Test driving the new Web Site...

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12 Easy Steps of Happiness in France

Going to the outdoor markets is a great way to enjoy the people, ambiance and food of France -- and so easy. Click on any of the pictures to see the image larger (I recommend doing so with the 4th one and the last one, especially). (BTW, the rest of this blog is funnier if you imagine it being read in a Monty Python accent -- that's how Mike and I did it at the time).

Approach the perfectly ripe GARGANTUAN pile of strawberries. Resist the urge to dive in -- it would definitely be a faux pas.

Say hello to the friendly strawberry girl -- she speaks English and tells you which berries are the sweetest. We test her opinion, naturally, and find that she is correct.

Say bonjour to the friendly cheese man. He recommends the crème fraiche, just made, and says that it is superb. He is also correct.

Go back to the Chateau -- nice place, n'est-ce pas? Dining here somehow adds a certain je ne sais quoi.

Lay out your strawberry feast, select a luscious one, and pick up your strawberry, delicately, by the stem.

Prepare to dip your strawberry into the crème fraiche, delicately.

Dip your strawberry, delicately, into the crème fraiche, with pinkie extended -- remember where you are, after all.

Admire your strawberry.

Here's the best part -- make your mouth happy.

Smile.

It tastes so incredibly good you tussle, delicately, with your friend, for the next one. Winning this battle is important, but do not bruise the fruit!

Oooh! There's only one left, and it is so big and perfectly ripe. Who will get it?

So much to write....

...so little time! Just a quick note to all reviewers that the Toronto Food & Wine Show was spectacular. Great wines and fabulous food for four days. We were in the Fine wine tasting area and the Marquis de Montlaur wine stood up to wines that were selling for anywhere from $60 to $200. And the concept generated a lot of buzz. I would say that several hundred people out of the thousands that attended the show stopped by for a lengthy chat on Micro-Leasing at Monte Lauro Vineyards and were intrigued by what they saw and heard. And for the fortunate few who tasted I think they were even more intrigued.

Still this all has to translate into more members and from my perspective it was great to meet so many people who would be the kind of people that I would like to spend some time with in the south of France. People who "got it", who understood the value of being a part of something big and perhaps getting their hands dirty working the soil and the place. ...in short their own place in the south of France.

Curiously, so many kind of scoffed at the idea until I explained it. It's as if Canadians are hard wired to believe they don't deserve a taste of some of the finer things in life. I did my best to dispel that notion and I hope that with follow up I will begin to see some converts to the business. If you were there and stopped by, thanks, and if not I'm sorry I missed you. Look for us at the Boston Food & Wine Show January 23rd-25th at the Seaport Convention Centre.

Salut!

Michael

Travels with Claire and Clayton....

The second week of my past trip to France saw the arrival of Clayton and Claire from Saratoga Springs, NY. It was Claire's first trip to Europe and she was about as excited as a 6 year old on Christmas Eve. They flew directly into Montpellier Airport after an overnight flight to Charles De Gaulle, something I have never done but it worked out very well. Air France has so many connections for very little extra money that it perhaps makes sense to do this versus taking the train.

I got them settled in Christian and Corinne's charming Gite de Montlaur just steps away from the farm and after getting refreshed we hit the wine tasting trail (a rather short trail because wine tasting places are frequent and spitting is so gauche). But we visited Chateau Peuch Haut just minutes from the farm where one can see one of the fastest rising stars of the Langeudoc region in action, as well as St. Jean de L'Arbusier, an older and more tradtional family concern with chickens in the courtyard and Granpa peeking out at you around the doorframe, while you're tasting the wines his son and daughter-in-law make, both of whom are respected oenologists in the region.

Needless to say with their jet lag and more wine tastings we were planning on calling it an early night. But they had other intentions. Heading off to the market we bought a selection of foods and wines and made for the Farm to cook ourselves dinner. We tried many wines and much excellent food before capping off their first day with a wonderful selection of cheese and a fine glass of port by the fire.

On Sunday Claire & Clayton slept in a bit while Christian and I and his ister went to the antique flea market in Montpellier. It is a huge affari and they sell every concievable thing I could imagine. I was looking for a teapot and some chairs which I found easily as well as a bunch of other stuff for the farm. There were some beautiful antiques there but I didn't think the farm was ready for them yet. After returning to the Gites and waking Claire and Clayton we all went to an equine center, owned by a friend of Christian's where we had a barbecue picnic featuring a variety of meats traditional to the south of France and northern Spain, a region that still very much influences the tastes and culture of the Languedoc. The horses there were beautiful and i found out that riding could be done almost any day and lessons were available at very reasonable rates.

Sunday night we toured Montpellier, a beautiful southern French city, reputed to be the youngest city in France due to its large student population. The University of Montpellier, whose medical school was founded by Jean, the 1st, de Montlaur in the 1100's, has today 85,000 students in a town with an overall population of 400,000. As a result it is vibrant and vigourous with old and young alike walking the wide avenues and winding streets of this medieval town.

(more in Part Deux)

Food and Wine in the South of France...

There is nothing much finer than enjoying an incredible meal and a good glass of wine and it is in expounding on that sense that much of the Micro-Lease concept is based. This past trip I had incredible meals made in the real kitchens of people who have lived in the south of France for years, punctuated by wines grown locally that are among some of the best I've ever tasted.

If you are looking for any reason at all to justify why you might want to become a Micro-Leaseholder in Monte Lauro Vineyards you need go no further than the food and wine of the region. Experience flows from food and wine as water flows from a fountain. From conceptualization, to securing to preparation and consumption, joys of all kinds are manifest in the process.

Spices at the market in Sommieres...

Corrinne, the new chef of Le Ferme de la Chateau de Montlaur (a title we conferred upon her after much wine and another great dinner), provided a virtuoso performance for the time I was there producing an incredible array of dishes, both traditionally French and also local. She hales from that part of France that nestles up against Switzerland near Geneva and has obviously inherited a gourmand's love of food and food preparation (and managing to do it all one handed as she had her arm in a sling the whole time). I can't pretend to remember the names of everything but the Mousse au chocolat definitely got my attention. Corinne has planned out a four or five day cooking course on French cuisine that we intend to offer at the farm next year. So if you ever wanted to learn the art of French cooking on the ground then now is the time you should sign up. I will personally be doing the wine matches for the week long course and look forward to highlighting the various foods with my favourite regional picks. More information will be available in the near future and we can expect Corinne to post a few recipes to the Blog over the next few months. Bon appetit!

Corinne enjoying a light lunch at the farm...I think that is a Chateau-Neuf-du-Pape in the glass!

The Wine Report

In this blog I'd like to discuss wine. Of course I'm talking about both wine from the 2007 Vintage as well as wine from the new 2008 crop, a harvest you can see in the picture taken by Christian Chiriaeff. In years to come I'd love to see our clients in pictures like this but for now I'm just happy that we can begin to be a part of the rejuvenation of this amazing place.

The 2008 harvest, "les vendanges" as its known in France, was completed after an unusually wet August in the region, which contributed to increased mildew and mold develpment in the grapes. Inspecting several of the small vineyards it was apparent that the overall yield would be down from previous years by as much as 70%. Still , handpicking and hand sorting should result in a wine that is superior to the machine picked product from many of the other vineyards in the area. Occurriung over approximately three weeks, the harvest happened through most of September and in some areas of the region, even into October. This contrasts with 2007 where the harvest began much earlier, in August in fact, and was more or less complete by mid-September.

Time alone will tell what levels of quality are to be achieved with this vintage but the Cooperative, although gloomy ont he prospect of volume, felt excited by the prospects for the new vintage. Mind you, there are few French winemakers who don't get excited even by the idea of the next vintage so, as I said, we'll see by December where it comes out.

The 2007 vintage is almost ready for bottling and we are in the throes of discussing both that and the challenges of shipping. There are a variety of logistical issues to work out as this is the first shipment we are making but I expect that all things will fall into place by December and shipments will be made in January from France by boat. I suspect I will hand deliver most of the commitments for the year so hold on to your hats as we enter into this exciting next phase of vineyard ownership....trying your own wine. For those that might want to have their own labels affixed we need to get them composed and produced no later than January I think depending ont he form of shipment. It is by the way, a pretty good first production, by all accounts and I look forward to sharing a glass of it with each of you.

Some thoughts on time in France....

This past trip (September 25th to October 13th) was magnificent. So much time to reflect, to re-create, to enjoy good food, good wine and good company and to appreciate the many other inspirational moments that abound in the south of France...moments that we often take for granted when slugging away at the lives we have built for ourselves.

Chronologically, (by nature I tend to be a very organized person) landing on the 26th and spending a day running from meeting to meeting in Paris with things not really going as planned, provided a somewhat disappointing start to the trip. But I ended the evening having dinner with Jean and his daughter Chiara. The restaurant was just off the Boulevard St. Germain,perhaps a ten minute walk from the Latin Quarter. It was classic French quisine done superbly and the ambiance as we settled in about 10:00 pm was warm and glowing. The clink of glasses and silverware, the gurgle of flowing wine and the light buzz of conversation served to cocoon the evening in an almost movie like feel. Conducting a little business and catching up with Jean was great. We always enjoy breaking bread with each other. No matter how many times we've done it it seems each time is as fresh as the last. I particularly enjoy it when his kids are there as they provide a soft counterpoint to Jean's personal style...somewhere between the two of us.

At midnight I set out from Paris, having had only three to four hours sleep the previous night on the airplane. My plan was to drive south through my favourite region, the Auvergne, the tribal homelands of the ancestral Avernii Celts, whose leader Vercingetorix, was one of the few ever to have defeated Caesar in battle. As I drove through the night, speeding south of Clermont Ferrand, I knew when the site of that battle loomed in the darkness on my right...the mountaintop plains of Gergovie. I could imagine the legions encamped there and the Celts peering down on them from the heights, the scramble of troops in battle formation, the clash of weapons and the breaking of ranks. Had the Avernii followed up on the rout of the Romans there the entire world may have been a different place, Caesar defeated, shamed and slain, the Celts jubilant and wild knowing that nothing stood between them and Rome. It was a seminal moment but Celtic character called for drinking and celebration....it is often the same today I think.

The sun rose about 5:45 am over the mountains of the Central Massif. I could see its coppery glow long before I saw the disc's edge pierce the skyline. For many miles, as I drove up and down through mountains and valleys, the sun would oscillate above and below the horizons until finally it remained in view off to my left, in the east. I drove on, stopping only for brief naps as I had done through the night. Seeing the Viaduc du Millau shining in the bright morning sun and its long gentle curve punctuated by its spires and wire webbing was awe inspiring.

I arrived at Montlaur at around 10:45 and retrieved the keys from Christian, who has been doing a great job of keeping the grounds tidy over the summer. I knew I had a few days to get grounded before a few guests arrived so myfirst though was to execute the plan that I had formulated in my few months away, that was namely, to relocate the kitchen to the ground floor, make that comfortable, get the water hooke dup, plumb in all new lines and install a hot water heater, and install a bathroom. If time allowed I would also get two of the bedrooms started and set up.

Days in the south of France go by slowly. There seems to be a distinctiveness to mornings, afternoons and evenings that I don't feel here in North America. Perhaps it is the nature of a fresh association or, more to the point, the tendency to take things for granted when you have been subjected to them for long periods but whatever it is there seems a vibrancy there that resonates. Certainly the culture reinforces the perception of distinction. Mornings are for errands out and about, almost everything shuts down at lunch for two hours, the afternoon is for chores around the house or for socializing and the evening is for dining and entertainment. There is a rhthym to life that one can fall into very easily without being aware of the fact that you're falling into a pattern.

When I'm there I want to spend all of my time at the farm...improving this, examining that, planning dozens of little projects or just taking in the scenery. I spent about an hour one morning watching two escargot make love. I kid you not, one full hour! And having watched them do that, with a solicitousness and tenderness that would satisfy the most romatic chick flick director, I must say that the thought of eating them smacks of barbarity. Although, in all honesty, I have been known to be a little barbarous at times and I'm not sure I'm over that quite yet.

My first guests arrived on Sunday, Jack and Louise Liebel. Jack runs a trucking company in Balgonie, Saskatchewan while Louise is a nurse working I think for the public health organization in Regina. Christian and Corinne put them up at their charming little "Gites Rural" just around the corner from the farm, about a five minute walk away. They are two of the most fun people you'd ever want to meet. Funny, engaging and wholly in the moment, they have spent many of their vacations travelling around the world and I was only too glad to have them spend a few days with me.

I toured them through the farm and the Chateau ruins and described all the things I'd like to do, rolling out my decades long plan for re-creating the Chateau as well as the things I wanted to do in the next couple of weeks. Their attitude was from the start, "What can we do to help?" In fact, over the course of the next couple days I kept saying "Okay,let's take a break and go taste some wine!" They would respond "No, let's just finish this up first." or "How about we burn all this scrap wood on the fire." Eventually they took a couple of days and toured the eastern reaches of Languedoc through to western Provence, all within an hour's drive from the farm, before heading back to Paris and home.

Before they left they had made good on completing work on what will become known as "The Leibel Suite". After much discussion and hand wringing they convinced me that instead of repairing the plaster walls we should remove the loose old plaster to reveal the stonework beneath and then have that pointed as a finish for the room. Leaving some plaster in place and removing large sections of loose plaster resulted in a much more interesting and warmer appearance for what will become the first suite in the farm. I've attached a photo to show what it looks like with the pointing partially completed. The section of stonework on the right has been pointed while the remainder has not yet been done...when it was done it looked spectacular. There are many more opportunites to make a significant difference in the re-creation of this place. Just ask me whatever it is you might want to do. For the next trip I hope to do quite a bit of reconstruction, decorating and perhaps some landscaping and gardening. That, interspersed with wine tasting and touring makes for a pretty full agenda.

By the end of my first week I had the cold water system repaired and working, the kitchen installed in the ground floor and completely functional, the laundry, shower and toilets all hooked up and ready to roll. Next on tap was the installation of the hot water tank. That and my second week with Claire and Clayton will be the subject of my next post.

Time to get my feet wet in the BLOG...

Life can be overwhelming...when you are a one man band trying to produce the equivalent of symphonic sound. There are days when that is how I feel. Days when the bells and whistles, cymbals and horns, drums and other devices simply don't produce anything coherent. When the vision I can see so clearly in my head simply cannot be reproduced by any of the tools that I have at hand. And then there are days when it works.

Those are great days, days that I revel in and hold close in my memory. Right now its about 60-40 in favor of the latter and thats good enough for me. Most of my family, friends and acquaintances know that for the past couple of years I've been launching my new concept in wine experiences, the Micro-Lease. I've committed everything I have to the dream of working with my friend and vineyard owner, Jean de Montlaur to produce an experience in wine that was previously beyond the reach of most, if not all, people who were not already intimately involved in the lifestyle.

And my vision is that we do this at the farm and chateau in the south of France that has been at the heart of Jean's family and of winemaking for over a thousand years. There is no other vineyard in the world that has been in the same family for as long a time. There are few vineyards in the world that can make a claim to a heritage dating back to the Greeks and the Celts. And there are no other vineyards in the world that are actively seeking customers to enter into an ownership arrangement called a Micro-Lease and encouraging those Micro-Leaseholders to come and experience life as a wine maker in the south of France. And no one is offering so much value to the few who will become the stewards, builders and long term patrons of this vineyard. Imagine...your own vineyard....in the south of France....wandering through ruins from the Romans through the 16th century at your doorstep...sleeping in a fourteenth century farmhouse that you help restore with your own hands...sipping wine from your own vines around a fire with good friends while music fills the night in the courtyard of an enchanted castle.

These are some of the pleasures that await those with the passion in their hearts to reach out and taste life, feel the soil in their own hands, hear the wind traverse a gentle transit from the mountains to the sea, smell the spice of wild fig, rosemary and thyme, and watch a purple sunset in a timeless place. The senses are fully activated...nothing left to chance...beauty abounds and its possible to be changed by any and all of these things even if in small ways.

So much needs to be done. But we are on our way and help is always welcome. There are few pleasures greater than the joy of re-creation and sharing that pleasure with others is the whole and complete goal of Monte Lauro Vineyards.