Grape Expectations (33 page)

  A fruit tart with a swirl of chocolate accompanied a glass of Saussignac dessert wine. Our conversation moved naturally with the flow of wine to Saussignac's high percentage of organic farms and how we could be ambassadors for the environment.

  Perhaps it was the Saussignac wine, a legendary aphrodisiac, or perhaps it was the intimacy of the evening but my mind turned from dreams to sensual pleasures. I had a G-string on for the first time in years. My stockinged foot touched Sean's inner thigh surreptitiously under the table, his eyebrows lifted and he called for the bill. We left replete, refreshed and in love.

Thierry Daulhiac telephoned the evening the family left.

  'I want you to join the management board of the Saussignac appellation.'

  'Sorry, Thierry. I don't think I understood what you said. Can you repeat?' I pushed the lounge door closed the better to hear and sat down on the floor in the hallway.

  'Yes, Caro. I want you to join the management board of the Saussignac appellation. You're full of ideas. I've spoken to the rest of the committee and they're in agreement. You'll be a breath of fresh air.'

  'But I know almost nothing about making Saussignac wine.'

  The group consisted of the likes of Richard Doughty and Gérard Cuisset, people who had initiated commune appellation status for the dessert wines of Saussignac. The wine had been famous for centuries but did not have appellation status until 1982.

  'Don't worry. We want you for your marketing ideas.'

  This would be a good opportunity to get to know the other vignerons and to gain an understanding of the inside of the complex appellation system.

  'What do I have to do?'

  '
Enfin
, it's not too much. You participate in the meetings, help us make decisions and then each person has a special portfolio.'

  'What portfolio would you want me to take on?'

  'I want you to be our representative on the Saussignac
syndicat d'initiative
. You'll be the liaison between the
syndicat
d'initiative
and the winemakers. It's a difficult post because the
syndicat d'initiative
always want us to give more time than we can but I think you will be good for it. Reflect on it and let me know.'

  The
syndicat
was responsible for events and promotion of the general commune but wine was often promoted through events, and the wine union and the
syndicat
ran a tourist office in the village in high season.

  'I don't need time to think about it, I'd love to join the group.'

  I hung up and ran through to the lounge to share the news with Sean.

  'That's a feather in your cap, Carolinus. Now you can agitate from the inside... and leave me in peace.' He laughed and turned back to watching his television show. We only had French channels and they were doing wonders for his language skills.

  A few weeks later I joined a group of vignerons who were gathered outside the mayor's office in Razac-de-Saussignac waiting for the appellation committee meeting. The topic of conversation was the Asterix-and-Obelix-style village politics in Saussignac; a major fight was brewing between the incumbent and the previous mayor. Blistering letters copied to all the members of the commune flew back and forth. Not a day went by without another instalment in the village scuffle for power. Joel, the wild vigneron, was particularly amused; he had been in low-level combat with one of the parties for many years.

  The meeting started with a review of the appellation union's finances then moved on to the new decrees for the appellation. Significant reforms were under way across France. Debates on minutiae ensued. Most consumers would never have heard of these points. I felt like standing up and calling a halt. We were wasting time discussing things that wouldn't make any difference to sales and would create administrative headaches for already stretched growers. The final item on the agenda said it all: the INAO had reviewed the appellation boundaries based on a high-level soil analysis. Four components make up terroir but they had looked only at the soil. As important for botrytis is the microclimate. For Saussignac, the grapes are best if located on north-facing land south of the Dordogne river. The INAO had thrown out the old boundaries and made the new boundary the Route des Coteaux (the D14). Bernard Barse's excellent Saussignac was now outside the appellation. None of Bernard's customers cared if he was north of the D14, a man-made barrier which had nothing to do with the appellation; they cared that he produced exceptional Saussignac wine, which they could assess for themselves. Part way through a leading vigneron stormed out of the meeting slamming the door behind him in frustration. I was not the only one who found all this bureaucracy counterproductive.

My first wine tour customers found my website via an Internet search and Kerry's website. Sean was impressed. Sheila and Jeff were winemakers from Washington state who had followed their passion and started a small winery operation. This was their first trip to Bordeaux but they had a good knowledge of French wine from years of study. They would also be our first paying guests in our new gîte, the half of our house that had become 'The Wine Cottage', helping to prove the wisdom and synergy of this new tourism initiative to Sean.

  Between their initial booking and their arrival, I spent hours researching and plotting their itinerary, planning visits, restaurants and vineyards. Wine is an endless subject. I devoured our wine books and ordered more. I wanted my tours to be different, to be deeper than your average tour, and most important, to be authentic. It was challenging and thrilling.

  Our first day took us to St Émilion via a visit to a barrel-maker. The factory was rustic; an old breeze-block and corrugated-iron warehouse filled with rows of beautiful barrels. The gleaming oak, packed to perfection in plastic wrapping, was backed onto medieval-looking equipment. We were welcomed by the manager of the factory, David. I asked if we could use the toilets before starting the tour.

  'With three men working here, the toilets aren't in good shape,' said David. 'Perhaps we should go to the shopping centre – it's about ten minutes away.'

  'I don't want to lose that much time. I'll go first and clean the place up a bit before Sheila and Jeff come in,' I said.

  'As you want,' said David, leading me to a lean-to.

  It was filthy and there was no toilet. I looked around, confused. David motioned into the doorless
cabine
, or cubicle, and I spied in the gloom the ancient remains of a toilet
'à la turque'
. With
à la turque,
instead of a toilet above ground, you get a tray, like a square shower tray, in the ground. In normal circumstances, it is extremely unpleasant but it is possible to use a facility like this by squatting if it is immaculately clean. In this case there was so much dirt built up that there was no sign of the original ceramic tray. What gave it away were pipes coming out of the dirt connected to a rusted cistern hanging ominously overhead and a hole in the floor. I stepped back in horror.

  'We'll have to go to the shopping centre,' I said, leading Sheila and Jeff away as fast as I could.

  I kicked myself for not making a prior visit. David drove us to the shopping centre where we found normal toilets that functioned perfectly in a small cafe. Now we could begin the visit.

  David explained the process of making the barrels from the drying of the wood to the final toasting of the barrel, demonstrating at each point what the coopers – the barrel-makers – were doing. Barrel-making is an ancient art still largely manual despite technical advances and coopers must do two years of training to qualify. Tacked onto the wall behind the traditional equipment was a girlie calendar that would make anyone blush.

  The first step was to assemble the carefully selected and pre-cut oak staves inside metal hoops. Then the cooper wet the staves and placed the partially constructed barrel over a small wood fire. This was critical: the amount of 'toasting' over the open fire has an important effect on the wine that will be aged in the barrel, so the vigneron chooses how much 'toast' depending on the style of wine they want.

  Barrel selection is a fine art. Two identical barrels from the same forest and the same barrel-maker can taste quite different. Some winegrowers even go so far as to specially select their oak tree in a specific forest. French oak from the central forests is highly sought after and expensive as it grows slowly and thus has a finer grain, offering a more refined flavour than a faster growing oak.

  With the help of the heat and humidity the cooper then bent the staves using a winch to obtain the shape of the barrel. The final metal hoops were put in place and the ends of the staves were trimmed and cut to receive the barrel heads. The cooper completed the final hooping with a large mallet, reinforcing the medieval sense of the place. The barrel was then tested for impermeability and, if passed, would proceed to the sand-papering and finishing. It was an intense process requiring skill and strength.

  Sheila and Jeff were charmed by seeing the whole procedure done by hand and appeared unfazed by the porn on the walls. I felt the day could only improve.

  We continued to a tour of Château Belair in St Émilion. From the courtyard in front of the main house Lionel, our charming guide, pointed out many of the premier grand crus classés of St Émilion including his neighbour Château Ausone where the Roman poet consul Ausonius planted vines around AD 350.

  Belair belonged to the English military commander during the period of the Hundred Years War, a war that was the ultimate result of the second marriage of a lusty woman, Eleanor, to an English king. Eleanor inherited the province of Aquitaine and ruled from 1137 to 1189. Soon after inheriting she married King Louis VII of France. She bore him children, accompanied him on a Crusade to the Holy Land and took a lover in the afternoon. On their return she decided he was too religious for her, gave him the boot and persuaded the Pope to annul their marriage.

  Then she married Henry Plantagenet who became Henry II of England, so Aquitaine was in English hands. During this part of her exciting life she gave St Émilion their city rights in return for fifty barrels a year of their premium wine. For the ensuing 300 years of English rule, the only French wines exported to England, and to her trading partners, were Bordeaux. Partly thanks to this export monopoly, Bordeaux is still the most well-known wine region in the world.
Merci
, Eleanor.

  We went into the Belair
caves
(cellars) to see their old vintages; wines dating back to 1802 when they were the first to do
mise en bouteille au château,
estate-bottled wine. It was a treasure trove of old vintages in ancient golden tunnels and
cave
rooms that were like something out of a film set. Bordeaux was a universe of wine stars waiting to be discovered. I felt like a child inside a sweet shop just bursting to try them all.

  Sheila and Jeff were ecstatic about their stay, describing it as 'perfect' and commending my knowledge. I felt I still had a lot to learn but their comments fired me up about our new line of business.