Big Mama: A CASE OF YOU!

Vineyard down the road - on La Route des Vins

http://www.tourismedeterroir.fr/Route-des-Vins-Aspres-Alberes-Cote-Vermeille--5276.phtm

We live on one of several "Routes des Vins"- here in Pyrenées-Orientales, Languedoc-Roussillon, underneath the mountains. It runs right through our district. We are surrounded by vineyards, there used to be one right outside the house - not any more unfortunately. But you only have to walk a few steps - and they're everywhere! Wine production is the main industry in this area - another one is fruit growing, especially peaches and nectarines. Oh - the orchards when the trees are in bloom! All shades of pink flowers everywhere, and tourists coming down from all over France. I don't have my own photos of this available at the moment, so I'll post a link from Flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/21181291@N05/3389768297/

Walking in the mountains yesterday - among newly planted vines

Big Mama on the mountain walk yesterday - underneath a pink tree at least. Perhaps it is peach? She's looking peachy anyway! Hmmm..... (Well, Big Mamas are allowed to pay themselves their own compliments).

I always believe that the wine and fruit industry is the reason why there's no pollution in this corner of France. And there truly isn't! I never see any blackish dust on anything here - just a thin layer of pollen in late spring - from all the vines and fruit trees, I expect.

When I first came here I quickly realised that you DO NOT drink wine from other districts. You simply don't. Not in restaurants, not at home. The VERY few times we've stooped to buying a Bordeaux or a Chablis at the supermarket I've hidden the label - both from myself and those I've served it to. My sister - visiting - once wanted to buy a Côtes du Rhône because she thought it'd go well with what she was cooking that evening, and I promptly became the Big Mama Wine Dictator. "NO!" She thought she'd committed a deadly sin - which she had of course - but I relented. As long as I didn't drink it.

Nothing but local wines! Heaven forbid!

The strangest thing - but also something that people will identify with, I think - is that having treats and temptations immediately outside your front door doesn't mean you're going to follow them. Living on the Wine Route where there's a wine producer around every bend - oh no, never go wine tasting or buy wine directly from the producer when the supermarket is in fact further away!.... Yes, of course we've talked about it, but hey - load that supermarket bottle into the cart, it's easier!

So - for the first time - yes, I'm ashamed to admit this actually - for the first time since we were on holiday in this area in 1996 (typical tourists) - we went wine tasting yesterday. After our mountain walk, just round the corner from our house. Oh, it's fun! It's cultural! It's intimate! The proprietor explained, opened bottles, sought after our particular taste, suggested, tasted the wine herself (and spat it out - which we didn't...). I loved it! We ended up buying three cases - and it's so cheap, compared to wine prices in the most expensive country on the planet, a country beginning with the letter N - need I say more? A case of six red "petit vin" - "vin de pays", a case of six fruity Rosé and a case of six heavier, oak tasting, deeply red, storable bottles. One of which we're drinking tonight with our lamb roast. Mmmm....