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French Wine Tasting – Part Two
Authors note : Reading Part One first would be a good idea
Regardless of whether you’re”into’ wine,or just grabbed a bottle out of desperation because “booze-be-us” was outa beer – there are French wine treasures to be found in every region and at every price point.
Kinda like deciding which car to buy, innit? Too many options! That’s why I, your ever helpful, faithful pal and freakin’ fountain o’ froggie info am gonna – as usual – give ya the straight skinny.
The French Wine treasures that really rock my boat,aren’t in the wine guides. They haven’t been reviewed by the “gurus of taste.”
Like the best Scots’ Whiskey, they’re not exported. And for the same reason.The locals drink it all up!
They’re the wines of(usually)small,independant producers and local wine co-ops. I find them in the usual way. I TRAVEL! And when I see a “wine sign”, I glide in for petite degustation.”( a little taste)And you, dear reader, can do the same.
The “Ma n’Pa” winos, you can,(and should!)discover on yer own. To get ya started with the other possibility, here be three BG recommended co-ops.
Dontcha be forgettin’ that wine co-ops are not bound by the restrictions of A.O.C.Which means that grapes can be blended for maximum flavor without regard to origin/location.
Alllllrighty then………Here we go! (You do know how to use Google maps…..right?)1.Cave Cooperative du CONDOM -Gers region – SouthWest. (foie gras country.) 2.Cave Cooperative du LUMIERE –Provence region – South. In the Luberon National park between Cavaillon and Apt. 3.Cave cooperative du NOVES –Provence region – South. Last village before Avignon on the South(left)side of the Durance river.
At all of these spots,you’ll find wine advertised “en vrac”and/or “en detail” – meaning – “In bulk.” Bring your own 3,5,or 10 litre container and fill up.(Some co-ops will sell you just a litre, but 3 is usually the minimum.)
Expect to fork out anywhere from 1.25 to 1.75 per litre. Depending on the variety/strength.
Anything else I can help with?
THROW ME A BONE HERE, PEOPLE!
What are ya thinkin’?
Queen For (more) Than a Day – Part Three
Time to get out your hankies as the Queen for More Than a Day – Part Three takes center stage. (earlier, but not fantastically happy events may be found in PART ONE and PART TWO.)
As my faithful will recall from previous spine tingling, on-the-edge-of-your-seat installments, Anne now seemed to be between the proverbial “rock and a hard place.”
Obliged to marry a King who was already married. However, like most Women of intelligence, Anne had a plan. It, like her previous decision to marry Charles, was a classic “no brainer.”
She agreed to marry Louis 12, if he could get his current marriage (to her former husbands sister no less!) annulled. Now, Today annulements are as common as experts on the internet. But in Anne’s time,( heavy Catholic vibes ) it was anything but a “slam dunk.”
Basically you needed to have a Pope in yer pocket. So – obviously Anne was banking on “no annulement = free, white and (already)21.”
But, when you’re a King, you don’t hang out the locals at the pub. And, sadly for Anne, Louis 12 DID have a Pope in his pocket. Alexander 6, who dissolved Louis’ marriage.
So, never one to cry in her beer, Anne accepted her fate.(another good decision) And, not letting Royal grass grow under her feet, Anne put on her travellin’ shoes….and headed back to her home turf(Brittany) to chill out and press the local flesh.
Marriage number three for the French Country Travel Life Double Queen went down on January 8, 1499, with her new husband (wisely) confirming her right to to the title “Duchess of Brittany.” And, the resulting power to issue decisions in her name.
This was a biggie for Anne, as her “raison d’etre” was always to keep Brittany independant. To make sure it stayed “in the family, in true “arranged marriages be us” fashion, Anne hooked her daughter Claude up with Charles of Austria. To beef up the French connection in the Franco-Italian war.
But when hubby Louis got the vibe that no male heir would be forthcoming from his lovely queen, he broke off the marriage and arranged his own royal love fest. Hitching Claude up with the heir to the French Throne, Francis of Angouleme. This, as you would expect, did not get Anne’s seal of approval.
But, sadly, time, and luck were both running out for Anne. In spite of her relatively young age, she had been pregnant a total of 14 times by two Kings.(even I can do the math here) Only three Children survived. Only Two made it to adulthood.
Renee, who by marriage became the Duchess of Chartes, after marrying the Duke of Ferrara. And Claude, who inherited her Mother’s title of Duchess of Brittany, and became Queen of France by her marriage to Francis.
Which meant, you guessed it, Brittany became a French possession.
Anne died at the Château de Blois on 9 January 1514 of a kidney-stone attack.
Her funeral, which was to set the standard for all Royal funerals to follow, lasted 40 days.
By her request, her heart was placed in a gold reliquary(a $10 word for “relic container”)
For my french scholars, here is the inscription:
- En ce petit vaisseau
- De fin or pur et munde
- Repose ung plus grand cueur
- Que oncque dame eut au munde
- Anne fut le nom delle
- En France deux fois royne
- Duchesse des Bretons
- Royale et Souveraine.
- For everyone else:
“In this little vessel of fine gold, pure and clean, rests a heart greater than any lady in the world ever had. Anne was her name, twice queen in France, Duchess of the Bretons, royal and sovereign.”
A longer Last look at Anne’s Life HERE.
THROW ME A BONE HERE PEOPLE!
What are ya thinkin?’
Queen for More Than a Day – Part Two
DA BG’s faithful, who’ve read PART ONE of the fantabulous Story of the The Queen for More Than a Day will remember that she made the wise (and possibly only decision) to marry the guy that had just conquered her country. He being Charles 8.
This union, for all it’s elaborate pomp and ceremony (and isn’t that the best kind?) was not a bed of roses for the young Queen.
Speaking of beds, she brought two with her as she was “installed” in the Kingly chateau of Langeais. Underscoring the fact that King and Queen in those days, were pretty much that era’s Rock Hudson and Doris Day.
And, as you would expect, said King was often away on noble missions of conquering, capturing and enslaving. Which meant that even if one or both Royal personages were, shall we say – “hot to trot”….it just wasn’t in the cards.
What was in the cards for Anne – as, again you might expect, was producing a male heir. A princely one, who would someday become a kingly one. Thus ensuring that conquering, capturing and enslaving could continue.
Sadly, in this Royal Duty, Anne gets a big “F” in the heir-producing sweepstakes.
Of her four children, only one lived. And only for three years. Felled by a virulent virus prevalent then. To which children were particularly susceptible. Measles.
When Charles died in 1498, Anne was 21 years old. And legally obliged, by the terms of her marriage contract with Charles, to marry the New King, Louis 12. One small roadblock. Louis was already married.
Did this leave Anne “free, white and (obviously) 21?”
Actually, no one word answer possible. but the exotic stranger from the faraway lands will tell ya all about it in Part Three of the Queen for More Than a Day.
Until then…..THIS may be of interest.
THROW ME A BONE HERE, PEOPLE!
What are ya Thinkin’?
