Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Saint Emilion

A lot of tourists visit Saint Emilion (around one million per year), compared to the small number of inhabitants, some born here, others having settled.



Like anywhere, you meet people you get along with, and others not. In this little town, it is impossible to walk for more than 100 m without saying hello, or have a little chat about the weather, or what the weather will be… Human contact in a small town, which looks more like a village, could be more friendly. For instance, our neighbors are either retired, a garage, a doctor, an insurance agent… Actually, the insurance agent from the village, gave us yesterday (with his wife and daughter) a young rooster to replace our Fifi (Bantam from Beijing) who was killed and eaten by a stone marten.
We have now a new mascot in the courtyard as well as 2 hens who survived the stone marten and will have to adapt to this new comer.

Yesterday, a friend wine grower told me about the hail falling in the area, another person sent me today a rich Canadian customer, Mr. Yves Blanc’s real estate agency from Rue Guadet made copies for their friends and allowed me to make a useful real estate transaction and Michel Gracia stopped by to ask for information, etc…
Here, it is hard to be incognito, it’s good that way.

The little bit of rain we just had will be good for the vineyards and will help the veraison (change of color of the grapes). My thoughts also go to growers who were not as lucky as us for hail destroyed in 5 minutes any hope for a good harvest, here or in Meursault…

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Jean-Luc,
I love Saint-Emilion more than any other place in Bordeaux. My dinner with Mureille and you 2 years ago was very special. I am happy to tell you that we are serving BAD BOY by the glass in our restaurant. I hope to be able to visit again soon.

Amicalement,
Mark Slater
Sommelier,
Michel Richard Citronelle
Washington, DC, USA

Jean-Luc Thunevin said...

Mark,
St Emilion is definitely a "coin de paradis" (a corner of paradise) in Bordeaux.
It is always a pleasure to see you. You have such energy and enthusiasm. We will be in Washington on October 20 and expect to see you.
I am glad that you enjoy Bad Boy and thank you for your support.