Photo du Jour - The Wine Co-Op

Discarding the grape stems and skins at Les Trois Blasons, our local wine coopératif.

The air is full of a yeasty, fermenting aroma and the tractor traffic has almost ended.
The vendange is almost over. Pin It

Camembert Férmier

Camembert Férmier  
In all its fragrant glory.



This is not your typical, wrapped up, perfectly round Camembert from a box.

This is a pure, lush, stinky Camembert made from the raw milk of six dairy cows that are kept by the Coopérative Cravirola, a small farm near Minerve . A young woman from the Coopértaive arrives each Tuesday at the Olonzac market with a glass case heaving with their luscious fermier cheeses.
I'm trying to slowly work my way through their selection, having already tasted their sublime Tomme de Maquis and the forgettable la Maquisarde.

The flavors of mushroom and hazelnuts were expertly balanced with hints of clean, green grass and wild thyme from the garrigue. It was gooey and velvety and melted in my mouth. As I savored each and every bite, I was really impressed by its depth and complexity.
The Camembert Férmier is a truly exceptional cheese!

We found the best wine match to be with wine produced here in the Minervois. We tasted it with an AOC red from the local wine co-op, les Trois Blasons, and with a white Muscat Sec from Domaine de Blayac.



It may well be the perfect cheese.


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Saturday's Apéro Evening

I think the highlight of the evening, for me, was watching an 8 year old as he expertly opened the fiddly little valve on a box of Les Trois Blasons wine. Teach them young, that's what I say! My husband's was singing with our neighbor then tasting some homemade Cognac liqueur. Cognac liqueur. Talk about gilding the lily!

It was a much bigger event than last year, with about 45 of our neighbors bringing everything from quiche Lorraine, pissaldière, tomato and olive tapenade, potato salad, poached salmon, raw tomatoes stuffed with tuna salad, pizza, melon and mini savory muffins to share. Drinks included whiskey, pastis, white, rosé and red wine, homemade cartagène and muscat. We gathered at 7 p.m. and finally cleared everything away at midnight.

I, of course, embarrassed myself by mispronouncing the word "l'alcool" (alcohol-I was trying to describe how an English trifle is made) in front of my sweet, 80+ year old neighbors. Apparently, in French, it sounded as if I was trying to "put my butt" on genoise sponge cake then cover it with fruit and whipped cream. Definitely one of my finer moments.

We continue to be amazed at how lucky we were to have ended up in this beautiful village that is full of such kind, wonderful people. Can't wait until next year! Pin It