Wine
Well it’s that time of year here in France and the vendange (grape harvest) is in full swing all around us. Our own grapes were few in number this year and not a great harvest but the commercial vineyards don’t look a lot better. I made all ours into grape juice which is delicious but there's only 4 litres of it.
However I got fed up with looking at the wine we made 2
years ago which was still in its large containers in my utility room so I
thought we should taste it and make a decision on its future. Much to my
surprise it actually tastes very good, a light red in colour, rather like a
posh Clairet and a little on the
sweet side but very drinkable. Instead of pouring it away we decided to bottle
it. It took several hours to clean and sterilise the bottles but we ended up
with 53 bottles all nicely corked and sealed. We then designed a label, with
help from granddaughter Elizabeth and the whole thing looks very professional.
We’ve now attended 2 sessions of a wine tasting course at a
friend’s B&B about 35 minutes away, really interesting tasting six different
wines from the same area – we did the Loire this month and liked the Saumur fizz
best – and you get supper thrown in, 2 courses with wine, for 15 euros each, it’s
a bargain and good company too.
Still on the subject of wine we went to Bordeaux airport on
Thursday only to discover my daughter’s flight had been cancelled due to a
French Air Traffic Controllers strike. Whilst trying to make alternative
arrangements I got talking to a young French lady who was flying to a wedding
in Switzerland, she hadn’t realised that she couldn’t take liquids in her hand
luggage and was told to get rid of the special bottle of wine she’s bought for
the happy couple. She was so distressed I agreed to buy the wine off her and
gave her the 30 euros she said it cost. We were all a bit sceptical about its
value but since we got home we’ve Googled it and the cheapest we can find a
bottle of the same wine & vintage is 32 euros so I’ve still got faith in
human nature.
Walnuts
We appear to have a bumper crop of walnuts yet
again but have absolutely no idea what to do with them. We still have loads
left from last years harvest so I’ve made no attempt to collect this year’s
harvest they just crunch underfoot every time I walk over them. Anyone with any
useful suggestion for loads of walnuts please let me know as I’d be very
grateful.
Broody chicken
One of our elderly chickens decided to 'go broody' about a month ago. The fact that she’s 9 years old, hasn’t laid
an egg for I don’t know how long and we don’t have a cockerel hasn’t stooped
Yvette from sitting in the nesting box day and night in the expectation of some
chicks appearing! I’d chuck her out of the chicken house each morning to force
her to eat and drink but the only time she showed any enthusiasm was went I
went back a few hours later to open the door and she’d run all the way across
the pen and dive back onto her nesting box. However suddenly the other day she
came out of the chicken coop voluntarily and seems to have got over her
broodiness despite the fact no chicks have appeared; maybe she just got bored.
We’ve had a total of about 15 eggs from one or more of the others, though they
stopped when Yvette went broody.
Renovations
We’re down to the smaller jobs now – a never
ending list that seems to grow longer no matter how many jobs we do. The local
carpenter turned up this week and fitted oak skirting boards in our hallway and
salon, fantastic job, he was here from 8.30 a.m. until 7.30 p.m.
I’m trying to strip the wallpaper from our
original kitchen, goodness only knows what they stuck it on with as getting it
off brings plaster off the wall at the same time as the paper! It was certainly
meant to last.
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