This is such a lovely time in such a lovely place. Gold, pure gold. Crisp, clean, clear. The temperature rises a few degrees and little puffs of mist drift up from the vines like cloud-dust. And then it drops again. Autumn is gorgeous either way.
Monday 8 November
We return from Ireland and bring the rain with us. Sorry about that!
Benson gives us a tail wagging welcome as only Springer Spaniels can, and the cats hurl a cacophony of reproachful miaows at us. The vines seem quite indifferent to our return, and continue glowing a constant, steady gold.
Tuesday 9 November
Find two new 2022 editions of French wine guides on our desk. La Revue de Vin de France’s “Green Guide” (as it is affectionately known) gives Rives-Blanques a good number of column inches, and the Dessert-Gerber guide elevates us to the level of their five-star “Prix d’Honneur” – of which there are 25 other happy recipients in the Languedoc. So that’s nice: all together a good homecoming.
You should never look a gift horse in the mouth, and be grateful for even the crumbs of a compliment, but wouldn’t it be great if these guides, all of them, could please update the general introductory comments they make about the vineyard just once in a while?
Sunday November 14
We finish the week off with a Sunday lunch at Abrosia, a local restaurant which used to have a Michelin star and will surely have one shortly again. It was the first time in our lives we had pan-seared foie gras with octopus tentacles in an umami sauce – absolutely stunning.
It often seems to us that the Dutch phrase for when life is being lived in perfection, or “als God in Frankrijk” (“like God in France”) is so true. The French themselves are probably the only ones who don”t always see it that way.
Wednesday November 17
The American Wine Spectator magazine tastes Odyssée and awards it 90 points. They’re lovely tasting notes and very true to size, but still racking my brains how to illustrate graphically “buttery-lined flavours of apple cobbler, lemon curd and vanilla pastry focused by nicely integrated acidity”.
Friday November 19
We tasted the 2021 wines today! We blended the Pays d’Oc! And we tasted the wines in the barrels as well!
It’s still early days, but it all looks very promising. The wines are different from last year’s, but then the year was very different too, and we have to treat them differently too. Stirring up the lees lends a bit of matière, and some barrels are also gently being encouraging to set off down the road of malolactic fermentation. I suggested that hanging an organic apple in the barrel might really get them going, but that was not well received…
So it was a morning well spent, and the day outside agreed with us, smiling its approval as, blinking, we left the darkness of the cellars and stepped out into the sunshine.
Sunday November 21
Another blissfully beautiful week comes to a close. There’s snow on the mountains again. We take off along winding roads cutting through swathes of forested gold, orange and red, hugging a tributary of the Aude bubbling its way from south to north as we head the other way, north to south, towards the Pyrenees. Bugarach, the famous “upside down” mountain, renowned as a home to UFOs and martians, looms into view against the clear blue autumn sky. And there, at the base of it, again like God in France we sit down to a long, extended Sunday lunch, beginning with foie gras prepared in three different ways, and then moving on to chicken in morilles sauce, presumably a cousin of the ones pecking around outside the restaurant. A biodynamic Syrah-Grenach from Domaine Cazes, fruit-forward, clean and fresh, completes the day – and the restaurant sells it at cellar door prices plus 5 euro corkage fee. Like God in France? Yes indeed, another day in Paradise.