Festival Time!

First of all, thank you to everyone who has checked in on us following the news reports about the fires sweeping across south-western France and parts of Spain. Fortunately, we're in the south-east of France, so we've escaped the worst of it. We've had a few small fires nearby, but nothing that couldn't be brought under control fairly quickly.

The weather has continued to be super hot and dry. Temperatures have been in the mid to high thirties every day and everything around us is starting to look a little parched.

The vines continue to change from day to day. Most of them now have big bunches of grapes which have started to change from green to dark purple in colour.

I have to confess that I may have conducted a little quality control of my own by sampling a couple. They were delicious, although much smaller than the grapes you'd buy in the supermarket. Hopefully the local vignerons won't be reading this...

While out wine tasting last week, we asked some of the wine producers what effect this extreme weather will have on their harvest this year.

It does not look good.

One producer told us that there might not be a harvest at al!

Watching the vineyard owners working from dawn until well after dark in this relentless heat, it's hard to imagine what it must feel like to think all that effort might come to nothing. For many families, no harvest doesn't just mean fewer bottles of wine—it means little or no income for the coming year.

Tavel has a long and rich history of producing excellent quality rosé. Winemaking in this village apparently began in Roman times. The Avignon popes are said to have served Tavel rosé to important guests as far back as the 14^th century.

Tavel wine has some famous royal fans too, earning the title of the rosé of Kings! Philippe le Bel, François I and Louis XIV were all impressed with the wine. Legend has it that Philippe le Bel was travelling through Tavel on horseback and was given a glass of the wine. He downed it without getting off his horse and declared that Tavel wine was ‘the only good wine in the World’.

Our village received AOC status in 1936 and remains the only appellation in France dedicated exclusively to rosé wines  (this is the French classification status of wines, and is a mark of the best quality wine)

However, this status comes with some downsides, one of which is that it is strictly forbidden to irrigate. Thankfully, as I am writing today, the skies are stormy and we have had a little rain, but I’m not sure whether it will be enough to save the harvest. Fingers crossed.

Despite the gloomy outlook for the harvest the atmosphere all around is one of ‘party time’.

Avignon which is 12kms away from us has an arts festival throughout the whole of July. As you wander the ancient streets, there are performances going on everywhere and the town is very lively until very late in the evening.

Even in our little village, there have been several events. I think I mentioned the Fête de la musique in June. Since then there has been so much more.

A couple of weeks ago there was a 3 day ‘Fête Votive’ which is another tradition that most towns seem to have during the summer. A temporary fairground was set up in the middle of the village with live music and food and also some bull running which was fascinating. There were two rounds of this, one which involved kids on horseback basically surrounding the bull as it ran down a narrow laneway and back again. It was great to see the kids taking part, using their horse-riding skills and ...a few who weren't on horseback attempted to grab the bull by the horns with absolutely no sense of self-preservation. Amazingly (and, for the record, with no injuries!), everyone survived. Everyone was simply...there. Watching. Cheering. Joining in. It felt wonderfully old-fashioned in the very best possible way.

I loved it.

There are now scratches on the concrete in the laneway which have been left as a memento by the charging bulls and horses’ hooves.

Then as if a 3 day festival wasn’t already enough there was another festival last weekend called ‘Les Couleurs de Tavel’. How can I describe this one to you?

Firstly you need to know that behind the Lavoir, Tavel has a number of traditional dry stone market garden allotments. The residents of Tavel grow all sorts of things in them – mainly fruit and vegetables.

 ‘Les Couleurs de Tavel’ was set up by some of the wine producers in the village. Tavel has approximately 100 wine producers – (and there are only 2000 inhabitants in the village!)

On entering the festival, you are provided with a glass, complete with an over the shoulder pouch to house it in when you’re not using it to drink wine.

Each of the allotments had a different wine producer in it. And some of them had different musical acts. So you could just wander around the allotments, taste lots of wines and listen to live music at the same time. What could be better?

In addition, there were 2 huge fields set up; one had approximately 20-25 food trucks, all selling different types of yummy edible items . In this area, there was  also a big stage where later in the evening an excellent live band played lots of cover songs – mostly in  English so we knew them all.

Next door was the 2^nd area which was set up with a bar and tables and a DJ who played into the early hours. So musically there was something for everyone.

The locals told us proudly that this is a festival specific to Tavel which has been going for 10 years and that this year there were 5000 attendees which was amazing considering the size of the village.

It was great fun.

And that is not all……one of the wineries posted on Facebook that the day before Bastille day – which of course is a holiday in France, they were hosting a barbecue evening at their winery.

It was BYO barbecue fodder, taste the wines from the winery (and purchase!) and they provided cheese and also freshly made frites.

The winery buildings are very quaint – oozing with that perfectly imperfect French charm. As you go in, there is a huge courtyard which is where the event took place (see the picture of it at the top of the page).

They had huge fires going for the barbecue which were fuelled by old vines that they had chopped down. It was a beautiful evening under the stars and I felt very grateful to be able to share this experience with the people of Tavel.

One thing I've noticed since arriving here is that the French don't seem to need much of an excuse to get together. (A bit like people on Scotland Island!). Whether it's celebrating music, wine, food, or simply the fact that it's a warm summer evening, people come out, they talk, they eat, they dance and they enjoy being together. Considering how uncertain this year's harvest has become, perhaps that's even more important.

I'm told August is traditionally much quieter, with many French families heading off on holiday. Somehow, though, I suspect Tavel will still manage to find a reason to celebrate—and if they do, you can be fairly sure I'll be there with my little wine glass in its over-the-shoulder pouch!

À bientôt!