Best wishes for 2010 and as we say, Health ,Wealth and Happiness to you all.

We would like to thank everyone, who has supported our Domaine over the past year, we are most grateful.

Before ranting on we would like to explain a new slant to the BLOGG !!
We want it to be more than just a vineyard, more on are philosophy of why we are here and the way we wish to live our lives. So we will try to explain what and why we are doing certain things in the vineyard because it has become apparent that what is routine and mundane to us is of interest to others. We will also try discussing wine topics and new rules and regulations, furthermore we would like to discuss topical points that are relevant to our way of life.

What has become very apparent over the last 12 months particularly in a credit crunch is that producing wine; that has over a period of 15 years won countless awards and acknowledgements counts very little when trying to appeal to a wider audience. The mass media and independent merchants seem to want a sure thing! So an unknown wine produced by a unknown (non celeb) in an unknown appellation in an unfashionable region is very difficult to get any coverage. But we will keep on trying.


Where we have failed, so far, our dog Patapouf has succeeded, he is to grace the pages of Decanter Magazine February issue. Unfortunately the wine doesn’t come from an area posh enough area to be featured in said publication?
So the quest continues for small unknowns like us, we won’t become fashionable until we reach a wider audience and we can’t reach a wider audience until we become fashionable, does chicken and egg ring a bell!

Any comments or ideas welcome, as we fear that many of these smaller appellations for wine and other regional products for that matter will disappear. We are losing our shop window, with street markets in France, the tradition of customers visiting the Farm, the 35 hour week in France and supermarkets generally not opening on a Sunday (though not for long if Sarkozy gets his way) this shouldn’t be the case but we do seem to be going that way. Supermarkets and materialist living is going to be the down fall of French rural life .

This also has become particularly apparent over that last year with the 3 locations we regularly have a stand at the market having campaigns against large supermarkets being built on the out skirts of the towns/village we feel along with others this will be very detrimental for the towns/village , markets, local family run shops and businesses in the town and ultimately the life of the village,

Before we came to France we both lived in towns where the local street market and family run shops and businesses were closed because of supermarket being built and dominating all before them.

So please think twice before you put your whole life in hands of the supermarkets, besides the farmer being dominated by them, the environment collapsing with food being brought from the other side of the world, the newsagent, chemist , butcher, baker ect… not being on the high street anymore NOW they will do your banking , insurance, internet server and credit card…..

Have you ever thought what would happened if the supermarkets went the same way as the banks did last year. Where would your life be….