I needed relief from my struggles to achieve the right balance and tone in a piece in which I argue that no journalist, high or low, can seriously expect a fair trial given the conspiracy of legal, political and public opinion weighing against them and should just go down fighting. So here is the start of a new series that will, very sporadically, describe things I come across that may be old hat to you but are new to me. The hacks can wait ...
It is not often that you buy wine in the south of France and feel able to declare you have found a real bargain.
These days, my liquid accompaniment to food eaten at home comes mainly from a box, le cubi as the French call it.
Wine boxes used to have a bad name, and mostly deserved it. There are still some grim examples around but if you go a little higher in the quality - and accordingly the price - you will find some decent plonk.
The Château de Brégançon, a neighbour of the presidential holiday home, produces excellent red and rosé. I have a bottle of its white but have yet to try it but buy 5-litre boxes of the other varieties even though the price in the shops has risen by about three euros to just under €30 compared with last year.
At €6 a litre, that still represents fine value.
But visiting the gorgeous resort of Collioure, while camping at nearby Argelès-sur-Mer, I came across Fuego, which proudly states on its label that it is produced and bottled by "Laeticia" at the Domaine Piétri-Géraud.
It was at the lower end of the range in the vineyard's retail outlet in town, and is not even mentioned in the leaflet that came with my pack of three. But for a wine costing just over €5 a bottle - which used to be a lot but is no longer - it has taste, body and even a hint of elegance to suggest a more expensive choice.
Went down a treat with a delicious Côte de Boeuf, itself bought on the cheap from Dia, a superb source of reasonably priced meat.
After that kind of main course, I need only cheese and fruit. There were a couple of chunks of Tomme de Corse and Comté to finish so the first part was easy.
But my second "discovery" for this new series is the kumquat, also known as cumquat, a small fruit that looks like a miniature orange and is eaten whole.
Forgive me if you have been eating them all your life. This is only my second summer of doing so. We buy them at the marché provençal that happens all year round but in season brings traffic to halt every Thursday morning in Le Lavandou.
It is native to southern Asia and Asia-Pacific, appears in 12th century Chinese literature and has been known in Europe since the mid-19th century. Typical of me to wait so long to find my perfect fruit; I always loved using my teeth to grind morsels of orange pith and have yet to be let down by a kumquat.
Sadly, their course has run for 2013 according to the fruitseller at the market. Roll on next year. I raise a glass to kumquats growers and why not let it be a glass of Fuego from Laetitia Piétri-Clara's vineyard?
Recent Comments