to last weekend.  Why did it tickle me? Well…

The sons of our local bar owner & his wife were turning 18 and we were all invited.  We arrived at the local hall in a neighboring village at 19:30 and found out it was a surprise and they would be arriving at 20:00…the guy on the mic kept on telling us to be quiet – forgetting he was booming out of a couple of loudspeakers.  The closer it got the louder and more excited he got!  Everyone had the giggles wondering how on earth they wouldn’t know what was happening before they walked through the door (not to mention all the coats hanging by the front door) – and he was totally oblivious!

Anyway the boys blushed when they walked in so we figure that, unbelievably, the surprise worked!!

In typical French tradition the two boys went around and kissed and shook hands with everyone in the room – maybe 80 people…can’t imagine that happening in little ol’ NZ, Aussie or even UK for that matter!

Like teenagers anywhere, all the kids at the party had their ‘unique’ look – cool clothes, hair cut a specific way – and they all looked the same!  Rural France is not so different after all…

Now, although I loved seeing the cool kids hanging out, this isn’t what tickled me…that was to come in the form of the ‘act’ for the evening.  There was a little stage set up at the end of the room, fancy lighting, speakers etc and, with a flash of coloured lights and lots of drama and way too much dry ice…onto the stage came a…drag queen!  Now don’t get me wrong, I love a great drag act and lived in Sydney for 12 years, enjoying the famous Sydney Mardi Gras on a few occasions so have seen all variations of drag.

I guess the OMG factor came from where we were…in a little hall in rural France for a joint 18th birthday with all the locals.  It really was hilarious…especially the shock on some of the older expats faces.

The main act changed from black feathers, to a kimono affair, to a wedding dress, to a (nearly) Tina Turner dress – did I mention the Beyoncé look?!  She had two young lads who did the high kicking on either side and that was that! 

A friend thought the main act looked like a cross between Barbra Streisand and Tina Turner…not to mention the lip curling action of Benny Hill!  There was a magic act in the middle and of course the twins were dragged (groan) onto stage for a couple of high kicks along with another good sport who had someone draped over her for effect!

It was a lot of feather boa fun and laughter and all the better for not being expected.  The oldies left around midnight and the kids kicked on until 5am (as they should!).  Never let it be said we lead dull lives in our little part of the south of France!

One more thing, French tradition means that today is the last time I can say Happy New Year until midnight 31 December so Happy New Year to all and wishing you a 2016 full of feather boas and laughter!

When a muscat is rather more than just a muscat..

Tags

cabernet sauvignon, carignan, Clos du Gravillas, France, grenache gris, Languedoc Roussillon, late harvest, muscat, old vines, St-Jean-de-Minervois, tourism, Vin en Vacances, Wine

So, onto a vaguely informative post from the KW of the wine world, this week.

2015, it appears, has yielded a particularly fine harvest. In a previous life, somewhere in Northern Europe, the daily commute could be held up with snow on the railway lines, leaves on the track, or someone pinching the last remaining jar of Mellow Birds from the guard’s van. ( I may have made that bit up ) Yesterday’s drive to St Jean de Minervois in the bright January sunshine, could not have felt less like work if it’d tried; and yet, dear reader, work, it was – of sorts.

The dynamic duo of John & Nicole Bojanowski of Clos du Gravillas, are two of my absolute favourite people making wine in this neck of the woods. Charming, welcoming, generous, and altogether rather talented in the wine making department too. This was my first glimpse into how last year’s crop had undergone the alchemy of berries to bottles, or in this case, tanks and barrels. John & Nicole are heroic to me for a variety of reasons; they farm a small number of hectares planted with a mind boggling number of varietals, and each year, their range of wines increases without sacrificing the integrity, style or quality of their old standards.

Old friends – Lo Vielh, made from 105 year old Carignan vines, and L’Innatendu, with Grenache Gris at it’s heart, both delighted and comforted me in equal measure. Mlle Lily seems to be growing into a Madame, gaining refinement, character, and poise with each passing vintage. Rendez Vous Sur La Lune,  this year to has the makings of a really classy little number; and Muscat on the Rocks looks like it’s going to be the perfect summer quaffer. Sous Les Cailloux has less Cabernet Sauvignon in it this time round, and I liked it. It’s always been a multi varietal blend, but somehow this 2015, it has a real lightness about it without sacrificing character. The late harvest ( still fermenting ) muscat is an amalgam of sticky candied fruit crossed with licking a honey comb.

New friends – a dry, skin contact muscat with  clementine zest, tannin, and properly delicious weighty mouth feel – can you tell, I liked it – a LOT. The jury is out on whether it will remain a stand alone wine or be blended into something else. On a purely selfish note, I hope it makes it as a wine in it’s own right, it was just the sort of unusual, challenging, multi faceted white which makes me very happy.  Sparkling single ferment muscat is new this year too. Perfect light celebration fizz, still a little sweet perhaps for the purists, but utterly quaffable, and with no sulfites, it looks like a winner to me.

Although we look a bit like the Avengers, this was the core of the Vin En Vacances Team; me, Marcel, and Wendy.. Alfonz & Carlos have since joined us, but I thought you might like to see what we look like !

And of course, we can take you to Clos du Gravillas if you’d like to see what I’m rabbiting on about regarding the wines above !

Tonight, I’m hosting a black glass tasting. Basically it’s me being a bit of a bitch, trying to confuse the hell out of people by doing a bit of visual deprivation. If you can’t see the colour of the wine, it’s surprising how many people can’t tell what the hell they’re drinking… red/white/oaked, it all gets very amusing. I’m expecting a ruck 😉

So my peeps, I do believe that next week, Kay ( that would be the KW of the B&B World ) will be regaling you with some French idiosyncrasies that have tickled her antipodean funny bone..stay tuned.

 

ps credit to VeV Team Member Alfonz for the snazzy B&W photo of Clos du Grav – I nicked it off FB….

And it’s hello from me!

Tags

B&B, France, Kiwi, Languedoc Roussillon, Olonzac, tourism, Wine

To quote Kate: “So, following on from a networking meeting last week, where like minded souls sat around a table in a bar in Capestang, drinking coffee, and debating the merits of various social media; Kay & I thought it would be amusing to invite you into our Languedocien enclave of amusing anecdotes, experiences, and shenanigans. But first, the obligatory, self serving, introductions…”

Thanks Kate – your intro is a hard act to follow!

How did I end up here you might ask (or not, but here goes!)?  The first part of this is a little sad but is part of our story (and a little bit long but a one off!)…

Hubby (Mark) and I had been living for 11 or so years in Sydney town when we found out Mark’s elderly widowed sister Barbara had vascular dementia… As Barbara was like a surrogate Mum to Mark we assessed the situation and made the decision to sell up in Sydney and move to the UK to be her full time carers.  She had a prognosis of 2 years so we thought we would help her enjoy that time as much as possible.

As it happened Mark’s industry was dying (printing) and I was (trying to be) self employed after a redundancy, so the timing was right.  The property market was on the up and we only had our house on the market for 4 weeks when it sold!  All the planets were aligned…or slightly out of line as is usually the case for us – but near enough!

Cut to 6 months later and Barbara sadly lost the fight – but died peacefully at home where she had lived for 34 years, and with us by her side.

We were left with a dilemma: too soon to move back to Aussie or NZ – did I mention I’m a Kiwi? – because we’d lose too much with the exchange rate and we didn’t want to stay in the UK (my visa didn’t allow me to work and we didn’t like the weather!!).  Fact of life was that we needed some income but, like Kate, I need to do something to keep me from going stir crazy so I randomly said to Mark “What about a b & b in the south of France?”…he thought for about 20 seconds…”OK, why not?” And so the journey began!!

OK, is there a background in hospitality?  Organising annual international conferences for 250 entrepreneurs was part of my previous life but most of all we love to travel and certainly know what we like – and more importantly, what we don’t like!  We both believe in offering a good product with great customer service so we thought this was the right foundation.  We were the only ones that didn’t think we were crazy!!  Especially the older relatives from the UK who kept on saying “but why France?” – to which we replied “ but why not?!”!

We moved to Olonzac in the Minervois on 28th March 2012 and 3 days later started many, many months of renovation.  Timing meant it was all through summer – one of those record summers with x number of weeks over 40 degrees celsius.  Of course it was!  Many nights painting at midnight in our underwear (sorry about that image but it had to be said!).

Bit by bit it came together and we did a couple of test runs with guests recommended by friends – there is something about being a guinea pig that appeals to the human psyche!  2013 was our first ‘official’ year and we are about to start our 4th year.  Holy moly we are doing it…

Number 1 in Olonzac was our goal and when we got there after 6 months we were gobsmacked!  Then Herault, Languedoc and France!  Just kidding!  Actually we didn’t understand the impact of Trip Advisor until we were awarded a Travellers’ Choice award last year – we were in the top 25 in France!  This had to be a prank right?  We wondered who would play such a cruel joke and then we got another email asking where we wanted the certificate sent to!  This was very humbling and thanks to all the great guests we have had (from across 22 countries from memory – and no-one from Clacton!).

We found Vin en Vacances that first year here after doing one of their tours and decided they were a good fit for our business…I won’t bore you with ‘that’s how I met Kate” etc as she’s done a fine job already (here if you missed it!) – other than to say it’s been a great working relationship and a lot of fun to boot!

So here we are, a Kiwi and a Brit giving it a go in a little village in rural south of France!  Wine, sunshine, beautiful scenery, – did I mention wine?  Actually it snowed yesterday but that didn’t sound quite as good!  Let’s see where the musings of Kay & Kate take us…this could be fun!

Welcome ! or Welcome!

Tags

amusing, B&B, France, Gastronomy, Languedoc Roussillon, tourism, Wine

So, following on from a networking meeting last week, where like minded souls sat around a table in a bar in Capestang, drinking coffee, and debating the merits of various social media; Kay & I thought it would be amusing to invite you into our Languedocien enclave of amusing anecdotes, experiences, and shenanigans. But first, the obligatory, self serving, introductions…

I arrived in the Minervois in 2007, having decided that corporate life was overrated, exhausting, and, to be honest, horribly superficial. I’d spent nearly 20 years scrambling up the ladder only to find that there were at least 50 more rungs to go, and I was already pretty tired ! So when I got here, and people asked me ‘what do you do’ ?, my slightly flippant answer was ‘as little as possible’. And for a few years, that was ok; but I have one of those annoyingly inquisitive minds that grows restless if not occupied, and so now, I work freelance for a UK travel company, I operate as a travel partner to a UK property rental company specialising in France & Italy, and I’m affiliate of a company that organises and runs wine tours in the Languedoc. Yep, I’m a hospitality girl, through and through.

It was in fact, Vin En Vacances which first brought me into contact with Kay and her husband Mark, who own and run the chambre d’hote Sainte Helene in Olonzac. Hurrah, I thought, finally people who understand the benefit of reciprocal social media, and the decided upside of being an agent for a business with ( hold on whilst I polish my halo ) outstanding Tripadvisor reviews, which could offer their guests a ‘real’ experience of the food & wine of the region. Win/Win or Wine/Wine perhaps. Of course, our mutual love of those antipodean heroes of the irreverent musical soundbite, Flight of the Conchords not only sealed the friendship, but gave us the perfect ‘jeu de mots’ for the name of our blog.

Working in the food & wine ( and travel ) industry, particularly if you are ‘in situ’ is a wonderful thing. When you run tours, your guests will often say, ‘oh it’s such a shame you can’t have a drink with us’ – truthfully guys – we are not going to run out, and I have enough wine at home to stock a small off licence. Do not pity me. Pity my liver. We tour with guests from all over the world; from South America to South Africa, from Canada to Clacton ( I’m afraid my geopolitical referencing came up a bit short there ), and we cover most of this vast wine region – so yes, my job is essentially driving through stunning countryside, talking about food, wine, and history, with gourmet lunches and the best of the regions wineries thrown in. I can feel your empathy ebbing away as I type… but come and visit us, come on a tour, and come and stay with Kay and Mark!

Speaking of Kay, I will now allow her to get a word in… that is if she can put her paintbrush down for long enough to tell you her story.