Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The night they arrived we set up camp for them in the second half of the house where
renovations we still seriously required. Cillian, their nine-year-old son, and Juliette, their
seven-year-old daughter, were ecstatic; it was a real adventure being in an abandoned semi-
ruin. Mattresses, sleeping bags and boxes as side-tables offered simple comfort. We put the
kids to bed early and settled down to catch up, starting with an aperitif of the Saussignac
dessert wine we bought with the property.
'This is fantastic,' said Barry.
Aideen followed with more superlative comments. She grabbed my notebook and took
tasting notes. Then we tasted the reds.
'You must sell these wines direct this Christmas,' said Barry.
We had been enjoying the wines but we didn't feel confident enough to sell them. Sean
had taken samples to a
négociant
nearby who had voiced interest - but at outrageously low
prices.
'Are they good enough to market to our future customer base?' I asked.
'You have to. If you wait, people will forget you. Get the offer out there.'
'But how will we do it in time for Christmas? It's nearly November.'
'It can't be that hard,' said Barry. 'Do the sales over the Internet.'
We had worked on large-scale transactional Internet projects, Sean for the bank and my-
self for diverse clients, but that seemed far away in the past, although it was a mere three
months since we'd moved. The bottles we bought were 'nude' so we needed labels and cap-
sules, the covers that go over the corks, then we'd need a shipping partner and approval
from the customs authorities to ship the wine.
Undaunted by the logistical problems, we spent the evening coming up with labels and
tasting notes for the sales campaign which in a few hours had become a reality. 'Ho Ho
Haut Garrigue' became our Christmas tag line, but 'Sassy Saussignac' in bold gold with lur-
id pink lips underneath didn't look quite as appealing the following morning when we all
got up to participate in our first ever hand-harvest of 'sassy' dessert wine.
We arrived at the Barses', the family that had hosted us at their B&B. Their ancient uncle
was in the winery and didn't recognise us. When we'd stayed in the B&B we visited his half
of the Barse house, which was like stepping back in time. Medieval cobbles on the floor
were cracked and worn from centuries of use and, opposite the door, a huge fireplace with
hooks and pots hanging over it was still in use as the primary cooking facility. He greeted
us warily and escorted us to where the extended family was picking grapes. To him, after
a lifetime of working this vineyard, anyone offering to help hand-harvest for fun was re-
garded with suspicion.
Sun filtered through the vines highlighting pickers in a honeyed haze. Mist, part of the
secret of the unique Saussignac botrytis which creates these sweet wines from heaven, was
paintedingoldenairbrushstrokesoverthescene.Allwasquietsaveforafewbirdcallsand
chatter between pickers. Bernard greeted us warmly and gave us a succinct lesson which I
