The best form of Gardening

We go to a monthly garden club which organises talks and visits, but the July meeting was a bit different.  One of the members, Cameron, is the maître du chai (chief winemaker) at a small vineyard in the Lot near Puy L'Eveque, and he invited the club members to visit the small château where he works to tour the gardens and the cellars.

Cameron showed us the vines and talked about how they grew and how grapes form.  Fortunately we were in the shade as it was about 38 deg C. We were amazed to discover the restrictions under which he has to grow the vines and subsequently make the wine in order to conform to the AOC rules. We then went into the coolness of the cave where Cameron explained the vinification process, followed by a degustation.

 

Of course we bought some wine (only as a way of saying thank-you for the visit you understand!)