August 22nd, La Cadière d'Azur (Provence).
No, global warming has'nt worsened yet to such an extent that Bandol's Mourvèdre is being harvested that early ! Today is the first 
The weather is optimal today, warm but not too much, and the pickers began to work at 7 am. There are 12 of them, plus 2 bucket-carriers and the tractor driver. Later, several members of the Bunan family, including children, will join for this first day.
Michel Ferrus, viticulture manager, oversees how the pickers work, looks for forgotten clusters behind them and checks in the gondola for undesirable grapes or leaves. He was originally an independent vigneron (bringing his grapes the the local coop) somewhere else before working at Domaine Gentile, an organic estate with high, qualitative farming standards in Corsica. Thereafter he chose to work on the continent for family reasons and was hired by Bunan. He says that the job here is exciting and that he likes the way the Bunans trust his work in the vineyard wine.
I first speak to Jennifer and Jerome [picture on the left]. Most pickers have already worked in a vineyard, but Michel says that anyone can call at the Domaine and will eventually be given a try. As everything is picked manually in the region, there is work for those ready to be on the spot early.
The pickers have to find and cut the clusters one by one, which is not always easy because the canopy is thick and because the Sauvignon clusters are dense and short, with the stem often difficult to reach with the shears. They sometimes work blind and the fingers are at risk...
The Domaine Bunan has the Qualenvi certification which gives a frame to protect the environment in the vineyard. The philosophy here is sustainable agriculture. The generally dry climate allows it, although the proximity of the sea can bring some humidity and oïdium in certain circumstances.
Source:http://www.wineterroirs.com/page/11/
business from France to the U.S.. Her academic interest was primarily culture, litterature and cinema and not wine, but what was to be her future career all came by itself: just by enjoying great moments in local bistrots like le Passavent (a bistrot/restaurant with a great wine list), drinking wine "à la ficelle", a new and magical way to serve wine for her (a bottle of your choice is brought to your table and you just pay for what you drink). They also used to go eat at Le Baratin, a restaurant with great food and a selection of natural wines (maybe one of the first in Paris then with such an exclusive wine list). She spent these years between Paris, New York and Harvard (where she studied the french cinema), and several grants helped her stay in Paris. She did not know at the time what natural wine was about, but the difference in the way these wines tasted began to raise her awareness and curiosity on the subject. [ Upper left picture: Jenny with Claude Courtois at a tasting of his wines plus book-signing, at Café de Flore ] 
of a few of them. The first time that I tasted his generous Sancerre whites was precisely in a wine bar and he was there in person. His grapes are organicly grown and his wines are vinified with a slow-vinification approach. His unfiltered Sauvignons have a beautiful turbid-gold color with an onctuous mouth feel. I told him at the time that I would drop one day in Sancerre for a visit
pushed or sprayed, and they riped quietly on the tree or on the ground and they reflect the vintage and the occasional accidents that mother nature brougt onto them, like scars, insect bites or drought-induced small size. If you're used to what the supermarket selects for you, the first bite may be a surprise, like some can very acidic (that's why you can keep them through the winter), but there's the taste, and at the end you feel that you ate something real and good for you.
which is located in one of the remaining Napoleonian shopping arcades of Paris. These arcades were some sort of early shopping malls and allowed the Parisians of the Napoleon era to do window shopping and stroll in a clean, well-lit and heated street (in winter) without being bothered by the rain and the horse carts. There are quite a number of these "passages" and "galeries" in Paris and most of them are located around the Palais Royal and the Grands Boulevards on the right bank. See this map (mouse over for names and click) for their location and details The Passage des Panoramas was built in 1799 and it was probably the very first covered arcade in Paris. Emile Zola writes at length about the passage in his novel Nana, which features an intriguing and energetic young Parisian prostitute. Read the chapter 7 of Nana (in English), where you'll have a taste of the sexual freedom of a high-class prostitute under Napoleon III and glimpses of this lively shopping arcade in an era that historians deem as having known "the most rapid economic and social change in French history".
are still, though, a few isolated vignerons in the Bordeaux area who are pioneering the biodynamic way in spite of adverse weather conditions like rain and humidity. Michel Favard is one of them and he makes wine out of a small vineyard surface in St-Emilion (less than 2 hectares). We met him in his beautiful house in Jugazan, on the entre-deux-mers side of the Dordogne, 15 kilometers from Chateau Meylet and its vineyards. He lives in this house where he also rents a few "chambres d'hôte" (bed & breakfast) to visitors. Note this address (les Sources, Jugazan) if you visit come to Bordeaux vor VINEXPO, it is not that far from Bordeaux and the accomodations are so scarce at this time of the year in the region that most "chambres d'hôte" are booked.
of Northern Burgundy as he
