Autumn in Provence

I NORMALLY DON'T just reprint posts for other blogs, but Poppy in Provence put up a short post about fall arriving in Provence. It just seemed like a good example of a typical autumn evening in the South of France.

Last night, we went to a wine tasting in a local « cave »…wine cellar. There was a small, but very good jazz band playing background music and tempting snacks (cheese, bread, paté, sausage, olives, chips, etc…) to nibble while tasting the “vin primeur”…I think that translates by first wine, the first taste of this year’s wine after fall harvest.The first wine is not famous for being great, nor can it be saved and aged. It’s more meant to be tasted as a way of celebrating the fall harvest.

We took the girls with us and they ran and played hide and seek behind the big “cuves”…the storage units with the other kids present, while we tasted and talked with neighbors and friends.You know what? It’s cold in a wine cellar. I knew that, but I got surprised by the cold anyway, and have come down with a case of what seems to be laryngitis. My voice is gone. I can’t talk. Looks like I’ll be sipping hot tea with honey and lemon all weekend. I should have worn a scarf in that fashionable way so many French women do. Too late now, but it looks like I need to get out my cold weather clothes, the season is definitely changing.

As for us last night? We went out for Chinese.
CJS