Sunday 11 July 2010

La Fête vigneronne at Faugères

Sunday morning wine tasting in a village of balconies and bunting:

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A theatrical entrance to the old village whose narrow streets were filled with the stalls of wine producers, cheese makers, biscuit, cake and honey sellers, charcuterie producers and throngs of people tasting all this in the heat.  We found and bought some familiar produce – goats’ cheese from Mas Rolland – and tasted wines we’d not tasted before from Domaine du Météore at Cabrerolles and  Domaine Alquier at Faugères and bought rosé from Domaine Ballicioni at Autignac and Chateau des Peyregrandes at Roquessels (next door to Chateau des Adouzes where we buy wine regularly, but we’ve never ventured here before).  A completely new discovery, to us, was the Saffron syrup from the Tarn region of south-western France, which can be added to white wine to make Saffron kir and can also be used in cooking gambas or duck.  The kir we tasted at the stall tasted wonderfully spicy.

 

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Crowded narrow streets and, right, a traditional still making fine de Faugères.

Our own harvest, and promise for the future

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From the garden this morning:  Aubergines, a bell pepper, tomatoes, cucumbers, sweet onions, courgettes and beans.  And, right, a small pumpkin on a huge plant, just beginning to grow.  Aubergine and courgette slices fried in olive oil and sprinkled with thyme and chopped garlic went well with Mas Rolland goats’ cheeses for supper.

5 comments:

Lisa said...

That still is so great-looking. When do you suppose it was made?

Jon Storey said...

Lovely pictures, I just love the French markets they have so much atmosphere and wonderful produce.

chaiselongue said...

Lisa and Robb: the still looks as though it may be nineteenth century, but possibly older than that and patched up a lot!

Weeping Sore said...

Yum! We are just getting eggplants at our Veggie Garden. Anything cooked with garlic works for me!

Unknown said...

Hi your blog is really interesting and I am wondering if you can make some suggestions for me. i have a house in Laurens which I don't get to visit very often but I am going to be there for a long wekeend 24th September. There will be 8 of us all women and we are all organic gardeners. We garden as a group in the north west of Ireland and are collectively known as the Wild Wellied Women see our site www.wildwelliedwomen.com. I am planning a weekend itinerary for them -many ahve never been to Languedoc before . If you ahve any suggestions other than Pezenas market and le Jardin de St Adrien in Servian (which we are already doing ) I would be grateful. We are interested in gardening (especially organic), plants food, wine tasting etc. Do you knwo if wine tasting at Chateau grezan is good or do you know of an organic vigneron we should visit?
Any comments much appreciated.
Kind regards
JAckie Dimes, Leitrim, ireland