Corona Time

After so long a time I’m trying to get up again with a new blog post.

First of all : I hope u all r well.

Due to corona we are all confined to the home – to protect ourselves and the others. Not very pleasant, but a matter of survival, respect for medical and social services, etc. etc.

But as always: there are also positive things. Especially nature has the time to recover a bit.
Even here in Prayssac where the air is normally rather unpolluted we notice already after 10 days of confinement an amelioration of air quality.
Also the wildlife has a quiet time as no hunting or fishing is allowed.
As you can see in the picture wildlife is recovering around the house and enjoying life. We see a lot more deers and hares in the fields before and around us.

   



Recently our new website got ready.

The mas houvande website is now responsive to all formats : smartphones, tablets and PC.
Hope it works fine for everybody and hope u like it.


Take care of yourselves. Hope to see you in a near ? future.


Bernard & Griet

Our redstarts

Just as every year since we live here the black redstarts (French : rougequeue noir) have been very active and productive since the beginning of spring and have a nice offspring that started their flying lessons yesterday.

This one began his exercises early evening and was lucky that when he had to make a pause the cats were already in the house taking their evening catnap.
Who knows what would have happened otherwise. Brrr.

Happy New Year 2016

Mas de l'Houvande wishes all its family, its friends and its guests all over the world a Happy New Year.

May 2016 be a happy year for all of you, fulfill all your wishes and bring you success, friendship, love and - last but not least - good health.

Cheers. Santé. Gezondheid. Zum Wohl. Cin cin. Salud !

Red wine harvest 2015

The last day of September - the day our last guests of summer left home - Vinovalie harvested our small vineyard, formerly leasehold by Château Les Rigalets.
This was way after the other neighbour winemakers who started the red wine harvest about the 20th of September.
As they said they wanted to wait the longest possible to assure that the skins and the pips became even more mature so to make sure that afterwards the tannins in the wine are softer and lighter and in the end the wine is tasting smoother, "plus soyeux".
This method is also used by the Seigneur wine of the AOC Cahors, such as e.g. Château du Cèdre, Clos Triguedina and Château Lagrézette.

Can't wait to taste the result !

Some photos :



For further info :

Today's article on the winemaking by Vinovalie (in french) and their website

Some basic knowledge on tannins.

Tango festival at Prayssac

As you know, every year in summer Prayssac is a center of tango activity.

During the last two weeks of July every day tango lessons take place and every night there is the possibility of tango-ing the night away.

Now you can see on Vimeo a nice selection of the maestro performances of the last few years.
Watch and enjoy their elegance and listen to the beautiful tango music.





Come and see next year from the 16th of July onwards.

Heatwave

Since about six / seven weeks no rain of any importance came down on earth in the Lot.
The garden is longing for water and looks a bit brownish.

Last year we had a nice field of sunflowers in front of our terrace.
This year it was wheat.
Because of the hot hot weather the wheat harvest is finished in the whole department.
Looks even more summerly now it is harvested.

The splendors of Cahors

There are a lot of reasons to visit Cahors, the capital of the Quercy, in the Lot, the northern department of the Midi-Pyrenees :

its panorama seen from the Mont St Cyr,
its medieval bridge Pont Valentré,
its cathedral with the gothic cloister,
the secret gardens,
its ancient streets with its half-timbered houses and
the market hall with the delicious local products as cheese, Malbec wine,
etc. etc.

Read for yourself (article in French) and come enjoy a stay.

Experience Malbec

A nice video on the Malbec experience commented by famous winemakers, sommeliers and critics - and for those who know the region : nice views of vineyards and castles and some well-known winemakers !





Do the Malbec tonight !

Château Les Grauzils : gold medal in Paris

Probably most of you know Philippe & Cathy Pontié of Château Les Grauzils, one of our neighbour winemakers.

There is very good news from them as their viognier white wine - Insolite - has been awarded a gold medal at the Paris wine competition this year.

It was the first time they competed.

Here the article (in french).


Have a nice wine at the terrace.