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| Image from www.hautgarrigue.com |
If I said ‘Chateau Haut
Garrigue’, I bet the first thing that comes to mind is French wine? How often
have we all sat down of an evening on holiday, looking out over the beautiful
French countryside, drinking a bottle of fruity, spicy French wine and wondered
how lovely it would be to live in France, have a view like this everyday and
maybe make our own wine? Grape Expectations: A Family's Vineyard Adventure in France
is the book that tells the story of
Caro, Sean and their two young daughters who do just that.
is the book that tells the story of
Caro, Sean and their two young daughters who do just that.
Caro writes honestly about their
experiences moving from Ireland to the Bergerac region of France to run an
organic vineyard, and her passion and enthusiasm shine through. Living and
making a living in France is no holiday and running an organic vineyard is
about as far removed from a holiday as you can get. Nothing can quite prepare
you for the bureaucracy of setting up a business in France (been there done
that), so hats off to the Feely’s for attempting it with the added regulations
involved in organic wine production. There were times when their future seemed
uncertain, but what came across in the book is that they always gave it a
bloody good go. Following your dreams can sometimes feel like a nightmare and
there are always dark moments. For Sean and Caro these included a couple of nasty
accidents that happened to Sean, you could say lots of blood, sweat and tears
go into every bottle! The fact that they have been accepted into the local
community and more importantly by the local vignerons, many of whose families
have been making wine for generations, is a testament to their hard work and
passion for organic wine making.
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| Image from www.hautgarrigue.com |
I’m in awe she found the time to
write the book and feel very privileged to have been let into their life in
France. Time must have been so pressured with two very young daughters to
settle into a new life, the day to day running of the vineyard and developing
the wine tourism side of the business. She seems to be good at multi tasking as
they have just won the prestigious ‘Best of Wine Tourism 2013’ Gold award for
sustainable tourism. Caro’s writing style is excellent and her descriptions of
the wine flavours brought the words to life so I’m sure the vineyard courses
she runs will be delivered in a very engaging way. For details of these wine
tours/holidays see www.frenchwineadventures.com
What would have been perfect
would be to have a selection of Bergerac wines to hand while reading – a red
Merlot, a white Sauvignon and the sweet Saussignac dessert wine. More
information on their wines can be found at www.hautgarrigue.com
With our thoughts turning to our
next French road trip I’m tempted to plan a visit to them, taste some of
their fine wine and hopefully learn a little more about the wines too. I must
also get my hands on some of their local cheese she talks about, made by Nuns and flavoured
with walnut liqueur – I’ve heard it goes well with their sweet dessert wine.
This book is perfect French escapism for cold winter days, is published by
Summersdale and is available through internet booksellers, all good bookshops
or direct from the publishers. A link to Amazon.co.uk is included here.
You can read my reviews of Caro’s memoirs here:
Vineyard Confessions (previously known as Glass Half Full)
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