Sunday, October 28, 2012

Exterior of the house finished


In two periods of time and with a big help from a friend the exterior of the house, i.e. the borders of windows and doors, were finished just in time before winter.
Up to now they were still in the red stone they were build in, now they are polished with a light grey enduit - with a product coming from Sweden.

As we worked so hard I forgot to take pictures of the "raw" situation before.
Therefore only two pictures.
Everybody who has been to the house will notice the difference and can imagine how the look will have changed.








Have a nice halloween on tuesday night.



Sunday, October 21, 2012

End of the wine harvest


After some three weeks this weekend the harvest came to an end - as usual with the "vendanges à la main" for the top quality wines.

As last year - see blog - I went to Château Fages (Luzech) to give a helping hand.

Here is the whole bunch of helpers with your little servant somewhere on the back row.
For those who would have some difficulties to recognise me after all these years there is a little hint. And no, it is not the man with the glass of wine in his hands.






Afterwards - as is the custom - a delicious meal was offered - this year accompanied by guitar music as you can see on facebook.

Some of the repertoire : Jacques Dutronc (Paris resp. le château de Fages s'éveille), Alain Bashung (Vertige de l'amour), Claude Nougaro (Tu verras), Serge Gainsbourg (La javanaise), Boris Vian, Sascha Distel, etc.

Very nice indeed and a feast for young and old.



Sunday, October 14, 2012

autumn colours


Everyone who has visited the Lot in autumn will known that this season is a time of beautiful colours, not only in the vineyards but also in the sky.

For the moment - the wine harvest is not yet finished - the vineyards haven't undergone the change yet and the leaves don't show off their beautiful autumn colours that range from red over brown to yellow.

Therefore some examples of beautiful sunrises, sunsets and mornings - here in the Lot valley mostly accompanied by fog.








Sunday, October 7, 2012

Wine harvest 2012


This week the red wine harvest has started.

Finally, one could say as it is only the third time in the last 30 years that the red wine harvest begins in October.

This is mostly due to the very rainy and variable weather in April and May.
This caused the blossoming to spread over some two weeks instead of normally two or three days.
As a consequence of this the grapes are very unequal in maturity : on one grape you can see mature raisins, still green ones and on the other hand already dried ones.

The harvest started on the lower terraces which are the terraces around Mas de l'Houvande. First day : Wednesday, October 3rd.

Some pictures taken from our garden.