From the monthly archives:

February 2010

Veni, vidi, gustavi: Thoughts and impressions
about Southern France’s largest wine exhibition

February 28, 2010

I’m just back from the February 22-24 Vinisud, the ninth edition of this massive, international exhibition of Mediterranean wines and spirits. It was exhausting trying to see even a portion of the 1,600 exhibitors from (primarily) the Languedoc-Roussillon region, but present, as well, were many winemakers from the Rhône Valley, Provence, Corsica, Southwest France, Italy, [...]

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Domaine du Tariquet: civil(ized) disobedience

February 12, 2010

There are some 800 Armagnac producers in the southwestern France region of the same name that is located to the west of Toulouse and about 150km (100 miles) south of Bordeaux. Only several hundred bottle their Armagnac (the others sell their brandy to négociants, who buy in bulk and then resell it), and of these [...]

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Red Bicyclette scandal: there’s un pigeon born every day

February 7, 2010

On several occasions over the years, my wife and I have house hunted in France. Sometimes it was just curiosity; before our children were born, we could take leisurely holidays, and we’d sometimes view an interesting looking property advertised in the window of one of the area’s local real estate agencies. And there’s been, as [...]

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Val d’Orbieu wine–bio and going for sustainable

February 3, 2010

Val d’Orbieu is like a cooperative on steroids. Actually, it’s a misnomer to call this organization, with its 1,000 winemakers, 11 cooperative wine cellars, and 65 individual cellars, a cooperative. It’s really a growers association with each domain making wine as it wishes, relying on help from the association’s staff as needed, and using pooled [...]

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