As recipients of Ed's regular newsletters will be aware, Tania and I are off back to the wilds of Aveyron on Tuesday on a Star Trek style mission seek out new wines from this remarkable region and some of its near neighbours. Situated towards the southern end of the Massif Central, Aveyron is one of France's better kept secrets, harbouring some of the country's most beautiful and unspoilt towns and villages.
It is also home to some of the wilder and more obscure of French wines with Marcillac the only wine in the region to merit AOC status. Produced from the local grape, Mansois or Fer Servadou, this firm, rustic red, bursting with character and minerality was drunk by the citizens of Rodez for its health-giving properties. More recently, Pascal Monestier, the son of a Marcillac pharmacist discovered the wine to be blessed with high concentrations of anti cholesterol agents cathecine and procyamidol. Possibly one of the more appealing of medicines!
We also have meetings booked with growers in Cahors, famous for growing Malbec before Argentina had been discovered and in Gaillac. All being well, all of these new discoveries will be on taste at our Last of the Summer Wine tasting on September 18th.
Cant wait!
I wrote to my MP recently.
“Why did you do that, Chris”
“Call it my sense of duty. Let me put you in the picture.”
You really should have been there………………
There are tastings and then there are tastings and last month we served up the most phenomenal Italian Masterclass in the company of Michael Palij, Master of Wine, who steered us through some of his most recent discoveries (notably a Sardinian quartet which provided all the evidence you need of the revolution taking place in the island’s vineyards and cellars).
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