Un grand vin pour un grand pas.

About ten years ago or maybe more... we were given a MAGNUM (150cl)  in gratitude for us teaching English to two children and because it was a Christmas gift!  The bottle was laid horizontal in a variety of temperatures at the other French house where I lived.. it was either a hot or cold environment! ... and here where the temperature has been more stable!
Having no other wine in the house I thought it was time to TEST it, to TEST the new oven and to celebrate the new kitchen.  Also to thank my former partner for 3 months work laying the floor tiles, installing the kitchen furniture, reconnecting the drainage system, several other minor but important tasks, not to mention four months last year prepping walls and ceilings and installing laundry / larder room furniture.

We were both exhausted by the turn of July into August.
He has been frustrated with my slow decision making.
My own slowness has definitely frustrated me!
However, working as a team we got to where we are now - the end of six rooms being renovated in six years!
.. as well as a marvellous kitchen where I have to re-hone my cooking skills!

I invited a friend and so we were three.

We opened a bottle of Vouvray, saving half which I drank two days later and it still had fizz!
I needed bubbly!

Lamb rôti (40% price reduction bought mid June waiting in the freezer for a special occasion) was  slow roasted. I slashed the top with a knife. Then rubbed into the top and underside of meat 'a chopped, crushed, blended together mixture of rosemary leaves, garlic cloves, capers, anchovies, lots of lemon zest, lemon juice and olive oil'.  Then I placed the meat onto sliced onions and sliced potatoes from my garden. I put it into a large oval pyrex dish which has its own lid as deep as the container. I used to have a wonderful enamelled metal one with dimples on the top but that died a few years ago!
The lamb which was more braised than roasted was served with four vegetables.

It wasn't the most amazing meal I have ever cooked but the lamb shredded off the bone after I let it rest out of the oven.  I like that!
It was followed by local goats' cheese, batavia and walnut oil.
For dessert I made a blueberry / myrtille tart.. page 182...adapted to contain pears from THE FRENCH KITCHEN by Joanna Harris and Fran Warde.  DELICIOUS!

ohgoodoh! My cookbooks can be found!

This wine really deserved a better meal but at least it wasn't served with a fried egg. That is another story from the long time past! Not sure how much this would have cost if I bought it in 2016! I had to not care!  Delicious it was...

To be fair to this story.. we opened it the evening before this meal and drank one glass each!  The cheeky monkey said it was nowhere near as good as half a bottle of St Emilion I once took home from a priest's house (with his permission!) to share with my friend!!!!!   Talk about gratitude!!!!!!  Maybe  he does it to wind me up!  Anyway I almost wish I hadn't opened it, especially when the first glassful disappeared from his glass whilst mine was still full!
GRUMBLE is my middle name!
https://www.vivino.com/wineries/bouteilley/wines/cotes-de-bordeaux-merlot-cabernet-sauvignon-2002

 YUM!

Oh dear!

It was very annoying to be unable to uncork an extremely dry cork from the last of the 2009 Chateau Tour Bigorre Bordeaux red, bought at Auchan at the start of September.  An excellent wine winning a 2010 silver medal and at around 3 e per bottle was delicious and a quality wine in my opinion. Most of the twelve bottles were distributed as gifts in UK on my travels. Most were opened and the corks were not dry.  However, this one was so crumbly that it had to be pushed in.  As I did so, I was blinded!  Cursing the situation, I felt my way to the bathroom to douche / douse my eyes in clean, cold water. (No hot water in the taps!)  THEN, I was annoyed to see wine on the floor.  I was wearing a black outdoor fleece jacket to keep warm in my house and that, smelling of wine, would have to be cleaned.  Another horror in daylight was to see red stains on the living room wall. The piano and freezer cleaned ok as they are shiny!  How could so little make such a mess?  ggggrrrrbigorrreeeeee

Un Vignoble

I'm not sure how many people were in attendance on the final night of a three day wine and music festival called 'Le Son du Vignoble',  but it was beyond my expectations, as was the parking.  It was smart that I did not go in my chic dress and heeled sandals  - 'les talons',  as we had to trek across a field that looked as if in wet weather it would be water logged.

It was the 4th year.  I didn't realise that and hadn't understood that one could spend the day there and take a picnic.  I don't remember information telling me how much it would be, so thankfully I took monetary notes! Like many experiences in France I discover BEAUTY.  This was an interesting evening!
A 14e entrance fee provided me with a tampon (= an inky rubber stamp! The difference in language is always amusing!) stamped on my arm, a ticket and an inscribed glass.  This is civilised France and I didn't see any broken glass! Long may it last!  It wouldn't happen in UK!  Far too dangerous!  In the glass was a paper token for the first glass of wine. Thereafter one exchanged euros for jetons (plastic disks) which could be exchanged for wine, juice or food.  Pretty neat idea!  I haven't been to Music Festivals so had no idea how it all works.

I am not sufficiently knowledgeable to comment on the musicians. The Healthy Boy played for the first concert in the garden. It was nice as the sun was shining, children were playing far away under the orchard trees, people sat and listened nicely.  I found the echo system of repeating and overlaying phrases played by a single guitar a bit much for me. I was really impressed when the SOUND man for The Healthy Boy was doing it all on an ipad!
The second concert was by Thomas Fersen who is well known in France and I think hails from Bretagne. That was under a huge hangar. I could not understand the poetic nature of his music.
HOWEVER
I love Ampelidae wines especially Pinot Noir, which is why I went all that distance.  It took me an hour plus to do the journey so didn't get home until the early hours but did buy a case of 6 Pinot Noir to indulge the Summer.
These organic wines are sold in our village shop. It's been a long while since I set forth into that terroir.  I had forgotten how rich it is on many levels. I went to Marigny Brizay for a dégustation in about 2008 when the company were just getting better developed.  The enthusiasm of Kate the proprietor of the Chateau and Frédèric were palpable... such enthusiasm poured from their hearts... we were shown the vignes, the cuves,the cellars and part of the chateau and generally the group we were in were keenly welcomed and indulged.  That was then.

Last night, as I sat by the bar,  I found again that warmth and trust in their mission to create quality organic wines. Then along comes Kate who seemed to remember me and I enjoyed speaking to friends of hers from London, who worked in the technological domain.
I could not avoid listening to a discussion that a french lady had with an expert behind the bar, about the effects of citric and tartaric acids used in white wines causing muscle cramp.  She could not drink white wine because of this.  He suggested Pinot Noir and a massage.. at which point I was included in the conversation by laughter.  Not many moments later she brought her female friend who had not believed her to listen to the expert explain, at which point I was very much more included in the exchange.
An attractive man discussed with the same sommelier the connection between passion, oenology, trust, horses and the natural world. I was astounded at the intellectual discussion which I only in part understood,, but then the chevalier and I discussed in English.  Only in France does this level of Passion seem so tangible, yet it makes me feel so ignorant, humble and questioning as to why on earth I stayed within the four walls of an educational establishment much of my life, seemingly trying to educate, failing to educate myself, and generally wasting precious life!  Mind you, the pace of technology has brought about so much magic to the world that who can keep up with it!?
I sat where I did at the end of the bar, perched on the end of a table feeling comfortable and safe as a single woman, occasionally having interesting conversations, maintaining French as much as possible. I discovered the sommelier was part English/French/German. As I have said his passion and knowledge for oenology was fascinating as I concentrated on listening to improve my language skills.   I had two tokens left but he offered me a glass of the new Rosé which was the BEST rose wine I have tasted..... SO I wish to buy a case for Summer and friends!  THEN, he gave me a glass of PN 1328 -- which is named after 'une parcelle' of land.  This was such a fantastic wine and I did just sip and sip.  I'd like a case of hat too! The palate can taste the difference between wines even if one has tasted others before. And with that, when the music ended,  I came home to hot chocolate and bed, sensing that I had possibly missed a marvellous opportunity because friends from Toulouse called the chevalier to travel on. Probably just as well!