The wines of the Rhone Valley

Ellen and I joined a small group in a wine class. It was presented by Philip Reddaway, a British transplant living in Malaucène, a nearby village. Philip and his wife Jude run “Rhone Wine Holidays” (www.rhonewineholidays.com) from their 12th century home, formerly a Benedictine priory. Their longer wine tour packages include rooms, meals and wine education for the wine enthusiast.

For three consecutive Tuesdays, we forced ourselves to taste wines from the area. The course included presentations by Philip in La Madelène’s atelier and tastings—in the atelier, at lunch and on-site at selected winemakers’ tasting rooms. Philip’s WSET (Wine & Spirits Educational Trust) certification and experience give him a knowledge of the wines of the area and the wine-making process. But he also knows many of the Rhone wine makers and selected from among many good ones to take us to some wonderful wineries. We tasted wine in some of the most picturesque locations we have seen in Provence. We talked with the wine-makers and, in several instances, went into the vineyards. We walked through the famous stone fields of “La Crau” in the Chateauneuf du Pape region and through mountaintop vineyards in Suzette and above Seguret. We met vintners who have embraced bio-dynamic production and have thus eliminated the use of herbicides. We enjoyed wonderful lunches prepared by Jude Reddaway at “La Madelène.”

For the final Tuesday of the course, Ellen’s high school classmate and her husband joined us and our classmates. (Nancy and Tony live in London.) They got to go to Chateauneuf du Pape (www.domainedenalys.com & www.cuveeduvatican.com), back to La Madelene for lunch and then to the top the hill above Suzette to try some white wines and red wines from the high hills (www.domainestamant.com). I have included a picture from Domaine St. Amant. When we were at Domaine de Nalys in Chateauneuf du Pape, we got a tour of the winery. Different from the little wineries, the whole site is set up for tours (VERY clean & neat). Even the barrels have the Domaine’s shield carved into the oak. …and they make some fine wine there. At the second winery, we climbed into old trucks and went out to see “La Crau.” It is hard to describe, but think of a field of stones – a white stone like those you find on the shores of Michigan as far as you can see – and growing in this field of stones are vines. In the summer, the stones get hot – but reflect a lot of the sun, keeping the plants a little cool during the day and keeping the plants warm all night long. The clay under the stones holds moisture well, so the plant roots – which might go down one or two meters – find the moisture to nourish the plants and the grapes. The woman who was showing us “La Crau” had to shout in order to be heard above the sound of the Mistral which was whipping across La Crau at amazing speed. As Philip had mentioned in class, the stones are unique but also very difficult for walking and thus it can be hard to find laborers who will work the fields at La Crau (winter pruning, summer pruning, fall harvest, etc.)

In addition to the sites that Nancy and Tony got to enjoy visiting with us during their five days here, Philip also took us to:

Domaine de Mourchon (www.domainedemourchon.com) This winery is located at the top of the hill between Vaison la Romaine and Séguret – on the same route that Tish and I took when we walked from Vaison to Séguret.

Chateau de Saint Cosme (louis@chateau-st-cosme.com) is located just at the north part of the village of Gigondas. The winery has been owned by the same family for 14 generations and they produce a wonderful Gigondas.

Vincent Rochette runs Domaine Roche-Audran (vincent.rochette@mnet.fr), a winery started by his grandparents. In the past few years, he has switched to a “bio-dynamic” method of managing his vineyards. He is very pleased with the success of the changes that he has made – the vines are doing well and he produces some fine wines. Ellen especially liked his white wine. It was very different from most of the viogner-based white wines of the Rhone Valley. (Ellen also liked the white wines that Philip served at lunch: one from Lirac and another white from Philip’s neighbor at Domaine de Champ-Long.)

Domaine des Bernardins (www.domaine-des-bernardins.com) is located in the village of Beaumes de Venise and, as one might guess, they offer wines made with muscat. Interestingly, they offer both a sweet (doux) Beaumes de Venise and a dry Beaumes de Venise. It is hard to tell the difference when you smell the wines but one is very sweet. One is dry – without losing the flavors of the Muscat grapes. Beaumes de Venise is now a “CdR-Village” appellation and at Domaine des Bernardins, they also make red wine.

Close to heaven

On va au cinema?

We have had the good fortune of meeting a number of English-speaking people through our French classes. It is amazing how people got here but the common theme seems to be that after visiting the region, they fell in love with the area and decided to come back and live here permanently in retirement (or earlier). Some love the mountains and the opportunities they offer, many love the weather (though it has been ‘très humide’ and untypical that there would be so much rain. The river is rising again…) and there are a few who love to be in the Rhone valley surrounded by so many good wines… So, in addition to sharing a love for the area, we have met others who enjoy movies, others who enjoy food, etc. On Sunday night, we put the two together and went to have dinner at the home of an English couple and other guests and then watch the BAFTA awards (Ellen explained that the “British Academy of Film and Television Awards” have a program similar to the Oscars or the Golden Globes – and we got to see it.)

We have not seen all of the entries in the BAFTA competition, but we have started to go to the cinema more regularly. Two weeks ago, our local theatre – it is only one street away from our apartment – participated in a France-wide “Festival Telerama” which included French and English language films. These were the films that the magazine “Telerama” had chosen as the best of the year. The films that we saw were mainly the French language films as we had seen two of the three English language films. We did fairly well with the French language films – sometimes the dialects or the idioms were a bit hard to understand, but generally, we did okay – another one of those indicators that our language skills are improving… Just prior to the BAFTA, we went to see “Slumdog Millionaire” – which also happened also to be the film for the Neighborhood Movie group discussion last week (we couldn’t stay awake until 4:00 AM to participate… though it was a great film.)

B&B – better & better

At one of the films, I got to introduce Ellen to our neighbor and B&B operator, Lina Blanchard. We sat with her during the movie but she left immediately afterwards. A few days later, she invited us to “apero” at her home and we got to learn a little more about Vaison, the Vaucluse (our county) and her. In addition to which, she makes the BEST tapenade I have ever tasted! I was hoping she would tell me where she purchased it but when she said that she made it, I asked for the recipe (hoping that she would give me some that she had made. Instead, she said that it was easy and she would show me how to do it.

One of the films in the “Festival Telerama” was a documentary about the end of small farms in France. Lina, who had also seen “La Vie Moderne,” grew up on a farm close to here and talked about the changes and how hard it is to make a living with a small farm plot. It is a theme of the book From Here, You Can’t See Paris by Michael Sanders that Bruce and Judy had sent to me to read. Whether we were talking about films or farming or food, we had a delightful evening with Lina and her sister. – and as soon as I get 300 grams of olives, anchovies, capers, garlic and a lemon, I will get to try to make olive tapenade with Lina providing the recipe.

Living “green”

Our building has hallway lighting that runs on timers. About every eight feet and outside everyone’s door, there is a light switch on a timer. When we leave the apartment, we have about two minutes to get out of the building before the lights go out. Of course, if we stop to visit with our neighbor or to play hopscotch in the hall, we can turn the lights on for an additional two minutes.

The hallway lights are just one example of energy saving. Almost every toilet contains two buttons for flushing. Push the smaller button and you get a small amount of water to clear the bowl. The larger button is for more water… (I wonder if there was a convention or a research project the results of which have created the standards for litres/flush.)

I had already noted in a prior posting that when you go to the market, you must bring your own bags with which to carry your groceries because the clerk is not going to say “paper or plastic?” In fact, the clerks at the large grocery stores sit at their machines and move items past the scanner and to a tray from which the purchaser fills his/her own grocery bags. And, while at the supermarket/large store, you can take a shopping cart only after leaving a deposit of one euro in the coin slot. This encourages shoppers to return the carts to where they belong in order to get one’s money back. Shoppers who arrive at the store by car don’t have to move carts to the cart corral before parking…

We have rented a variety of cars but ALL of them have been diesel and manual transmissions. The Europeans seem to have either better diesel fuel or better diesel engines because the exhaust doesn’t stink as it seems to in the US. And, of course, for the most part, the vehicles are about half the size (and weight) of American cars. There is one model of car that is so small, I am sure that the people who buy it simply attach a grass cutting blade when they need to trim the lawn.

“Time Is More Important than Money”

Insight: for the French who work in the local stores and in most situations where there is a face-to-face contact, time is more important than money. When you finally get to the front of the line, the sales representative, postal worker, bank teller focuses his/her attention on you and your request – 100%. You may have been in line for a half hour, but now it is your turn and for the fleeting moments of exchange, you are the ONLY client the salesperson has to serve.

It was our English friend Margaret M. who first used the expression, but it fits so well, I told her that I planned to copy it. It is such a perfect description of the undercurrent of customer service. The customer is #1. For instance, yesterday, I went to pick up a gift to take to the people who had invited us for “apero” (aperitifs). We had decided to get chocolate from the chocolatier in town. When I entered the store, I saw an elderly man and his wife and they were buying beautiful chocolate creations BUT they were confirming the ingredients in each creation, discussing the designs, etc. The sales clerk had looked in my direction and had smiled but never left her post in front of the couple nor missed a beat while answering their questions. Finally the gentleman looked at me and asked if I knew what I wanted to buy – because he knew that he and his wife were going to be choosing chocolates for another 30 minutes. I thanked him for permitting me to get the gift (the sales clerk thanked him as well) and we were on our way…

It is probably the reason that the French will stand in line so patiently – because they know the rewards of their patience – they will have the undivided attention of the person there to serve them. There have been times when I have thought: “alright, already. The clerk is certainly not interested in the carrots that you got at the market last week” but, in fact, the clerks seem to be interested.

Closed for the lunch hour(s)

The idea of time being more important than money explains French lunches and why most of the shops and services close for two hours around noon. The shop closures give people the time to eat leisurely and properly – not having to rush back to work as we do in the states with a sandwich from the drive-through… It also explains why there are few “fast food” franchises – though the numbers are increasing every year.

It is not only the adults who have a long lunch hour. Kids in school here have an hour – but kids also have meals that include entrée, main course, salad, cheese and/or dessert. It is not the cafeteria food that we had as kids nor is it the 20 minutes we had to eat whatever they served. In a small way, it could be a very rational approach to helping children learn how important eating well can be in life. (The local elementary school publishes and posts their menus on the bulletin board outside of the school so that all parents can be assured that their children are eating well…) The school day is also longer – school starts at 9:00 and ends at 4:30 PM.

One of the things that drove me crazy when we first arrived here was that once you were served your food/espresso/pichet of wine, it was impossible to get the attention of the waiter/waitress. After finishing whatever, I would be ready to leave/wanting to leave but the waiter would not have brought the bill. It was because, in France, I could stay and sip my espresso or sit and watch the world passing by after having finished my espresso as long as I wanted because my time was more important than my money… It reminds me of the very early days of the child care task force and how we were asked by one downtown coffee shop to go somewhere else for our meetings – as we would sit there for a long time and not order anything more than one coffee… Had we had our meetings in France, who knows how much more we might have accomplished?

France Telecom & Orange: Seeing Red

You have reached the service desk of Orange/France Telecom. If you are calling about a domestic phone, press “1.” If you are calling about a business line, press “2.” If you would like to speak to an agent who speaks English, press “JAMAIS” (Never.) You will not be charged for this call as long as you are calling from a phone for which you have a contract. All agents are busy right now. You may want to try to resolve your problem by using our “on-line assistance” service. Your call will be answered as soon as an agent becomes free. Please know that this call may be recorded for quality assurance purposes.

“Can you help me, please? We get a bill for telephone from France Telecom and another bill for internet from Orange but I thought that the two companies were together – that we would get one bill for telephone and internet.”

“If you want the two bills together, you need to tell us. Are you requesting that we combine the services?”

“Yes.”

“Fine. From now on, you will see that you will have one bill that will include both phone charges and internet charges.”

Three weeks later…

You have reached the service desk of Orange/France Telecom. If you are calling about a domestic phone, press “1.” If you are calling about a business line, press “2.” If you would like to speak to an agent who speaks English, press “526247 for JAMAIS” (Never.) You will not be charged for this call as long as you are calling from a phone for which you have a contract and we find your call interesting. All agents are busy right now. Your call will be answered as soon as an agent becomes free but, of course, all agents are at lunch and will not return until 14:00 hours. You can wait if you want but we suggest that you call back when we are busy. You may want to try to resolve your problem by using our “on-line assistance” service which is available 27/4 (27 minutes per day, four days per week – though we will never tell you which days). Please know that this call may be recorded for quality assurance purposes.

“Thank you for your assistance during my last call. I still have a question. You combined the billing format online—though you are still billing me separately for each service, of course--but the phone charges remain the same. I thought that the phone bill would be lower.”

“The only way to reduce the phone bill is to use the telephone-over-the-internet service. That way, you will be able to maintain your unlimited long distance calling but the cost will be part of your internet bill and you will be able to reduce your land line phone charges. Would you like me to change that on your service plan?”

“Yes.”

“Please use the instructions that came with your internet connection to add the phone to your internet service and thank you for using Orange/France Telecom.”

“Thanks.”

Three weeks later…

You have reached the service desk of Orange/France Telecom. You will not be charged for this call as long as you are calling from a phone for which you have a contract and we find your call interesting or not as stupid as your last call. If you are calling about a domestic phone, press “1.” If you are calling about a business line, press “2.” If you would like to speak to an agent who speaks English, press “526247 for JAMAIS” (Never.) All agents are busy right now. Your call will be answered as soon as an agent becomes free but, of course, all agents are at lunch and will not return until 14:00 hours. What did you think would happen when you called at 11:00 AM? It is, after all, lunch hour in Cairo. You can wait if you want but we suggest that you go online and use our online services. Our agents prefer online assistance especially when your computer problems relate to “failure to connect to the internet.” That usually delays your phone call by 30 to 45 minutes. Please know that this call may be recorded for our amusement .

“I need your help again. Friends have told us that they have called our phone but we have not answered (because we never heard the phone ring). I have followed all of the instructions on how to repair the service but end up not understanding the answers.”

“You are calling us from 04 90 ……. which is your land line. You should be using the phone number for the internet line.”

“I thought that by combining contracts, we would also combine phone numbers so that we could use either the internet line or the land line with the same phone connections. But your diagnostic shows that I use either a land line connection or an internet connection. Every time I use the internet connection, it interrupts internet service and it is at those times that friends report that they cannot call us.”

“Well, your friends can’t call you when you have your phone set up for internet calling and they are calling your land line phone number. You will have to ask your [so-called] friends to call on the new internet-based phone number. And furthermore, our records show that you don’t have any friends. Please know that when you use your land line for international calling you will have to pay for it at our usual long-distance rates.”

“We understand paying for long distance at the usual rates, we have seen our bill on-line uncombined so we also know that “usual” means “high” rates. What is the solution?”

“Buy another phone. Then you can have one phone that answers internet-based calls and the other that answers land line calls. Thank you for letting us at Orange/France Telecom serve you.”

“What number do I press to begin swearing in English? “

Inauguration 2009: Give Hope a Chance

« Les Américains ne s'y sont pas trompés. Ils ont vécu mardi 20 janvier un moment d'histoire. Un de ces moments qui transforme la vie d'un pays, n'efface pas le passé, mais porte l'espoir d'un autre avenir. » Le Monde, 20 janvier 2009

"America got it right this time. Americans have lived a historical moment on January 20th, one of those moments which transforms the life of a country, does not erase the past but nourishes hope of a better future."

« Laissons sa chance à l’espoir. Depuis l’élection de Barack Obama, l’avenir a changé de camp. Il a retrouvé un visage humain. » Libération, 20 janvier 2009.

"Let's give hope a chance. Since the election of Barack Obama, the future has taken a different course. It has regained a humane face."

Thanks to Marie for editing and improving my translations.

Over the weekend, I had suggested to Ellen that we find a café in town that had a television so we could watch the inauguration from a comfortable seat in a bar. Ellen pointed out that what they run on French television would probably be in French and she didn’t want to miss a word of the address in English. We did some internet searching and found that CNN was running live streaming for the whole inauguration. We tuned in at 3:00 PM (9:00 AM DC time) to be sure that all of the internet connections were in place, and then we watched until we went to bed.

It was a truly wonderful adventure and event. We saw all that was broadcast on TV, along with the comments of Facebook participants who were watching from a variety of places around the globe. C’était merveilleux! It is a new regime in Washington and a new sense of hope around the world. There I go with that hyperbole thing again. – But in reality, we have heard so many people expressing their new optimism and hope, not unlike the news articles.

Tonight, we had wine with some British ex-pats who now live here. They, too, see the optimism of what the future in the US portends for the states as well as the world. We all have lived through a world-transforming event. As one of my oldest friends (from the first grade!) wrote on Tuesday afternoon: “Yes, we can! Yes, we did! And yes, he is... President Barack Obama!” (Thanks, Lynne). The only negative is that we are six time zones away. It would have been so exhilarating to have been there to share the experience with friends close by.

We will be ready to roll up our sleeves and to join all of you in helping make this new dream become a reality – in a few more than 60 days… ;~ ( & :-)

Sunday Walks in the Park

Ellen and I went out this Sunday afternoon for a walk. The sky was deep blue and the thermometer on our balcony read 19 degrees (70 F). We had no specific destination in mind, so I suggested that we walk past the tennis courts to see if there was anyone there (two good matches going on). We walked from the tennis courts past the Cultural center and into the “quartier” (neighborhoods) north of town.

Everywhere we walked, we encountered couples walking: Old couples (older than we), young couples with kids, all of them out in the afternoon sun of Vaison. Many of the couples were well-dressed – as if dressed in their “Sunday-go-to-meeting” attire. Two young Muslim women were sitting on the wall in the sun by the side of the road with a baby in a baby carriage.

I am sure that visitors to Vaison in the summer might miss this – a tradition of spending Sunday afternoon with loved ones (a loved one/partner) by having a good luncheon meal and then going for a walk in the quiet surroundings. In the empty parking lots of Vaison winter months, the locals rule the streets. In the summer, the population doubles and the traditions/habits of the locals get lost in the shuffle;

If Ellen and I weren’t so close to the median age of the promenadeurs, I would suggest that it was cute and a real sign of love as the couples and families walked arm-in-arm. Alas, we ARE members of the median/mean age group and proud (?) of it. At least, I like the image of being associated with such a loving tradition.

Sunday in Vaison (and proud of it!)

Apologies to Georges Seurat for using his painting with my trivial posting

Snow in Provence, Mme Paris, Nile Perch and Gigondas

Tish was at the apartment packing her suitcases (trying to see how many “baginbox” wine cartons she could fit into her suitcase) because she had to leave in little more than 12 hours. . When Ellen and I returned to the apartment, we told Tish about what we had heard about the snow – not the dusting that we had in Vaison but the 30 cm that fell in Marseille. The authorities had closed the Autoroute between Marseille and Bollene (north of here) and they had closed the airport. A quick look at the airport website confirmed that flights had stopped sometime close to noon.

Tish and I had gone out to the hardware store – the bricomarché had a sale on radiators and I needed to replace one in our apartment. When we left the store, it was snowing but at a rate that our experiences would have discounted as a “dusting.”

But in Vaison la Romaine, a dusting is serious. People had seen the weather news and, just as in Lansing when there is a prediction of a heavy snow, the stores’ supplies of bread and milk were depleted. Our neighbor had told us of the weather predictions two days earlier so that we could beat the other residents of the town to the few supplies to stock… After what no one who lives north of the 40th degree latitude would rate as “real” snow, the village was quick to act. I watched small dump trucks (small so that they can fit on the narrow streets of Vaison) with two men standing in the back shoveling a mixture of sand and salt onto the streets as the truck moved slowly down the street. We were spared the brunt of the storm. Marseille, 100 km south of us and on the Mediterranean Sea got 25 – 30 cm. of snow (10 – 12 inches). According to those who keep records, this is the most snow that Marseille has had since 1987. Worse yet, the snow and the winds of the Mistral had dumped a bunch of snow on the autoroute and the authorities decided it was best to close it. (One traveler said that it took three hours to go from Avignon to Cavaillon – 18 miles.) By the way, today on Saturday, it was 10 degrees centigrade (51 F).

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Tish had decided that it would be smarter and safer to postpone her departure. She spent about an hour ON HOLD until she got an Air France agent who worked with her start to finish. (What is more frustrating than waiting on hold for 25 minutes only to have a connection “coupée” in the middle of a conversation? – except rhetorical questions?)

Tish left this AM with clear skies and dry roads and wrote recently that she was safely back in Cairo. Having spent time driving here, I think that the French road system is excellent – for one-way traffic – but if they continue to permit big trucks to travel in the opposite direction, they need to widen the roads! (There is one road between here and Avignon that actually NARROWS in direct correlation to the depth of the ditch on both sides of the road!)

French with Mme. Paris

In addition to all that Tish did to help create our blog, she also helped me get us enrolled in French classes. We had gone to the Tourist Information Center (again) and, while there, Tish suggested that we get information on French classes. We did. We enrolled and spent last – and future – Thursday and Friday mornings in French class. Thursday is for advanced French, Friday for beginners – both of which are instructional because the instructor – Mme. Paris – has such a good style of teaching. And, for those who want more English language time, the classmates usually go to the café after class… I don’t think that Ellen and I should be in the same class because in the last class, the instructor gave Ellen two “très bien” and I got only one…

Nile Perch

Since Tish does not eat meat, I tried to put together menus that were meatless. One item that I discovered in our markets is “Nile Perch” – the same fish that we used to eat when I was in the Peace Corps in Tchad (Chad) which was called “Capitaine” there. (The first time I heard “Capitaine” referred to as Nile Perch was at my sister Ann’s house at a meal with some of Ann’s & Alice’s friends.) I tried to replicate some of the Senegalese recipes that I loved – with minimal success. Bottom line: Nile Perch is an excellent fish for cooking and using Nile Perch and a recipe from Patricia Wells, I cooked the fish in a spicy tomato sauce and we had a wonderful meal – (the KEY is the orange zest!) We also made spanikopita – and learned how hard it is to find “feta” cheese here (probably because there is a French equivalent for which we don’t know the name…) When I made the spinach pie (spanikopita), we saved enough to share with our downstairs neighbor and with our friend the chef who had never tasted spinach pie. I told him to use the French grading system (20 points) and, if my spinach pie rated more than 11, he should tell me. If fewer points than 11, change the subject…

Gigondas

I know that I tend to go on about Gigondas, but it is such a wonderful wine! When we first purchased the apartment, French friends would ask why we bought an apartment here. I would reply “Gigondas!” to which the French would purse their lips and reply “but of course.” When I heard the same question from Americans and provided the same response, most Americans would look at me and try to understand… (not being familiar with Gigondas)

Tish quickly saw (tasted) the difference and took as much as she could fit in her suitcase back to Cairo. There is something VERY special about the “terroir” that makes Gigondas unique. It is a smooth wine on the palate but has a peppery finish which is what I love. I know that this is parochial/chauvinistic, but I love the flavors in Gigondas more than ALL of the right-bank Bordeaux and many of the left-bank Bordeaux – and at one third or one fourth the price… As the Emergency Room Physician had suggested when I saw him in October, I should spend my time collecting good Gigondas to resell in the states (to pay for my time here.)

Even though “baginbox” is the best way to package wine, few vintners here – or in the US – use the process for their good wines. There ARE a few wineries in this area that put the same wine in boxes as they put in bottles, but most have decided that people expect that wine in bottles is better… Too bad.