The Daily Mail
I'm lucky enough to live in a beautiful house with views that are quite simply stunning. An opinion that is obviously shared by The Daily Mail as they picked a picture of my home to feature in an article they wrote on the area. Apparently the picture is a third of a page, to pay for that sort of exposure would make your eyes water in a national paper, to get it all for free is quite an achievement.
The Grand Duchess took us and our visitors on a tour of a couple of wine domaines yesterday. First of all we went to our local Le Fort at Montreal. We kicked off with a Sauvignon Blanc which was filled with typical gooseberry flavours, Gooseberry in French is a groseille maquereau, literally translated meaning a mackerel currant, nothing fishy about this one though, it was delicious. After that we moved onto the Viognier, a variety which is gaining in popularity here, although more commonly grown in the Rhone Valley. Had to buy some !!
To round off our trip The Grand Duchess roared up the long drive of the newly opened restaurant and cave called Domaine de Gayda. We watched the last of the grape skins being removed and pushed in by hand into an enormous revolving stainless steal drum. Here we sampled more Sauvignon Blanc, only this time two bottles from the same vineyard and picked at a three week interval. They were quite different but equally impressive.
By this time our Scottish guests were thinking of the most important meal of the day which we enjoyed outside whilst admiring the view of the Pyrenees and soaking up the November sun. The nearly acquired Sauvignon went exceptionally well with the smoked Irish sea trout.
To round off a near perfect day our Scottish guest who hasn't donned a pair of swimming trunks for at least ten years appeared resplendent in one of His Lordships cowboy hats and a pair of baggy bathers.
With a deep breath he plunged in hat and all. Seconds later he emerged with a triumphant smile, hat still firmly in place !!
The Grand Duchess took us and our visitors on a tour of a couple of wine domaines yesterday. First of all we went to our local Le Fort at Montreal. We kicked off with a Sauvignon Blanc which was filled with typical gooseberry flavours, Gooseberry in French is a groseille maquereau, literally translated meaning a mackerel currant, nothing fishy about this one though, it was delicious. After that we moved onto the Viognier, a variety which is gaining in popularity here, although more commonly grown in the Rhone Valley. Had to buy some !!
To round off our trip The Grand Duchess roared up the long drive of the newly opened restaurant and cave called Domaine de Gayda. We watched the last of the grape skins being removed and pushed in by hand into an enormous revolving stainless steal drum. Here we sampled more Sauvignon Blanc, only this time two bottles from the same vineyard and picked at a three week interval. They were quite different but equally impressive.
By this time our Scottish guests were thinking of the most important meal of the day which we enjoyed outside whilst admiring the view of the Pyrenees and soaking up the November sun. The nearly acquired Sauvignon went exceptionally well with the smoked Irish sea trout.
To round off a near perfect day our Scottish guest who hasn't donned a pair of swimming trunks for at least ten years appeared resplendent in one of His Lordships cowboy hats and a pair of baggy bathers.
With a deep breath he plunged in hat and all. Seconds later he emerged with a triumphant smile, hat still firmly in place !!
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