Archive for 2012

I always make a detour to get this view from the top of the Hill of Hermitage each time I visit the region. Note the closeness of the valley walls, walls that form a funnel down which the Mistral wind is squeezed and through which it gathers force: a power expended in the southern part of the valley…

I took this shot after lunch in Tournon. From that bank, one looks back at Tournon's twin of Tain l'Hermitage, the pair separated by the mighty Rhône. You can see a great deal of building taking place in Tain and, indeed, Tain seems the younger twin by some margin, lacking the character and, y…

I took this bit of film standing on a pontoon jetty on the River Rhône just down from the domaine of René Rostaing in Ampuis...in the wind, evidently.…

The inner doings of the ruined castle of Chateauneuf-du-PapeToday has been a cycle of pleasure and pain, a brief description of which will give you some insight into the daily experiences of a wine merchant on a buying trip to France. I headed out to Chateauneuf after breakfast and had an extremely …

A view from the top...of the Hill of HermitageWe rose in the darkness before dawn. Opening the window of my stifling hotel room in Beaune, I expected an immeditate ingress of icy air; stars gleaming in the morning sky revealed that the night had been a clear one. Yet although the air was refreshing,…