Gourmande Evening at Saillac

A very pleasant evening at Saillac with it being not too hot or cold, a little disappointing that our stand was so far away from the main tables and other stands that hiking boots and rucksack was a near necessity. However , we've only been here 16 years and although have taken part and supported the gourmande evening since their inception we know our place, either by the band(impossible to talk to your customers) or so far from main proceedings that we might as well be in the next village. Anyway it was nice to see so many friends and customers make the hike out to our stand for supplies.
See you all next week, check the blog for venues and dates and by the way for the Lalbenque night market on our 16th anniversary and Sarah birthday, we won't say which one and yes she will be working We will be running a book on our location and of for those of you in the know ,we are going for a Frankie Dettori straight seven!!!! See you next week?

DON'T FORGET??

Check out the previous blog for this evenings Gourmande events ,don'tforget your plate ,knife etc

Dyos the dog and the vines after a short back and sides

Dyos the dog and the vines after the sides and tops have been trimmed and mowed inbetween now only need to cultivate between every other row before passing once again with the weeding machine.

Montpezat and The Guardian

Bit tired this morning after a late night at Montpezat Marche Gourmande Evening ,photos to follow ,Many thanks to those of you that turned out for a very pleasant evening and your comments on how much you like the wine, especially the new Roses. More events next week just read the blog previous to see all dates and locations. Hopefully we will have a new Green Pig beer ready for later in the week, keep your fingers crossed!
I nearly forgot the Guardian, Sarah was quoted in the Newspaper today in the Article on Quercy, her comment along with the other comments from ,I presume people who live here were probably in my opinion the only correct information .Having lived here for 16 years ,I can and have seen lots of changes ,particularly in the British population. To say it is undiscovered by the brits and any other incomers and that includes the French is obviously written by somebody who doesn't know the area at all ,but I stress this is my opinion,comments please??

FONTANES GOURMANDE EVENING.

For those of you that follow the blog and are living near here or on holiday in the region you will know it is raining and has been all night and according to the meteo will do all day? So due to this the Gourmande Evening at Fontanes has been cancelled for this evening.
However, if you are at a loose end and want to visit and stock up on Merchien Products we will be open all day to answer your questions and give you a tasting ,we look forward to seeing you.

SPARGING THE GREEN PIG

TRIMMING THE VINES

PREPARING THE MASH

 

Beer today gone tomorrow?

Well we are brewing again today ,this time the Green Pig or Doree as previously known. We will be posting some pictures throughout the process, due to the hot weather many people it seems turn to a nice real ale to cool themselves down.

The New humain in the Merchien Farm

 
This is our new dog called Dyos. He comes from the SPA of Lyon and we have had him now for three weeks. He is 20 months old, we always have great fun with him and he is settling in well. He has 2 walks every day;morning and night. Yesterday my parents and I took him to Labenque Brocante, it was the first time out in the town for Dyos away from the farm he was very excited but realy scary for us with all the brocante and other dogs. Anyway we had to one day...

Sophie-tor Meakin

ITS HOT!!!

Well I never it seems like only a couple of weeks ago when everyone in the market had decided the summer wasn't going to arrive ,well its here now and everybody without exception is saying its too hot and wishing it would get cooler! What a difference a few weeks make!!!

Check us out at the markets and gourmande evenings in july and august

Cahors Night market Monday 5 July
• Castelnau Montratier Marche de Producteur Wednesday 7 July
• Castelnau Montratier Marche de Producteur Wednesday 14 July
• Labastide Marnhac Lot Of Saveurs Thursday 15 July
• Castelnau Montratier Marche de Producteur Wednesday 21 July
• Saint Medard Lot Of Saveurs Thursday 22 July
• Fontanes Decouvertes Gourmandes Thursday 22 July
• Montpezat de Quercy Marches gourmands en Nocturne Friday 23 July
• Castelnau Montratier Marche de Producteur Wednesday 28 July
• Saillac Decouvertes Gourmandes Thursday 29 July
• Caillac Lot Of Saveurs Thursday 29 July
•
• Cahors Night market Monday 2 August
• Lalbenque Night Market Tuesday 3 August
• Castelnau Montratier Marche de Producteur Wednesday 4 August
• Belmont St Foi Decouvertes Gourmandes Thursday 5 August
• Cieurac Lot Of Saveurs Thursday 5 August
• Cajarc 1st Journeé du Goút (Safran) Tuesday 10 August
• Castelnau Montratier Marche de Producteur Wednesday 11 August
• Lalbenque Decouvertes Gourmandes Thursday 12 August
• St Pierre Lafeuille Lot Of Saveurs Thursday 12 August
• Castelnau Montratier Marche de Producteur Wednesday 18 August
• Catus Lot Of Saveurs Thursday 19August
• Aujols Decouvertes Gourmandes Thursday 19 August
• Montpezat de Quercy Marches gourmands en Nocturne Friday 20 August
• Castelnau Montratier Marche de Producteur Wednesday 25 August


• Each Saturday morning at Lalbenque
• Each Sunday morning at Limogne en Quercy and St Antonin Noble Val.

 

 

Another hot weekend and biting well?

Well as I write this at nearly 7pm its still 30 degrees outside in the shade, what a change? Sixteen years in France and this has got to be the most unusual weather wise so far, after a very long winter very little if any spring just when everybody was saying are we going to have a summer this year? It happened, virtually overnight, so from one minute wearing a fleece which is unheard of in May let alone June and to be honest very rarely seen in April. What's happening well all I know is that the mosquitoes are biting, for somebody who normally doesn't get bitten I'm making up for it this year!
I can only assume because of all the rain and cold weather in April thru to June all the small ponds that are normally dry by now are full this year and have been for a long time thus providing the perfect environment for the mosquitoes to breed.

Conforming, why would we want to, I'm talking about Merchien Rose? For those of you that know our wines and our efforts towards change you probably know what's coming? Our Roses over the last 16 years have always sold out and many customers come back year after year because they like it! We have always had a battle because the local tasting panel in my opinion sees different as wrong not just as different. Over the years besides the Rose, the JAS is the classic example always a problem to get it through the Agreement( piece of paper needed to officially sell it as a Vins de Pays) a tasting panel and a lab analysis, even though it passes the lab test the tasting panel says it doesn't conform this has happened with a JAS in the past which went onto gain a silver medal in the national concours in Paris, coincidently the only one for our department, so it seems the problem is local not national?
My conclusion to this is to make it as what used to be called Vins de Table, no tasting panel required, therefore no fee to pay for tasting panel, downside very few competitions to enter? We don't want to take this route but it may be the only way? What we can't understand is, for example in what was Vins du Pays du Lot, there are some forty different varieties of grapes allowed so if you have an unusual blend , with forty varieties you have got to admit that's a lot of different combination and any unusual blend tasted will automatically not conform so my answer is do away with the tasting panel after all they could be open to corruption and at the end of the day if the wine passes an analytical test its a matter of taste, let the market decide? Your comments would be appreciated!!