Ban des vendanges

On Sunday morning our bus left the hotel promptly. We all wore our suits & ties or posh frocks, best shoes and those already intronisés wore epitoge.

Epitoge is the shoulder wear made with rabbit fur, like a vestigial university hood, that those who are accepted (introniser) as members of the Jurade have the right to wear. See photo. 'Introniser' seems to relate to the word 'enthrone' so suggests something special about being welcomed as someone of importance.

That morning was the Parade of Jurats, candidates for intronisation and guests. Before the parade and ceremony we milled in the low morning sun. See video.

We admired the dress of representatives from other jurades too. See video.

Two of our party were to be intronised along with other important people who included several French politicians (such as Gérard Larcher) as well as film stars, atheletes and business men and women. This video shows more camera men than the politician who is walking behind the Jurade as the procession starts.

We processed to the church. The church service is well described by Anthony Laithwaite here. Then went on to the intronisation itself, which was in the Eglise Monolithe, a building cut into the rocks, that might have fallen down any minute if Calleja had started singing. The place was filled so we couldn't see very well but could read the Livret des intronisations, a booklet that gave a short biography of all the people being presented.
We had a champagne reception in the garden of the Salle des Dominicans - noted and minded the security guards for the important politician - then a lunch that included:

• Royal Saint-Emilion 2006
• Château Taureau 2005
• Château Lanbersace, Vieilles Vignes 2004
• Château La Bonnelle 2004
• Château Trapaud 2003
• Château Guillemin La Gaffeliere 2002
• Château Laroque 1999
• Château Chauvin 1998

Finally the Jurade went to the Tour du Roi to proclaim that the harvest was open. See video.

Vendange

The harvest, or vendange, is about to happen. You can see that the grapes have ripened and are nearly ready for harvesting, which will happen towards the second half of the month.

In this photo, you can see the low hanging grapes. They prune them earlier in the year, removing surplus foliage so that the grapes get enough sun, and also the strength of the plant goes down into the lower hanging fruit.

Meals

When I last went on this St Emilion trip, I worried about drinking too much and having a hangover. Friend assured me,

"You won't drink too much, but you may find you eat too much!"

He was right. We tasted wines, but only drank them with food. And there were some super meals. The first two days involved two five course means that included:

• starter/nibbles /soup
• fish course
• meat course
• cheese course
• desert
• coffee & canelles

Canelle are these tiny little rum and vanilla cakes, a speciality of Bordeaux. They served them warm.

Duck was often served. Sometimes we were given duck paté - the wonderful paté de fois gras. At our last meal on Monday lunchtime, our hosts served generous servings of this on tiny squares of toast. I could have dined on those alone, along with the St Emilion wine.

Here's an example menu from Saturday lunch at Chateau La Couspaude:

Foie gras de canard mi cuit entier aux figues gellee au lillet et fantaisie de fruits
***
Pave d'esturgeons au sauternes
***
Supreme de pintadeau au basilic
Pomme sarladaises
****
Salad panachee aux noix
***
Selection de 7 fromages affines et confiture de derises noires
****
Fruits glaces
****
Cafe , canelle

With four meals like that on Friday and Saturday - were we full!

Previous visits

The Jurade visitors are very grateful for the warm welcome that the vineyards and chateaux give us, so we offer our thanks. The Jurade has records of previous visits, and here is one of the regular visitors giving the speech of thanks. For 2008, see here.

Roses

Roses are planted at the end of each row of vines in some vineyards, not for prettification but because they warn of impending mildew. Any mildew infection attacks roses two weeks before the vines, so the viticulteur has time to take preventive measures such as spraying the vines.

Terroir

At Chateau La Gaffeliere, the young guide gave us some very informative talks on the history of the region and on the wine. He answered a question about what terroir is.

Terroir is a combination of soil, micro climate, exposure, altitude, attitude, and local conditions.

The French produce what the land is best at producing, and then look for the market, rather than look to see what people want and then treat the land perhaps with fertilizers, to produce the wine that's in demand.

Secondly, wine and terroir suits the food of the terroir. Thus a Sancerre wine goes with food in a hunting region, but St Emilion is not a hunting region. The wine from St Emilion goes well with the food of the terroir such as duck, like this duck with fruits in the photo.

There's a longer discussion at the wine anorak site here.

St Emilion wine

We're in the south-west of France, in Bordeaux and specifically in the region of St Emilion, the heart of the Bordeaux vine growing area, renowned for its red wines. We're on a long weekend, Thursday - Monday, wine tasting with a group of people from the York Chancellery of St Emilion, one of the two chancelleries of the Jurade in Great Britain.

St Emilion wine is made of a blend of merlot and cabernet franc grapes usually, sometimes with some cabernet sauvignon.

The first tasting on Friday morning was at the western most chateau Belregard-Figeac Grand Cru. It's tucked away in a suburban street and not easy to find. The brothers, Pueyo were fantastically welcoming and gave us many wines to taste, with nibbles to absorb the alcohol and clean the palette between tastings. There were of course also the spittoons, essential equipment for wine tasting (especially at ten o'clock in the morning). See photo

starting with a separate taste of the different assemblages of cepages: merlot and then cabinet franc. Then:

• 2007 mix
• 2005 Château LA FLEUR GARDEROSE AOC Saint Emilion
• 2005 Château BELREGARD-FIGEAC AOC Saint Emilion Grand Cru
• 2003 Château BELREGARD-FIGEAC AOC Saint Emilion Grand Cru yummy

Les messieurs Pueyo even sent us each away with a half bottle. How kind.

Concert at St Emilion

In the church at St Emilion, Eglise Collégial de Saint-Emilion, we heard a concert of opera sung by Maltese tenor Joseph Calleja, accompanied by Brian Schembi on the piano. Both musicians are to be honored at the Sunday Ban de Vendanges, i.e. the beginning of the grape harvest. On the Saturday evening, la Juarade de Saint-Emilion et le Conseil des Vins de Saint-Emilion presentent Calleja et Schembri at this récital lyrique.

The church is high, the benches in our zone sit six each side, rather too cosily,another eleven rows in the zone in front, more behind our zone, so it's a big church, and perhaps the acoustics are not the best.

Yet Calleja's voice is powerful. It fills the church. He's a powerful tenor. He's to sing nine pieces. I thought I'd record a piece on my digital recorder, then realised I'd set it to voice activate, which isn't a good idea for singing, because the silent parts that are so important to music, don't activate the recorder. The video (below) is better for sound, though you can't see much. There are official recordists present - perhaps people from Maltese television.

The pianist, Schembi has half a dozen Rachmaninoff preludes to play. How can he remember all these pieces by heart. Isn't Rachmaninoff tricky to play?

The programme includes:

G.F. Handel - Xerxes (HWW 40) Fronde tenere.. Ombra mai fu
C.W. Gluck - Orpheo ed Euridice - Che faro senza Euridice
Verdi - Macbeth - O Figli! Ah La Paterna Mano
S. Donaudy - Vaghissimma Sembianza
G. Puccini - Tosca - Recondita Armonia
G. Bizet - Les Pecheurs des Perles - Je crois entendre encore
G. Bizet - Carmen - La fleur que tu m'avis jetée
C. Gounod - Romeo et Juliette - L'Amour ...Ah lève toi soleil
J. Massenet - Le Cid - Ah! Tout est bien... Ô souverain

The audience demands several encores. It's been powerful, but not as lyrical as some.

Holiday dress

The weather in Bordeaux is still summery, so I should have brought

• a sarong for the hotel swimming pool and
  
• my 3/4 length jeans - it's warm enough for shorts.

Fortunately I've brought my new blue-green silk blouse, skirt and scarf. They were comfortable to travel in, didn't crease, are warm in the evening (we ate outside the first night in the village square - see photo), a cosy purple shawl, and for dressing down, my blue denim jacket.

Holiday - stressful start

The start of our trip was sufficiently stressful. You can imagine things going wrong; suppose a wheel/castor had come off my suitcase as I bounced it over the cobbles and me with a bad back at the moment. It didn't come off. But you don't remember what you must.

So as we left the house,

1. husband passes me my railcard, which I pop in my shoulder bag, not in its usual place in my purse.
   
2. We check I have the travel details in the front of the suitcase.
   
3. He had the train tickets.
   
4. We check our passports.
   

And we went. But it was half an hour later I realised I hadn't got my usual small handbag with my purse. So I had no English cash and no cards.

We used husband's mobile (mine's still hiding = lost) to call son and ask him to catch next train to Harrow on the Hill bringing my handbag. So he dashes out, and buys a ticket to Hemel Hempstead at three times the price! He'd just finished the wine we'd left and wasn't prepared for this complicated manoeuvre.

An hour later, big hugs to kind son, handbag and me reunited, son stands on platform to get train home again with an exciting book to read on statistical mechanics, while husband and I get the Metropolitan line straight into our London hotel and a bad night's sleep.