Maison Des Bulliats

You would be surprised but it is true that plastic containers for the grapes are, this year, like gold dust! Again we answered adverts and put up adverts everywhere but those found had already been quickly sold, and we had to be extra quick to respond. One early morning we set off for the pretty little village of Charnay, south of Villefranche where we met M. Barrot, who sadly was having to give up producing wine this year. After a degustation of last years production, a cool dry Rose and a red Beaujolais Village, we inspected the famous bennes, all fifty of them, they will fit nicely in our green trailor, and they were half the price of new ones. Twenty six buckets were also avalable, and a set of well cared for greased secateurs, which we also bought. It is important that the pickers use special secateurs so that the whole bunch of grapes can be cut and drop neatly into the hand with the minimum of trauma to the delicate fruit. It seems that loading the grapes into relatively small containers, the bennes, instead of into an enormous container on the back of a tractor, called a ‘bac’ is the traditional way of the vendange, and local people here are returning to this methd. Again there is less squashing of the grapes, it is crucial that the they arrive in the cuvage as un spoiled as possible. The method we will use also enables the grapes to be sorted more easily in the vineyard, as the smaller bennes containing their bounty can be checked on site for any unwanted vegetation or damaged fruit, instead of in the cuvage. We were warmly received by the Barrot family and it was interesting yet sad to hear their story, how they had met each other while tending their separate herds of cows, how as the collection of milk from the more isolated regions became uneconomical as the industry became more centralised and mechanised, how they turned to wine production, when times were good, managed to build a house high up with a beautiful view over the rolling Beaujolais hills. They rented vines, an arrangement known as a ‘fermage’ and sold their wine. We have had some very hot weather over the last few days, people are beginning to say that the grapes will be ready around the 25th of August. We have spent some idyllic evenings eating outside with friends. My hand painted notice at our gate inviting passers by to taste our wine, seems to be working, more visitors from Belgium today and the charming young English couple will call in again on their way back tomorrow for some more of the delicious 2006 with its smart new labels!

One of our bigest problems this year was to manage the vendanges, in previous years totally organised by the Grandjean family. We dont have outbuildings set up to receive the 20 to 30 people who we need to help pick our grapes. We had to find local people who would come for ‘ la grande journee’, that is they do not need feeding or lodgings. Through a vigneron friend we managed to find Monsieur Uaysal! He lives locally and during the harvest time he gathers his extended family around and together they pick grapes from several vineyards in the region. We are confident that with his experience and the reputation the Turkish people have for working hard and conscientiously, all will go well. We will need to oversee and manage the whole operation and make sure that things go smoothly in the cuvage as the grapes get delivered for the first stage of the wine making process. M.Uaysal is at the moment in Turkey on holiday at a health spar! Hope he comes back……

On the way over to the Auvergne for a change of scene and to reflect on what we have accomplished and what there is still to do, re the vendange, and to tend my vegetables there of course, we stop at the printers to see our new label set up on the machine. A rendezvous had been made, we were met by Francois who was in charge of our order and the technician who was aleady beginning to print the trial labels.

At this stage small adjustments could be made, the intensity of colour the the right amount of red, yellow or brown in the sepia drawing. And then after rather a lot of wastage at the beginning we were on a roll, so to speak, there will be about 750 labels on each roll.

It was exciting but nerve racking to see suddenly so many of this image that had been thought about so much over the last few months and to give the final go ahead! The touch of gold came from a luxuriously expensive roller situated above the print bed!

The whole run would be completed in about two hours, the Canadian label complying with the bilingual regulations, the European label, and the back label with the Roman coins depicting Reginus who first planted the vines in Regnie, and a little bit of romantic history for you all to read as you pour another glass of our delectable 2006 vintage!

We were cordially received by M. Monroe the owner, he had thought our label well balanced and with ‘class’, and yet suggesting a wine with character made in a traditional way.

Ideal to serve when tasting our wine with friends, or any president who might call by is my ‘cake aux olives’. Very easy to make and can leave out the olives if not your favourite things.

In the bowl of a food processor or in a large basin mix together the following ingredients:

250 gm of plain flour
1 sachet of easy bake yeast, found in all supermarkets where flour is sold
4 eggs
1 small glass of white wine, any will do, about 4 fluid oz.
1 small glass of vegetable oil, preferably sunflower, but olive oil is fine.
Some grated cheese, gruyere or any cheese at all [ about 100 plus gm.]
A handful of stoned green or black olives to your taste.
Some chopped cooked ham, a handful, [or little pieces of cooked bacon]

Mix all thoroughly except the last three ingredients. Then add the last three ingredients. If using a food processor take mixture out of bowl before adding the last three ingredients.

Pour into a lightly greased non stick loaf tin, that is big enough to hold 2 pints or 1 litre of liquid.

Bake in a medium to hot oven on middle shelf for about 40 mins, or when a skewer placed in the middle comes out clean.

Serve hot or cold in slices or in little squares, with, of course a glass of the fine ‘prince of Beaujolais’ wine, Regnie, and it will be fit for kings or queens or presidents!

Chefs suggestion: A bowl of home-made chutney may be served along side, or a fresh green salad for a super lunch dish. This evening I cooked some chutney made from the delicious little yellow plums called mirabelle that grow at the bottom of the garden. There were hundreds of them, it took ten minutes to pick a large basket full, let me know if you would like the recipe, any plums will do or in fact any fruit chutney!

Possibly my favourite and most unexpected visitors were pointed out to me this morning by one of our regular lorry drivers coming to pick up an order of wine for Brittany.

He noticed some baby Sparrow Hawks nesting in the dove cotes along the guttering of the outbuildings, long since abandoned by their usual owners.

I thought at first that they were owls but the driver insisted they were hawks. They have been chirping and squawking all day, flexing their wings, crying out for their food hunting parents. Judging by their size, they can hardly fit in the arches of their rented home,the time has nearly come to leave, I was thrilled to see them!

Fred took their photos from afar but hope they might pose for a better one tomorrow! Maybe we will depict the sparrow hawk on future labels for our wine!