Day 4 - Poolside and St. Emilion

Off to a very slow start this morning. The past few days of non-stop activity, along with all the work that we did before we left England is catching up with us. Last night we had hoped to dot he night tour of St. Emilion, but we decided to just take it easy instead. As it was we were all so tired that even Anja slept in until after 10:30 which is unheard of. Literally. I cannot remember a time when she has slept that late. Even when you account for the one hour time difference between here and England that is a significant lie in for the child who normally is in a race to awaken with the birds.

Yesterday we spent some time at the pool in the morning and in the afternoon took the shuttle from the campsite into St. Emilion. We had a nice lunch in the plaza and then set out to explore around the city. Such a gorgeous place filled with so many interesting and lovely sights. We had a long and interesting talk with one young winemaker, who describes his niche as “garage” wine making, which is much along the same lines of the micro-brewery movement in the Pacific Northwest. They literally convert garages that belong to flats above into a winery and make very small batches of wine. Some are as small as only a few hundred per season. He also said that many of the producers use organic and biodynamic methods but do not opt for certification. This is twofold in reason. One is because as many of us know, the bureaucracy of certification often is difficult and expensive for small producers and does not always guarantee a superior product. The other is because there is a suspicion of those that label their wine as organic or biodynamic are doing so merely to cash in on a market rather than for the sake of growing by ecologically friendly standards. Of the wines we tried a good ¾ of them use organic and many biodynamic methods but we would not know this if we were not told. Very interesting for us as we look at the options which will face us in developing our farm and how we market it. We did buy one wine that is certified Demeter that is a St. Emilion Grand Cru 2001. I look forward to popping the cork on it and toasting to our new venture in Malaga when we arrive there!

Today we are going on a vineyard walk that the campsite has organized. The weather looks to be a little less intense than yesterday (it has been blissfully hot) so it should be a good day for walking around the area, learning about the vineyards and tasting the wines. I am still walking on my own, which is such a joy. It isn’t without it’s difficulty or challenge, but so far the pain and fatigue that come from it are tolerable. I’m probably tempting the fates by pushing myself like I am, but the enjoyment that I am getting from being able to do things on my own steam is well worth it. No doubt I will be paying for it sooner or later, but it will have been worth it.

I took quite a few pictures yesterday and could easily have taken more. Digital photography is somewhat of a double edged sword when it comes to the quantity of pictures. The lack of commitment to film allows you to take pictures whenever the mood strikes, but then you are left with hundreds of pictures to sort through to glean out the very best. I don’t have enough time on the computer at this moment to sort through and upload them. If there is time tonight I will try and get to it. Otherwise it may be until Tuesday before I am able.

Tomorrow morning we leave to drive to Madrid. Not sure if I will be online or not but if I am I will hopefully have pictures to share and of course will have more to tell of our travels. I hope your summer is going well and you are enjoying whatever it is you are doing. Thank you for taking the time to share in our fun!