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What’s going on in the vineyard? 23rd June 2020.
The grapes are starting to form and after two weeks of almost daily rain, the weather has settled and things are looking brighter.
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Life in the Loire on lock-down. 13th June. Day 34 of déconfinement.
The internet flickered back on this morning. Just for a brief moment the livebox starting winking at me and then… it was gone again.
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Life in the Loire after lock-down. 31st May. Day 21 after déconfinement.
I think I could write a book about Nigel’s dreams. His dreams are far more exotic and exciting than mine although they’re more like nightmares than dreams.
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Life in the Loire after lock-down. 16th May. Day 6 of déconfinement.
I had the best night’s sleep last night. Was it due to the fact that I got up at half five yesterday morning? Was it the 6km walk through the vineyards?
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Life in the Loire on lock-down. 7th April. Day twenty four.
My yesterday’s bread was not voted the favourite so far it has to be said. It rose well and has great flavour but seems a bit dry.
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Wine Education – Can grapes grow anywhere?
Vines are hardy plants that will grow in the most unlikely of places. Does that mean that we can make wine anywhere in the world?
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Recipes from Le Tasting Room’s kitchen – beef cooked in stout with prunes
Adding stout instead of wine and then prunes towards the end of cooking gives a delicious rich casserole that is perfect in the run up to Christmas.
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Wine education – residual sugar in wine
Wine professionals often talk about residual sugar in wine but the average wine drinker is a little unclear about what this term actually means.
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Hunting for mushrooms
French people are very secretive about mushrooms. They don’t let on where you can find them in case you go and pinch them yourselves.
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Les Grandes Tablées du Saumur Champigny 1 & 2 August 2018
For two nights in August, the centre of Saumur becomes the biggest restaurant in the world as thousands gather for the annual celebration of Saumur Champigny and its wines over a delightful open air dinner on the banks of the river Loire.
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The Loire 2017
I don’t think I’ve ever seen the Loire so low in the 11 years that we’ve lived here. It was pretty low in 2011 but I don’t think it’s been this low.
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Frost damage in the Loire 2017
Sadly I have to report that after an extraordinarily difficult year in 2016 due to frost, the Loire has yet again been hit hard in 2017.