Harvest Season in the Vineyards along the French Riviera
When we got back from Paris (and I’ve got so many photos and things to tell you…just need to find the time to
An endless sea of vines near Bandol on the French Riviera.
get it all posted), we took a drive to see if we could see la vendage – the harvest season for all the vineyards.
We have a friend who used to own a really fabulous restaurant here, and so he contacted one of his friends who owns a lovely vineyard up by the Paul Ricard Formula 21 racing track, and left them a message that we’d be calling. We did, and got their answering machine too, so we left a message that we’d be in their area on Saturday morning, and would stop in to see about doing an interview and takig some photos then. So bright and early Saturday morning, I grabbed my “reporter gear” – and off we went.
On the way, we say some grape pickers in a small field near Bandol, and we decided to stop there. (I’m so glad we did, because when we got to the big vineyard, they were closed.) But the woman who owned this smaller vineyard was very sweet, and she answered lots of my questions and the workers did their best to ignore us while I snapped their photos.
The grapes will be used for three different types of wine. The first two are for the AOC Bandol wines. The third is a table wine. (People here use their own wine jugs – which can be either plastic or wooden – they look like small kegs – and go directly to their favorite wineries and have their jugs filled. Then we put them into a bottle or carafe and drink them for everyday occasions. If you don’t have a jug, you can buy table wine boxed – in either 5 or 10 liters.) There are several really good Bandol rose wines that I enjoy, and of course, we have several bottles down in the wine cellar.
Oaken Wine Cask on wheels
This particular vineyard is only 14 hectares (34.59 acres), of Mourvedre grapes, and they own several others. They are part of the local cooperative, so many of the smaller wine growers all take their grapes to the same place, where a special process must be followed as far as pressing, storing and fermenting the grapes.
The photo you see to the left is an old oaken barrel, but it’s relatively small – the ones used to store wine are much, much taller. This one might have been used in a bar, or for storing table wines to be sold to the public. But I do love the look of it, don’t you?
If you’d like to read more, check out my article in the examiner about le vendage and let me know what you think of the other photos we took? (By the way, we were really lucky to get these – because not only was le vendage nearly over with, but a few days later our rainy season started. And while I love the rain, it’s not a good thing for the grapes!
Tags:harvest season for French vineyards,le vendage
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) and then post them. I met some great local people and others that have been returning year after year! Fascinating – especially the pressing process.
Sounds like you’ve been having a lovely time! I took part in the vendages about a week ago for Domaine du Garinet’s Sauvignon Blanc, our local vineyard. It was excellent – need time too to go through the huge number of pictures I took (about 185
Frances
@Frances:
Hi Frances, How marvelous! I hope you’ll let me know when you get your pictures organized and posted, cause I can’t wait to see them! The first year I was here, we were driving in the country (don’t even remember where now – and in front of us there was this old wooden wagon – green paint peeling – and it was full of ripe, purple grapes – the wagon was so full I was afraid some of the grapes would fall – and to complete this fabulous picture in my head – the wagon was even being pulled by a horse – the only thing missing was that the man wasn’t wearing a beret! But for me, that was my ultimate image of what the harvest season meant – and of course, I didn’t have a camera with me at the time. (That’s a mistake I’ve never made again – I seldom leave the house without it!) Anyway, the vendanges has been something that I’ve wanted to do since then, but we’re usually traveling, so this is really the first year I’ve really gotten to see it!
Thanks for getting in touch – and don’t forget about letting me know when you’ve got your photos up!
Warmly,
Cheryl