We needed a quiet day back at home, which started with Ronnié catching up with his journaling. He practiced a couple of times drawing a woolly rhinoceros, and finally drew it in his journal, with nice colors to simulate his long hair. Picasso could not be prouder than I am with my prehistoric grandson!
The big event was
going to the Regional Park of Pombonne, to have Ronnié be a free bird riding
Opa’s bike, while the rest of us walked the trails. He had a great time at it,
but it was a hot day, and at the end was glad to change into his swimsuit and
dive into the lake. Dad followed suit and they both had a great time, while
Fabeé and I had a cool Monaco (beer with grenadine and lemonade) at the
cafeteria. It is a very civilized European tradition to have a place for adults
to enjoy themselves while the kids play 😊
The visit of the Ashby
Trio is coming to an end. They have had a great time, and to celebrate we went
for a last stroll around the charming downtown of Bergerac, and found ourselves
a nice terrace to enjoy a last serving of glace.
The following day,
Friday, we had a slow start because backpacks had to be finalized and packed
into our powerful Cinquecento. Our last adventure will be a visit to the
wine-growing region of Saint-Émilion, as a sample of the viticulture of the
southwest of France. The town was packed with American and British tourists,
most of them (us?) trying to look knowledgeable and debonair looking at
the many wineshops and their exorbitant prices. On one of the shops I saw an
aroma-kit, with maybe 40 small vials that represented the different aromas a
wine expert might use to describe a wine: pencil shavings, wet leather, fallen
leaves, etc. I should get one like that.
DJ had his heart set
on the tour of a chateaux and a wine-testing experience, so we found a
suitable offer through Booking.com five minutes from Saint-Émilion and got
there sharp on 2 pm. Our guide was a charming young man, with excellent command
of English, and the comparatively small vineyard (100 hectares or about 220
acres) was stunningly beautiful. We learnt that all Saint-Emilion wines are
blends, with about 70% Merlot and 15% Cabernet Franc in their makeup. The key
trick, and why some wines are better than others, is the precise blend as
designed by the enologist, who uses the wines produced from the grapes from
different soils and slopes, as well as wines from the much smaller acreage
devoted to Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, or Petit Verdot. DJ asked about Pinot
Noir (Mon Dieu, not in this region of France!), or Pinot Grigio (Hmpf! One of
those white wines that would never be produced in Saint-Émilion), but those
conversations never got very far. The wine testing was fine, but of course we
soon showed that we had uncultured palates, and the eyes of our gracious host
just glazed over. Clearly we were not the type to buy a case of 50 euros a
bottle 2016 grand crú, and we chose to leave while we were still
friends.
The last leg of the
trip brought us to Bordeaux, a big trafficky city that failed to attract us,
but where I had to deliver the Ashby Trio to the airport for their return to
Barcelona and from there back to California. We had a great visit together, and
the memory of the good times supported me through the traffic jam and the
hour-long ride back to Bergerac.
No comments:
Post a Comment