Another Fine Day

We went to Chateauneuf-du-Pape to check out a distillery.  Normally you go there for the wine but some friends had introduced us to the owners of Distillerie Blachere and we were invited for a tour.

The distillery was founded in 1835 and Sandrine and Raphael are the sixth generation to run it.  It has had its ups and downs and was in tough shape when they took it over 20 years ago but now it is thriving.

Their main product is sirops, non-alcoholic flavorings that are popular for making refreshing drinks in cafes.  But their real love is the rare and specialized distilled products, the best known of which is marc, or brandy.

The tour was a real treat because people are rarely allowed inside the distillery, in order to protect the company’s secrets.   Raphael gave us the tour, describing their products and showing us how some of the more exotic drinks are made.  The herb storage room was especially interesting, filled with bags of plants we had never heard of.  It smelled wonderful.

Raphael said that when he took over he wanted to recreate some of the drinks made by the distillery when it first started.  He consulted the original recipe books, all written by hand and nearly 200 years old now.  But the problem was that the names of the plants were all written in Provencal and he wasn’t always sure what they were.  The first problem was that Provencal is now a mostly lost language.  The second problem was that the names of plants often varied from village to village.  So while he was able to identify most of the ingredients, there are a few that have been lost to time.

The best part for me was going to the barrel room where they store marcs going back to the second world war.  We tasted a few and they were delicious.  But strong, whoa.

The production line was shut down for lunchtime but they restarted it so Jeremy could see the bottling machines in action.  Raphael noted that their old bottler, built in 1960, is much more reliable than the machine they bought ten years ago.  Val, who was also built in 1960, was very proud of this.

After our tour, Sandrine and Raphael kindly invited us to lunch in Chateauneuf-du-Pape.  We were joined by some other friends of theirs and had a lively and interesting conversation.  Then it was off to do some wine tasting and sightseeing, of course.  Can’t miss the wine!

From there we went to Sara and Christian’s house where we had a long, relaxing aperitif and dinner on their patio.  I’m pretty sure that tasty wine was involved but don’t quite remember.

KVS

Val says hi from the pope's old house

Dinner en famille

A Full Day

We hosted a barbeque for a dozen people today, a mix of family and friends.  Many of our guests didn’t know each other and only a few speak both English and French.  It’s always an adventure!

The day began with the annual Festival of Transhumance, where shepherds run their flocks through town before taking them to mountain pastures for the summer.  It is kind of like a river of sheep flowing through the streets of St.-Remy.  Very impressive, but watch your step after thousands of sheep have just gone by.

The calm before the storm

Follow the leader

And they’re off!

After the transhumance, everyone met back at our place.  Val had prepared vast quantities of delicious food including, yes, lamb chops.  I had a few bottles of tasty wine at the ready.

Philippe did some magic tricks, which amazed Jeremy but seem to have put me to sleep.

Philippe flew his drone for a while before turning the controls over to Jeremy.  I’m not sure this was such a good idea.  The next thing we knew, the drone was caught in a tree, dangling precariously over the fast-moving canal behind our house.  A daring rescue operation was mounted that happily saved the drone from a soggy demise.

We finished with a lively game of boules.  Jonathan and I were on the same team and were the only Americans in the game, so anytime we made a good shot we would chant "USA! USA!"  We didn't chant this very often.  Luckily, our French teammate Serge is really good and his brilliant shot-making won it for us in overtime.  Vive la France !

Be sure to wear sunglasses before looking at the shockingly white legs below.

After dessert, coffee and some more wine, everyone went on their way a little before sunset.  All in all, a very full day!

KVS

Hurricane Jeremy Makes Landfall

Our 4-year-old nephew Jeremy is visiting for the week.  He was nice enough to bring along his parents, Aileen and Jonathan.

Jeremy is either “on” or “off” but we haven’t found the off button yet.  We’re told he sleeps at night but this has not yet been confirmed.  If we could bottle up his energy, Saudi Arabia would be out of business.

Adorable action photos below.

KVS

Good morning!

Running the bases

He's out!

Don't mess with Spider-Man

Time to cool off

Say Cheese!

We watched Eurovision last night, the annual song competition that draws hundreds of millions of viewers.  There were 27 countries in the finals, each carrying the hopes and dreams of their countrymen.

Think of it as American Idol meets the Olympics.  What, you’ve never heard of a Eurovision winner?  Don’t worry, you will be reminded constantly that ABBA got their big break by winning in 1974.  Anyone else in the 60-year history of the competition?  Hm.  Did I mention ABBA?

The acts tend to be either talented or cheesy.  I, of course, love the cheesy acts.  Last year the Bearded Lady won, a dude from Austria who likes to pair his beard with gigantic false eyelashes and glittering evening gowns.  Although personally I thought the Ukrainian guy running around in a giant hamster wheel topped him in cheesiness.

This year’s contestants didn’t quite match those high points, but there were a few memorable acts.   The singer from Georgia was sort of like a warrior goddess from the land of the undead.  She wore all black – high leather boots, dozens of crow feathers sticking out of her shoulders and a kind of dark tiara of death.  Definitely scary.

Then there was the 70’s revival band from Austria, complete with authentic bad 70’s rocker haircuts (calling Peter Frampton!)  Halfway through their act their piano burst into flames.   How they got this past the fire marshal I have no idea.  The judges rewarded them with exactly zero points, the first time this has happened in a dozen years.

But really, how can you top Azerbaijan?  Against a kind of creepy forest background, one guys sang while a couple of others sort of crawled around on the ground.  Their torsos were pretty much naked except for leather collars and leashes, while their lower bodies were covered with what can only be described as a cross between leotards and diapers.   Serious cheesiness.

Sweden won, with a forgettable song but great graphics.  Australia finished fifth, although the last time I looked Australia wasn’t anywhere near Europe.  I guess I need a better map.

My favorite was France, but once again they finished near the bottom.  Most of the songs are sung in English, but the proud French stay true to their native tongue.  That probably hurt them with the international judges, as did the title of their song – roughly translated as “Our Food Tastes Better than Yours.”

KVS

This year's hostesses

Xanu, queen of the undead

Now where did I put that fire extinguisher?

Top prize for cheese