Danger!

It is dangerous to leave me and Christian unsupervised.

It happened a few weeks ago at the Caves d’Estezargue.  This is one of my favorite wineries, with perhaps the best-value wines in France.  I go every year to stock up and even have a “carte de fidélité” where they keep track of my purchases.  I have bought so much over the years that I think they are going to name a wine after me soon.

Sara and Christian joined us for some wine buying, followed by a picnic.  But of course you have to taste before you can buy, so we went to the bar and got started.  Serious business, this.

Before long, Val and Sara got bored and decided to go outside with the dogs.  Bad idea.  As we watched them leave, Christian and I looked at each other knowingly.  “This means we get to buy more wine,” I said.  Christian grinned and said, “Mais oui !”

The girls were shocked when they saw how many cases we wheeled out to the car.  They tried to blame us but it was their own fault for not providing proper supervision.  You would think they would take responsibility for their actions, but no.

This lesson apparently didn’t sink in because yesterday we went to another favorite winery, Notre Dame des Pallieres in Gigondas.  We greeted the owner like old friends and she even pulled out special chairs so we could sit comfortably at the bar.  It’s nice to be a regular.

We had only tasted a few wines when the girls got bored again and went outside.  This left Christian and me alone with the owner, who was more that happy to let us taste all her wines, including a special one she keeps in the back for her best customers. 

When Sara and Val eventually wandered back in, Val looked at all the open bottles on the counter and demanded, “There were only three open bottles when we left!  What have you been up to?!”  As though she needed to ask.

My wine cellar is now full and I don’t need any more for this year.  But the problem is that I still haven’t been to another favorite winery, Chateau Romanin.  And my friend Steve the winemaker is coming for a visit soon…

Hm, we’ll see if Val has learned her lesson.

KVS

Ready for action

So much work!

Among the vines

Good friends