Katie and I spent 2 weeks participating in the exchange program, WWOOF, just outside of Fleurie. Here we met the incredible French-Italian-Irish family of Jeanne, Denny, and Anouk who are working to renovate the buildings of an old (and huge) winery and
vigneron house, turning it into a bed and breakfast/art community. They have huge dreams for the future of the property and it was very inspiring to be there helping and hearing about their passion.
A view of the surrounding hills of vineyards and the chapel on top of the hill that overlooked the vineyards, La madame.
The two musketeers, Denny and me in the vineyards. Denny is quite possibly the happiest man I have ever met.
Moulin-à-Vent-the iconic windmill representing the area's wine appellation of the same name
Katie showing off some new muscles.
baby Gamey grapes, the major red grape of the region
Fleurie, this is the wine AOC region in which we worked.
Their tasting room.
14 year old bottle of Fleurie, mold and all, that we had with dinner one night.
Battle scars, showing off some new blisters.
Room with a view.
Katie scraping the paint.
Fresh cherries from the tree.
Katie cherry picking.
Pitting the cherries for the cobbler.
Kelly, a fellow WWOOFer shows off her amazing cherry pie, delicious.
View for the picnic.
Jeanne setting the table for the outside lunch.
A break from work.
Fresh raspberries in one of the gardens.
Clearing out the other garden, one of our jobs.
Now that's some weeds!
Final product. Weeds pulled, compost area built, lettuce, carrots and celery planted and raspberry and strawberries replanted.
Escargot on the garden wall.
à point as the call it here in France-this is considered "medium"in French cooking. Don't ever order something rare! It'll really still be moving...
The spread.
Sunset as we dine.
Another project was to finnish a barrier for the handrail made of grape vine cuttings that lead up to the house door. Here Katie gets some assistance from Anouk.
We borrowed their bikes to take a ride into town for some items for a picnic the next day. We got all the way home when Katie turned into the driveway, hit a soft patch of dirt and took a pretty nasty spill. Ouch!
The damage done. (katie'd like to add that it was alot worse than the picture shows...)
At dinner that night we bought a bottle from a local tasting room to share with everyone. Denny and Jeanne told us that the wine was from the vineyards surrounding the Chapel, La Madame, and is the winery that put Fleurie on the map for wines.
Mex-French dinner.
July 4th, my birthday! Happy Independence day, America! The little town where we were staying, Le Vivier, was having their annual party and we were able to come for the aperitif. The picture above is the town oven where people used to come and bake their bread. They had to heat it up every night for a week to get it ready for the party, as they used it to cook the food for the lunch and dinner.
Inside the oven.
Let the party
commence.
Hanging with the locals.
Us.
After the aperitif, Katie, Kelly and I headed into Fleurie for a tasting, check out the shops, get some local cheese and get a birthday sweet.
Vin, saucisson sec, et fromage.
My birthday cakes, French style.
No birthday would be complete without our favorite show, The Office. We finally are caught up on Season 5.
On the way to the train station. Fields of sunflowers give way to hills of vineyards topped off with a beautiful skyline. Stunningly beautiful.
good-byes. We wish you guys all the luck in the world in your project!! Sounds absolutely amazing, glad we could help!
