Photo du Jour - Picked

The vendange has been going for about a month now.
First the white, now the red.

The village streets are dotted with grapes spilled on their way to the cave to be crushed and the air is filled with the aroma of rich, earthy yeast.  
Les vignerons are barely taking a moment to rest.

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Photo du Jour - Sign of The Times

September in the Minervois. Pin It

Traffic in the Minervois

I've never liked commuting.  In fact, I hated every minute of it.

My commute to work these days is a quick 12 minute drive on a narrow, serpentine road past acres and acres of vineyards, across a bridge and through a bustling village (with an excellent boulangerie), past a few olive groves and along the shores of a small lake.

If I don't run into traffic that is.

In the spring the horses from a neighboring farm like to wander around, looking for spring delicacies sprouting in the fields to nibble on.

At the height of summer teams of cyclists appear.  I still don't understand why they choose to ride around in 38 degree C weather, but hey, to each his own.

Now that summer is coming to an end and the vendange has begun, it's the tractors and harvesters.  From now until the end of September I won't be able to drive anywhere without getting stuck behind one of these lumbering vehicles, who's top speed is a whopping 25 kilometers an hour.

If anything, living in France has certainly taught me patience.  And to expect the unexpected when driving!

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Autumn's Arrival

The intense, blinding heat of summer is over. My mental cobwebs have cleared.
I feel inspired again.

The vendange is in full swing and that means the vineyard leaves are slowly turning shades of orange, crimson, yellow.
I am so ready for autumn to arrive.

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Photo du Jour - Vendanges

Our neighbors from Domaine Coudoulet bringing the grapes in from the fields. Pin It

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

Photo du Jour - Driving

This is the view through the windshield whenever we drive anywhere right now.

The vendange is almost over though. The purple grapes hanging in the vineyards have almost all been picked and taken to be crushed.
The yeasty, musty aroma of fermenting grapes fills the air. Pin It

Photo du Jour

Parked for lunch.

If we have to be anywhere "on time" (a relative term in the south of France) during the vendange, we must leave the house about 10 minutes early because there is the inevitability of getting stuck behind a trailer like this one or a harvester like this. Pin It

Photo du Jour - September in the Vineyards

These should be picked in a week or two.
I've heard that the grapes haven't had a chance to plump up very much this year due to lack of rain. Pin It

Photo du Jour - Wine Press

Remnants of an old wine press.

The vendange has begun! The white is currently being harvested and the red will begin, normalement, around September 10. Pin It

Photo du Jour

They're still harvesting the fat bunches of grapes.

Most of the vines have been stripped, leaving behind a grape here and there. I tasted one yesterday while out for a walk. Delicious! Pin It

Photo du Jour

Grape harvester heading out into the vineyards. Pin It

La Vendange

I wrote about the white grape harvest about two weeks ago. It appears that la vendange is in full swing!
Today while driving the thirty minutes it takes from Narbonne to our village, I got stuck behind I-don't-even-know-how-many tractors whose trailers were overflowing with deep purple grapes.

Will it be a good year for our local wine?
Some say yes, some say just average. Pin It

Photo du Jour

Yesterday our neighbors were cleaning out their wine vats, so there was a river of old wine running past our house.
When you walk outside the entire village smells like fermenting grapes! Pin It

Photo du Jour

White grapes going off to be crushed.

This time of year we often get stuck behind these tractor-trailers full of grapes. They only drive about 25 kilometers an hour-about 15 miles an hour. Since they serve a very important purpose (future wine) we try to be patient! Pin It

Photo du Jour

The vendange* should begin in a few weeks. The white grapes are already being picked.


*grape harvest Pin It