Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
With the house renovations in hand thanks to Jamie's intervention with Lambert, we started
to look to future building priorities. The winery electricity was a matter of life and death
and a tasting room was fundamental to sales success. I called the electrician that Jamie re-
commended.Jamiewasagreatcolleague tohave,alwayshappytohelpandknowledgeable
not only on winegrowing and winemaking but also bureaucracy and renovation. We didn't
get to know him very well socially, he was a bachelor with a busy diary, but I was pleased
we'd been able to help him out too in those early days so that I could call on him when
needed.
Christophe the electrician, based in Gardonne five minutes away and available 24/7 to his
winemaker clients, arrived in a beautiful new Mercedes van.
'Ce n'est pas aux normes,'
said Christophe, looking around the winery. 'We must take it
out and redo it.'
'It's not within regulatory norms' was a phrase I was becoming familiar with. In France
everything is regulated down to exactly how bread must be made to be called 'traditional'.
Christophe pointed to uncovered neon lights. 'With liquids being pumped at high pressure
winery lights must have waterproof covers. And all this wiring must go.'
Even to my untrained eye the old cables snaking round the roof looked in need of replace-
ment.
Christophe took measurements and disappeared with a desultory wave. The next day the
faxspewed outa
devis
forten thousand euro.Iwasstaggered. The workdidn't even include
digging up half the courtyard to lay the new electricity cables in the ground, which he said
had to be done by someone else.
At that price there was no way we could afford to redo the electricity but we didn't want
to wind up another winemaker fatality. Bernard Barse, our old friend with the B&B and
a qualified electrician as well as a vigneron, whistled when I mentioned the amount, but
when he came round later and had a close look he confirmed the price was right.
Meanwhile, despite the lack of funds I went ahead and asked a local roofer for an estimate
for the renovation of the tasting room. He estimated that a quick repair of the roof would
be a couple of thousand. Ignoring completely how little money we had to put towards the
project he recommended a total replacement of the entire outbuilding roof, as a 'quick' re-
pair would not be guaranteed since it would be attached to structural parts of the old roof
that would not be replaced. Soon I was perched in front of his boss looking at a quote for
twenty thousand. The tasting room renovation was looking as likely as the electricity. I felt
desperate. Our operating budget was disappearing way faster than planned and the renova-
