Truffle Farm...and Hunting

Today we traveled out to the Perigord region of France to the small "village" of Pechaifour to go truffle hunting.  It was an optional tour that sold out in 5 minutes, so I'm glad I did research for this option prior to our trip, as it is only offered to 20 people.

The entire village is only made up of 7-8 buildings, consisting of two different families.  It was so charming, it made you feel as if you just stepped into a coffee table book about southern France country-side.

Our host, guide and teacher for the day, Edouard, is the owner of the truffle farm.  He has been in the truffle business, and doing research about truffles for 45 years.  His father started this farm (planting trees which truffles grown under) in 1961.

Edouard uses dogs, which he trains, to hunt for truffles on his farm.  We could not touch, talk to, or play with the dog while they are working.  The dogs know they are working when they see the basket, the basket that Edouard is holding in the picture to the left.

Meet Fara, the truffle hunting border collie and the star of the day.  First, Fara starts searching for truffles by starting to smell for ripe truffles (only ripe truffles smell, so a dog can't find a truffle that is not ready to be harvested).

Once Fara thinks she smells a ripe truffle, she will scratch the dirt.

Then the truffle farmer, PATRICK, starts digging.  (to be continued...the Internet on the river right now is S-L-O-W...check back to see if Fara knew what she was doing and if Patrick is successful)

On the move...to Blaye and Cognac

 5:45 am - the floor starts humming and we look out our window and we are finally moving down the river.  Now, if it looks like we are close to the water - you're right.  We are on the BOTTOM level, aka the least expensive option that would fit out budget level.  So, as Patrick likes to say each night - we are sleeping with the fishes, literally - as I'm standing on my toes to take this picture from our room window.

We lucked out that they kept the top deck open while we were traveling down the river this morning.  Often, they have to close this deck to make it under the bridges. If you look under the captain's bridge at the right, you can see that it can telescope down into the deck - all of the railings can also put down.  One interesting feature of this boat.

Another interesting little feature of this small boat is the herb garden.  Chef was actually working in the container garden cutting herbs for tonight's dinner while we were taking our early morning pictures.  Does this woman EVER sleep - she always seems to be there whenever you turn around.

3 1/2 hours after we left Bordeaux we docked in Blaye.  Blaye has a Citadel that many on the ship toured, but we opted for an excursion to the small town of Cognac.

We wondered why this optional tour was so expensive, but it became apparent as soon as we arrived and we were glad we splurged on this tour.  We visited the Cognac distillery of Camus (ca-moo).  It is the only family owned top-ranked Cognac distillery remaining...and we definitely got an education from their master blender, Fredricke'.

Cognac is a type of brandy, but it can only be called Cognac if the grapes are grown in Cognac and it is distilled in the region also (similar to how Champagne can only come from Champagne region of France - from every place else it is sparkling wine).

The tour was limited to 24 people and when we entered the dark room there was a long glass table with science-looking equipment for each of us, gold-leaf piece of paper for each person for notes, an estate pen, and 4 different XO (XO meaning older - ours were 6 - 28 years old) Cognac blends. All Cognac starts out as white wine, then they distill it twice - at this point it is 70% alcohol. Then that clear liquid is put into brunt French casks for at least 2 years, on up to 20 years, 30 years, 50 years, etc. If you look all the way to right on this picture, you will see the clear bottles - they are bottles that are in the beginning stages of aging, as you move to the left, the color changes as the Cognac ages.  However, unlike wine, Cognac stops aging the minute you bottle it. So, if you have old Cognac/Brandy - it won't get better if you wait to drink it.  Before they sell it, they have to bring it back down to at least 40% alcohol by adding water to it.

After some class instruction and tasting, it was our turn to make our own bottle of Cognac.  We had to choose how much of each of the 4 Cognacs we tasted to blend together, depending on our personal preference, to make our own bottle.  Let me tell you, if Chemistry class would have been this fun in high school, I might have gotten an A!  We actually got to go to the barrels and fill our beakers, then it was registered, labeled, bottled, put in a presentation box, and given us to take home.  They registered our Cognac, with date and passport number so if we ever wanted to order our blend again - they would blend it and ship it to us.  Oh Camus...nice touch.

Patrick and I wondered if our mixture would ever get to be worth what this bottle is selling for - over 900 Euros.  Well, you never know - but I do know our bottles are priceless to us.

Medoc Wine Region

 Our boat was supposed to be on the move today, but the French government took the docking rights for our ship at our next stop for something they needed.  Hmmm...on a beautiful day in June, on an SUNDAY - I'm thinking someones party.  But, we actually didn't mind, as we found our favorite spot on the boat - 2 great rocking chairs at the very front of the boat...that are oddly always available for us.  So, we stayed in beautiful Bordeaux today right beside the VERY active river walk.  We could have sat there all day and watched the locals...but, we boarded our tour bus and headed to the Medoc wine region.

 The Medoc wine region is an 80 mile long peninsula that is bordered on one side by the Atlantic Ocean and on the other side by the Gironde estuary - where our boat should have been traveling today :-)  It is a flat, rolling land that is dotted by chateaus.  "Chateau" in this part of the country is another word for winery, not the American idea of a chateau meaning a "castle".  There are 1,200 chateaus in Medoc region.

However, I would argue with them, that some of their "wineries" do look a great deal like a "castle".

Actually, 90% of their chateaus are hard-working vineyards/farms that are one bad season away from losing their property.  Only about 10% of the chateaus are the "big boys" and have massive grounds and property.

We arrived in France at a beautiful time of the year for wine lovers - purely by accident - as the grapes are all flowering.  If you look closely at the picture to the right, what looks like tiny little grapes are actually blooms/flowers.

The soil in the Medoc region is rocky, VERY rocky...which makes these grape roots work extra hard (great for the vines).  The grapes they grow in this region like dryer conditions, so some of the farmers actually plant grass in between the rows of vines to soak up extra water. The farmers here use roses, like many farmers who grow grapes, at the end of the rows much like the miners used birds in the mines.  A rose bush will be able to tell the farmer if something is wrong, much sooner than they would notice on their vines.

Our tour group was sent up the "Route of Chateaus" to the small village of Saint-Estephe to tour Chateau Prieure-Lichine, and taste some of their wines.  It was founded in the 15th century by Benedictine monks.  The vines planted here are mainly Cabernet SAuvignon and Merlot.  They have brand new cement vats, from Italy, where the grapes spend their first 30 days off the vine.  The interesting thing about these vats is they are smaller at the top. For those wine lovers, you know that the skin and seeds float to the top forming a "cap" during these first 30 days.  Having a smaller top, means that the cap is thicker - so when they filter the grape juice through the vat 3 times a day, it has to go through a thicker cap - therefore getting a better color and flavor.  Leave it to those Italians!!

Then, the wine spends 18-24 months in, of course, FRENCH oak barrels.  I will say, this was one of the most beautiful barrel rooms I have ever seen...and the smell...oh, so wonderful.

After some other chateau/village visits - all four tour groups ended up at Chateau Kirwan for a private dinner.  Our last wine with dinner was a 1981 Chateau Kirwan- spectacular old-aged wine to end an amazing day.