We all have  very heavy hearts in our house since Coco went missing on sunday. After extensive searches and canvasing the neighbours we can only fear the worse. The local consensus is that he was taken by a fox or shot by hunters.  It makes me so mad that idiots with shotguns can kill other people’s pets with impunity.  I’ve noticed that other cats who have gone missing have also been tabby. Perhaps it is less easy to distinguish a tabby cat from wild boar.Coco will be greatly missed. He was an extraordinary cat who  has brought us  much joy over the past year. He, and his brother Milkshake, helped us deal with all the stress of moving country and renovating a huge house simply because he was so exceptionally sweet-natured  and tolerant.  He loved being cuddled, loved being involved with people and seemed  very affectionate with his brother.  He was a special cat and I am so sorry that he has gone.From Jude.  

Jude and I were pleased to have been invited by our friends Anne-Marie and Bernard Forestier to a book  launch held in  the lovely grounds of Chateau Juvenal The book in question is a marvelous tome  - Patrimoine Gourmand des pays des  Ventoux - a history of all things culinary in our immediate area of Ventoux, and a collection of local recipes and  suggestions of Cotes du Ventoux wines to accompany the dishes. Its beautifully photographed - in Anne-Marie’s kitchen - and name checks amongst many others our neighbour and wine-maker Gely at Domaine Champ long ( who incidentally I see just picked up a 2-star recommendation for their white, our everyday house white, in the 2009 Hachette guide, and deservedly so) and the charming game specialist , the St.Hubert restaurant at Entrechaux that many of our guests will know. 

Lily, or lillie as she prefers to be known, celebrated her 11th birthday with a pool side party and 6 of her school mates….a breakthrough as last year she was way too shy to have french girls chez nous. A good time was had by all - no one to my knowledge being permanently damaged by the freezing october pool temperature - and some parents stayed on for a very “agreable”  aperitif after the event.  

Hoorah! Last thursday Claud Haut the president of the conseil general du Vaucluse announced that it had been decided that the Tour de France’s penultimate stage next year will be from Montelimar to the summit of the greant de Provence..Mt. Ventoux, all glorious 1910 metres of it. The date the riders make their ascent of the mountain via our neighbouring village of Bedoin is the 25th July 2009….it will have been 7 years since the tour was last here. It should be a fantastic spectacle, made all the more special as Lance Armstrong who won the yellow jersey on this stage last time , is staging his grand come back next year. American interest will, needless to say, be enormous. Although the grueling ascent of Ventoux has become one of the key legends of the tour, helped perhaps by the death of British rider Tommy Simpson on the mountain in 1967, the tour has only included Ventoux on 13 occasions since 1950 and on only 7 occasions has the summit been the finishing line before: 1958 (Bedoin-Mt Ventoux, won by Charly Gaul of Luxembourg); 1965 (Montpellier-Mt Ventoux, won by Raymond Poulidor of France); 1970 (Gap-Bedoin, won by Eddy Merck of Belgium; 1972 (Carnon-Page - Mt. Ventoux, won by Bernard Thevenet of France); 1987 (Carpentras - Mt. Ventoux , won by Jean-Francois Bernard of France); 2000 (Carpentras - Mt.Ventoux, won by Marco Pantani of Italy); 2002 (Lodeve - Mt. Ventoux, won by Richard Virenque of France). Anyone readers of this post looking for accommodation over that week see our other web-site www.bighouseinprovence.com

After the second…maybe third…electric storm in the last 4 weeks and a torrential downpour on thursday night, real drama, vignerons are looking increasingly anxious re the outcome of the harvest. Took some clients across to Chateauneuf du Pape friday morning and the road in from Courtezon was closed due to flooding, had to take them via the back roads. The roads strewn with storm debris and scree. Vignerons as ever put a brave face on things and describe the conditions as “difficult” but the fact is the May rains with their attendant mildew problems , the general lack of sustained warmth over July/August, plus these ill-timed storms are heading towards only one conclusion. The head waiter at Verger des Papes was more direct…he told me the previous 24 hrs weather had reminded him all too well of 2002, and that was a complete disaster. My heart goes out to them…

Cant quite believe it but this was the roll-call of beauties we sipped ( quaffed in some cases) with our guests from Dublin over the last two days: Whites

Domaine des Bernadines, Muscat sec “Dore” 2007 (Thurday lunch)

Domaine des Bernadines, Muscat de Beaumes de Venise 2006 (Friday dinner)

Domaine Durban, Muscat de Beaumes de Venise 2006 (Thursday dinner)

Coteaux des Travers “Cuvee Marine” white Rasteau 2006 (Thursday dinner)

Bonnefond Condrieu (Viognier), 2006 (Friday dinner)

Domaines des Anges/”L’Archange” (100% Rousanne),“AOC Ventoux”!, 2006 + 2005 respectively (Thursday pm)

Chateauneuf du Pape, Cuvee Vatican  “Reserve Sixtine” 2005 (Friday am visit)

Chateauneuf du Pape, La Nerthe cuvee classique 2006 (Friday am visit)

Chateauneuf du Pape, Chateau de la Gardine 2006 (Friday at lunch)

Rosé

Domaine Mourchon, Cotes du Rhone Villages Seguret 2006 (Thursday at lunch)

Reds

Chateauneuf du Pape, Chateau Beaucastel 2000 (Friday dinner)

Cotes du Rhone, Chateau Fonsalette ( same wine maker as CN du P- Rayas) 2003 (Thursday at dinner)

Chateauneuf du Pape, Chateau La Nerthe classique 2006/2005 and Cuvee des Cadettes 2004

(Friday am visit)

Chateauneuf du Pape, Cuvee des Vatican  - “Tradition” 2005, “Reserve Sixtine” 2006/2005 and 2007 from barrel (Friday am visit)

Chateauneuf du Pape Clos du Mont Olivet 2001 (Friday over lunch)

Gigondas, Domaine du Grand Montmirail 2000 (Friday over dinner)

Champagne

Veuve Cliquot N/V

The following is from a piece I write bi-monthly for the Brighton community newspaper the West Hill Whistler: Ireland is better known for whiskey and Guinness rather than wine, however the Irish Wine Geese have long played a small but not insignificant role in the French wine industry. How so? After the battle of the Boyne in 1690 around 10,000 catholic supporters of the defeated James 2nd were forced to leave Ireland in a hurry. Many of them ended up on the west coast of France and in particular the Bordeaux area. The farmers amongst them very quickly adapted their skill set to the needs of local agricuture..principally the grape. To this day Irish names have been passed down via many distinguished properties, the likes of Barton at Leoville-Barton and negociants Barton and Guestier, the Lynch family of Lynch Bages, and the famous Cognac house of Hennessey. The Bartons aledgedly still regard themselves as Irish and carry Irish passports. This week I took a party of Dubliners to visit a latter-day Wine Goose, an Irish owned and managed property in the Cotes du Ventoux.  Domaine des Anges is owned by Dublin businessman Gay McGuinness and the wine maker he has installed bares the unmistakably Irish name of Ciaran Rooney. Also from Dublin,  Ciaran  gained his oenology qualifications and cut his teeth, making wine in the Stellenbosch region of South Africa. Today he manages an estate  of around 40 hectares at an altitude of 300 metres facing Mt. Ventoux.The appellation of Cotes du Ventoux was known for fairly mediocre cafe wines, mainly reds,  struggling in the shadow of their illustrious neighbour the Cotes du Rhone with its exceptional Crus such as Chateauneuf du Pape, Gigondas etc. Ciaran Rooney by contrast, along with a handful of other domaines, has produced some exceptional wines from this terroir. Benefiting from the altitude with cooler evenings the vines here are able to preserve more acidity and freshness than their counterparts on lower ground resulting in elegant wines with some real complexity. The range comprises a basic white from the typical Rhone mix of Clairette, Bourboulenc, Grenache Blanc and Roussanne, and a red blend of Syrah/Grenache. There are also two premium cuvees named “L’Archange” , an 80% Syrah red and a 100% Roussanne. The latter is a gorgeous rich golden colour exploding with buttery apricot flavours…anyone who has tasted Beaucastel’s 100% Roussanne white Chateauneuf “Vieilles Vignes” (see ww.beaucastel.com ) will love this, and at a fraction of the price. The red L’Archange is bursting with smoky cassis and black cherry - it will please any fans of top notch Aussie shiraz and is perhaps the biggest giveaway in the range that Ciaran trained in a new world wine country. Well done the Irish wine geese! If Whistler readers want to sample how good these wines are,  check out the specialist merchant www.bigredwine.co.uk which carries the full range from £5.95 to £9.95 for the L’Archange. For more on the domaine go to www.domainedesanges.com

Last night La Madelene hosted a musical soiree to celebrate mid-summer and share some of our favourite wines with friends. About 50 guests joined us in the garden to hear Domingo, Julien and their base player play south american rythms and bossa nova; canapes etc prepared by Jude, friend Tonita and guest professional chef Nick, were hoovered up by the crowd in record time; guests were able to take part in a degustation of 11 wines …for the record: Gigondas and Sablet blanc from Domaine les Gouberts, Muscat sec and Esprit Libre vendange tardive vin doux from Bernadines, red and white CN du P from Nalys, red Beaumes des Venise from Redortier, Tavel rose and white Lirac from Maby, Rose from Domaine Mourchon, and Clos de Caveau’s red Vacqueyras. Around midnight when the musicians were enjoying a well earned glass or two of Nalys attention  turned to the roc-ola juke box and next thing we knew it was nearly 2am!….. Read the rest of this entry »

Had the pleasure of taking 8 lovely ladies from the Telegraph and Zenith Optimedia out to lunch on friday…sometimes this job is a tough one. At Verger des Papes ( of course, at my usual table) we drank appropriately enough Vieux Telegraph , the 2005 vintage. So well did this number suit the palate of said party that I was press ganged into driving them “off-piste” as it were to the Vieux Telegraph domaine where after a nostalgia inducing media agency style haggle we managed to persuade the owners to flog us a case of the 2005 inspite of their protests that it had all gone or that we would have to buy all their second wines if we wanted some VT. A good time was had by all…..

Thanks to my ace photographer client Lars Jorgensen here is the whites counterpart to my last post. By the way the mystery unlabelled bottle amongst the reds is an as yet un-marketed Chateauneuf du Pape…an old vine 100% Grenache special cuvee, 2005 vintage…from Domaine Solitude. Delicious drinking now…a challenger for the top slot against the legendary Cuvee Secret in their portfolio, a treat for lovers of Grenache.