At the end of October, a mysterious persona calling themselves Vinconnu appeared on facebook and twitter.  They teased prominent members of the French wine blogging community with riddles and hints about their secret identity for over a month until unveiling themselves at a big party in Paris. The big reveal came as quite a shock [...]

Jacques Berthomeau spoke at the Université de la Vigne et du Vin in 2011 in Ferrals les Corbieres.  This is a synopsis of his talk and my reaction to what he’s saying.  This is one post in an ongoing series about the Universite de la Vigne et du Vin. In his typical way, Berthomeau presents [...]

I attended the Université de la Vigne et du Vin in Ferrals-les-Corbieres, a small village in the heart of Languedoc wine country.  This post is a summary of my day.  A full pdf of the event program can be downloaded. In brief It was pretty cool.  The Uni is a real home-grown event where some [...]

I had the pleasure of hearing Jacky Rigaux speak at the Université de la Vigne et du Vin in 2011 in Ferrals les Corbieres.  This is a synopsis of his lecture and my reaction to what he’s saying.  This is one post in an ongoing series about the Universite de la Vigne et du Vin. [...]

My friends with a B&B in Pieusse just made a great music video to represent their lodging and the feeling of staying in a small town near Limoux. It’s got me thinking about doing my own video in this music video or movie teaser style.  I looked back on 2011 to see what other music [...]

2011 has been a very peculiar year.  Throughout the year, virtually all of France’s wine regions were reporting very advanced vine growth and early harvests (Bordeaux, Loire, Languedoc among others), and some of those predictions came true while other areas are now reporting perfectly normal harvest dates. Some people are harvesting early Some readers never [...]

Grape harvest in the south of France The grapes are changing color and that reminds us that harvest time is right around the corner.  We get exceptionally busy around harvest, but we leave the door open and let tourists come to the vineyard and see exactly how harvest goes down.  Some people actually roll up [...]

L’Independant carried an article last Friday (March 11th 2011) about La Confédération paysanne de l’Aude and their refusal to pay any more money to the CIVL (interprofessional group for winemakers in the Languedoc).  I don’t know much of the legal framework, so don’t take any of this as canon.  And feel free to correct me. [...]

On the 28th of March, Parisians can taste the products of some of France’s most notorious winemaking bloggers.  Antonin from Vindicateur and Eva from Oenos are organizing this epic wine tasting at l’Hedonist which will include seven properties.   All the details about the seven winemakers (only six on the invitation, but they promise seven [...]

“La qualité des terrains se communique aux végétaux qui y sont placés ; elle forme ce qu’on nomme goût de terroir” [Fourcroy, Conn. chim. t. VIII, p. 276] Enfin, pourquoi nous cassons nous la tête pour faire du vin représentatif d’un terroir?  On peut simplement mettre du terroir dans une bouteille. J’ai sauté quelques étapes [...]