Prosecco - 2013

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Blandine Floch among her old vines of Gamay (here with a huge marcotte ) Valaire , Loir-et-Cher (Loire) Were here at the heart of an active community of natural wine producers in the Loir-et-Cher département in a corner of the Sologne south of Blois, with within a short distance people like Thierry Puzelat , Pierre-Olivier Bonhomme , Christian Venier , Jeremy Quastana , and Olivier Lemasson who alas left us a few weeks ago, and others. Thats where Blandine Floch lives and tends her parcels alongside several of these growers. Blandines first vinification was in 2018 when she vinified the grapes of Jeremie Choquet , she was pregnant at the time, and when I visited Jeremie, she was busy with their 3-year-old daughter. Both separated since and shes now on her own, tending her own parcels and vinifying her fruit. Blandines early debuts were in 2011 and 2012 when s...

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Julien Cambalu near an old vine Francueil , Loire The Domaine de Cambalu is a second-generation winery now managed by Julien Moreau and his brother Frédéric. The two brothers were born here and took over the domaine from their parents, who in their time were selling all their grapes to the local coopérative. The name of the domaine stands for the lieu-dit where the farm sits, 2,5 kilometers west of the village of Francueil and maybe only 1 km as the crow flies from the Chateau de Chenonceaux along the Cher river. actually the grand parents on both sides also had vines and made a bit of wine, but like most farms at that time, grapes were accessory for the family consumption, along the other, mainstay crops and farm animals. Selling grapes to the coop was mainstream in many French wine regions, and well into the 1970s and 1980s, then thats when bottlin...

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5th arrondissement ( direct link to video) This was yesterday (mark the date : may 19th 2021), D-Day for the reopening of terraces for bars and restaurants, all over France, and to make this day even better the curfew (until now 7 pm) was pushed to 9 pm, not yet full normalcy but were in the way.... You could hear the previous day (may 18th) people in the street wondering between themselves if there would be rain that day (that was actually the forcast for that day), obviously people planned to go out and enjoy this historic return to one of the joys living in a city. Here are a few pictures and videos to let you have a glimpse of how it felt. I came out in the 15th arrondissement but really began to shoot images at Saint Germain des Pr�s, but even in more humble locations throughout Paris and the suburbs, people were out, sitting and determined to celebrate ! Ive published a si...

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A terrace ready for reopening Tomorrow will be the day : Terraces (or terrasses in French) are again allowed to reopen for restaurants, cafes and bars, and life will breathe again in the city streets, plus the curfew is being pushed from 7 pm to 9 pm, not ideal yet for getting back to a sustanaible business but in a few weeks itll be at 11 pm, or almost normal. All over Paris you could see workers refurbishing the terrace structures, especially for those who had created temporary terraces last year on parking space in front of their venue with wood floors and privacy fences. For months these terraces had been unused and neglected and needed repair and refresh. French whisky I recently heard about Coperies , a newcomer in the French whisky sector but an established name in the Cognac production ( Distillerie Merlet & Fils , a 5-generation Cognac house) and I asked for a ...

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Eric Pfifferling Tavel , Rh�ne. Here is a visit that took place long time ago (in early 2011) at Eric Pfifferlings iconic Domaine de LAnglore. I didnt publish it at the time because Eric was worried hed would be overwhelmed with demands and orders he couldnt fulfill, his production being basically already allocated before the wines are even ready. Now that his sons are getting in charge I thought I could publish the story at last, especially that Im short of stories these days (I should resume visits and reporting soon, dont worry). So take this story like some sort of travel in time, on a domaine and winemaker that shines well beyond our borders. Tavel is located in the southern Rh�ne, and the region has been producing wine since the antiquity, the wine being shipped along the river to various faraway clients, for example the pope Innocent VI in Avignon had the wines of t...

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Pierre Gagnaire in his restaurant Le Balzac Paris, april 2021, Its been more than a year ( march 15 ) that the restaurants have been closed down in France because of the pandemic and higher risk of transmission among unmasked people sharing the same rooms for a couple of hours. French restaurants were then allowed to partly reopen again in june 2020 before having to shut down again on september 28 following the up-and-downs of the pandemic. This have been a heavy blow for many of them, even with measures taken by the authorities to alleviate their burden (rents, fixed expenses, salaries). You can listen to a few reports and interviews made recently on the British-accented French network France 24 to understand how they suffer and tried to adapt to minimize the losses. We all hope that this economic sector which gets our cities alive and thriving will get through th...

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Underground tasting Here is the third tasting I attended recently in the Loir-et-Cher (for professionals only as well), and this one was underground in many regards, not just because it took place in these deep cellars between Thésée and Montrichard, but also because it was intendly not publicized in order to avoid crowds, something understandable given the display of cellar galleries in general. I happened to see a poster announcing the event while in the tasting at Thésée. The poster specified not to disseminate the news on social media, and speaking with the organizer, this was meant during the two-day event (it was sunday-monday), in order not to attract crowds in these times where people are literally thirsty of such happy tastings but at the same time must not find themselves in overcrowded situations. I hadnt anticipated to come initially ...

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Product Listings for Prosecco - 2013