Switzerland

Have you noticed these posts get shorter as we run out of time?

Here we are in Switzerland where Willie and Veronika have been very very good to us. We have had a ball - mountains, waterfalls, lakes, shopping . . .

Now we head for Singapore then home. Can't wait to see everyone on our return.

Carousels

Beautiful old carousels are everywhere . . . Harry can sniff them out from a mile away . . .

This one was at Macon.

Hangin' with Bill

We've had a great time with Bill and now know a heap more about the region. Some happy snaps . . .

Billy and the Bret Brothers

The real reason for our stay in Julienas was to catch up with Bill, our wandering wine mate who Clive met at vintage in NZ. He also did the vintage with Fraser Gallop in '07. Bill has been working the vintage in France for 7? years and its easy to see why he loves it here. He's hooked up with the Bret Brothers (yes, strange name for those in the biz') here in the Macon area. They produce an incredible array of mainly biodynamic chardonnays and Bill is fully into their techniques. Here he is bringing in the harvest . . . !

Wow - Julienas

Chosen because the village promised a good playground with views, we took a punt on Julienas, in the Beaujolais. We found a gite set high on the hill overlooking rows of bush vines to the village and beyond, across to the Soane river. On a clear day we can see Mont Blanc in Switzerland. Quiet except for the hourly church bells, this place is mintox. I've produced another piece of cinematic brilliance on the subject -take a look.

Goodbye Dudon

Last Tuesday we left Dudon and Barsac. We've had a brilliant time here. Heading for the Beaujolais/Macon region now.

Vintage begins at Dudon

Today picking began at Chateau Dudon. They will pick the vines three or four times as the botrytis rot continues to cover the bunches. Had a sample today - delicious marmalade flavours.

A toast to Barsac and Dudon . . . sideways

Note to self . . . don't turn the camera sideways to make a video . . .

Nuts

I remember when I was a 21year-old setting off to see the world mum told me to have roasted chestnuts in Paris. Here, every second tree seems to be a chestnut. We tried roasting them, but made a real mess of the oven . . .

Today's Festival

If there's a festival, we're there. Today's festival was the arrival of the 'Transhumance'. This turned out to be 60-odd woolly sheep, some woolly dogs, their woolly shepherd and a donkey being marched into the village with drums and pipes. They had come all the way from the Pyrenees and we waited for an hour or so with all the other villagers to follow them to the town square and then join in the festival. We ate (yes, again) yummy snails, crushed strawberries, sausages of cepes, chevre, fig, local beer . . . .

The sheep retired (collapsed) under some trees - it was a really hot day. We danced, bought stuff and generally carried on.

A fabulous French feast

How fantastic to spend a Sunday afternoon at Corrine and Christian's beautiful Bordeaux home. Lucky for us Corrine had zipped home from her vintage in Portugal. We shared a feast with her sons, parents and ex-husband and it was magnificent. Clive said he felt privelged have shared some rare and exceptional local, Portugese and Hungarian wines that we would normally not have tried. Harry had a fabulous time with Corrine's boys and au pair who hand-fed him and saw to his every need!! A really great day.

The Festival of the Pigeon

Another beautiful day. Lunch in Sauternes overlooking Chateau Guiraud . . . gorgeous. We then took a leisurely drive to a Pigeon festival in Bazas via a true blue castle (we stumbled upon this one). The pigeon festival was really something - the pigeon is the special food of Bazas (yes, we're talking food again) and to celebrate its 'season' there's a colourful procession through the square. Each village has a colourful costume to represent their regional delicacy eg: melons, garlic, cepes (mushies), bayonne ham, and Bazas bouef. The procession was piped to the town cathedral, led by a confused looking pigeon. . . celebrations followed the blessing of the food in the cathedral . . . ahh such reverence for the food . . . .

Bec arrives!

Bec has arrived to spend 12 days with us. We are stoked to have her here with us and glad that Gavin, Laura and Nell could spare her! We picked her up from the train station in Bordeaux. After 30 hours of travel we're not sure she knew where she was.

Our home

Our gite (cottage) is within the walled gardens of Chateau Dudon and a few metres away from the chateau. It is part of the group of buildings that make up the winery and cellar. It has four bedrooms and two bathrooms, an oyster shucker and a set of encyclopedias for 'The woman of the Family'covering French history, cooking, decorating, sewing, jobs around the home and other important topics - these books are so comprehensive I'm wondering what's left for the man of the house . . .

Silly Sausage!

Our friend 'Will' joined us while doing some work in France. He gleefully informed us that the delicious local sausages we'd been hoeing into were mostly horse and donkey meat. Sure enough, we attend the LaBrede local markets and there's an entire van sporting every kind of equine cut. The upside of William's visit was that he recommended a restaurant Sateurnes village which was really great and in a gorgeous setting.

Here's a photo of 'Will' with the offending items. Bridget is now eating less sausage - which is a good thing.

Our village

Barsac is a pretty functional little village in the Gironde area of Bordeaux. It's where they grow Sateurnes for sticky wines. We have fully explored its boulangerie, two clothes shops, butcher and playground. It's a good place to buy a bagette and get your haircut - anything more than this and it's six kilometres to Langon.

One of the best parts about our spot is the walk into town - past the vineyards and some very snazzy neighbouring chateaux.

To the beach

The warm weather and the lure of unlimited oysters led us to the beach at Cap Ferret. Barry, our GPS, got us there with no arguments and we made the most of the markets, carousels, petit trains and . . . oysters. Loved the place and had a dip in the gorgeous Atlantic.

We had a really great weekend - rebooked for next week.

Yuuuuummm

Our introduction to rural Bordeaux began in Langon, just 6km away from our village of Barsac. The Langon Cheese and Wine Festival was a real treat. And sharing the day with Carla, Tom, Michelle, Mark and the two girls made it even more special. Within minutes of entering the grounds we'd tasted and purchased incredible cheeses, wines from Burgundy and all kinds of local treats. We spent most of our time ensconced at the oyster tent. Bliss.

With enough supplies for the next few days, we all made our way back to Chateau Dudon to find our 'gite'. It is just great. Set beside the Chateau, within the walled grounds, the gite is in the same set of buildings as the winery and cellar, where they produce small amounts of delicious Sauternes.

The kids spent all their time in the cubby house and we spent all our time under the walnut tree. It is really hot. And it's beautiful.

Today I am attempting to put a few more photos of our time in France in a more snazzy way-let see if i can do it

How perfect can a place be?

I have to work out how to do the photo gallery thing to give an idea of how perfect our introduction to this food and wine region was. . . this could take a while . . .

In Bordeaux

We spent a couple of days exploring Bordeaux before making our way to Barsac. Wandered around. Had a brilliant lunch of duck confit and scallops (let the eating begin). Lost Blue Bear No. 1 at the playground . . . guess the lure of all things French just got to him . . . Now searching teddy bear sites for a Minkplush 'Jack'. . .