Wild Weather Weather 2019 - and after the tempests

Good for you.
This attitude to it’s ok to keep others waiting, or my time is more important than yours, is one of the least attractive things about living in France.

Great idea - the homeless can get overheated just like us - and doubtless more so.

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It 's coming up to midnight and, suddenly, we have a breeze. :hugs::hugs::hugs:

I feel like a kid at Christmas - a breeze - marvellous.

Best laid plans and all that…up at 5h30 ready to make a 6h00 start on the garden, a very damping mist has put paid to that. Its a bit fresher but very heavy and stormy feeling. Oh well the house could do with the dust re arranging :rofl::broom::broom:

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What’s dust? I find it’s best to leave my glasses off indoors - the house looks just fine to me :upside_down_face::rofl:

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Maybe not from the very far south!

The wine I am particularly thinking about is Montbazillac :hugs: (Dordogne). A group of us visited for a dégustation and general chat - given by one of the viticulteurs. An amazing chap in his 80’s, great knowledge and great sense of humour.

Anyway, after much sipping (and supposedly spitting) - he offered us his “special wine” and explained that “this wine” will last 30 years due to the exceptional weather of 2003.

I chuckled and argued gently. :wink: He knew we were the only non-French in the group, so when I queried his statement - he took pains to speak slowly, in very clear French - confirming “it will definitely last 30 years Madame !”

I finally made him understand that there was absolutely no way such delicious stuff would last 30 years in our cellar ! hic :hugs:

We’ve visited several times since then, it’s always a pleasure, but have never seen this gentleman again, which is a shame as I would like to tell him how we have struggled to make the wine last… :rofl::upside_down_face::wink:

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What is his domaine called, Stella? Was it actually on the commune of Monbazillac or one of the 4 others in the appellation? (Colombier, Rouffignac de Sigoulès, St Laurent des Vignes and Pomport).

We were visiting the Chateau de Monbazillac itself.

So was it the wine from the Chateau? It belongs to the coop now and so you can bump into all sorts at the dégustation.

We have found tastings here to be very relaxed with absolutely no pressure to buy.

It is also an excellent location to waste an hour waiting for people to arrive at Bergerac Airport.

I’ll check the cellar later. Yes, we’ve still a bottle or two of the 2003 left. We subsequently returned and bought some 2005 which is delicious, but not quite as good as the magnificent 2003 :hugs:

As you say Mat - no pressure - and that is how it should be ! :hugs:

We’ve been back a few times - always worth a visit.
The bottle is misty 'cos I took it out of the fridge.

Yes that is the coop’s - another excellent but unexpected place to buy Monbazillac is Chateau la Brie which is the Lycée Viticole!:clinking_glasses: :relaxed:

Aha… that shall go down in my little book of places yet to visit. :hugs:

@Stella - we had an excellent lunch conveniently just around the corner from Chateau de Monbazillac in a restaurant called Le Semillon (just down the road from the Tourism House and Wine - it was in a modern building and expectation was very low but it far exceed our initial thoughts - not surprisingly it was busy so our expectations should have been higher.

Le Semillon
Bourg, 24240 Monbazillac, France
+33 5 53 57 37 76
https://maps.app.goo.gl/jqV4sK8KNhZoEquP6

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The Sémillon belongs to the commune along with the post office counter the hairdresser’s and the beautician, they are v nice.
We used to have an épicerie and papershop in the building now housing the maison des vins and the mairie, before it was done up, but now you have to get in your car to go and buy bread at the boulangerie which is also a mini épicerie de dépannage, on the other side of the commune.

The new building had an épicerie de proximité but the people who then had the café (not the ones who have it now, who are excellent) also had it and they weren’t interested in it, you could only buy tinned things and mothballs, so it died.

We have 2 other excellent restaurants, the Grappe d’Or and the Tour des Vents and also Maison Vari which is lovely, does salads, assiettes de charcuterie and so on and regularly has live music, jazz etc.

We have a fabulous marché gourmand nocturne where you can eat under the trees every Sunday, the first of the season is tonight.

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If it were not so very hot - I would grab my bag and leap into the car…

On every Sunday, let me know when you are coming :relaxed: after dinner coffee chez moi, much better than the one on the market (the people from the Semillon do the bar and there are 2 different viticulteurs every Sunday).

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