Grape Expectations by Caro Feely, Caro Read Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Caro Feely, Caro
late-harvest grapes under special conditions. It concentrates the flavours and sugars to produce the most heavenly taste. The way the late-harvest grapes develop is unique, and hence considered worthy of a special designation, giving the wine of Saussignac its commune appellation.
  Appellation is an ancient concept developed in France to denote a quality food or drink from a geographic area. The first food to gain the pre-cursor to appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC) was Roquefort cheese back in the 1400s. Wine appellations were relative latecomers, only officially initiated in 1935. Our reds, rosés and dry whites fell under the Bergerac appellation, one of the original areas to gain AOC status. Saussignac was made a commune appellation in 1982 but its dessert wines were famous as early as the 1500s. At the time all I knew was that those grapes were so good I could not stop myself.
  As I stuffed the fifth bunch into my mouth, I noticed that Sean was having difficulty understanding something Cécile was saying. Cécile repeated herself. Sean turned to me.
  'I think she's trying to ask us a question.'
  'I know, but I didn't catch what it was.'
  Cécile looked at us as if we were aliens from outer space.
  'Are you trying to ask Sean something?'
  Cécile cracked up and all three of us roared with laughter while Ellie looked on in mild amusement. I think she had realised just how little we knew about how to farm vines. Here we were trying to learn something completely new and complex â winegrowing â in a language we didn't even understand. If we didn't laugh we would have cried. I felt like I was Alice in Wonderland. We had a long way to go.
My birthday card from our closest friends, Barry and Aideen, arrived with the caption: 'The road to a friend's house is never long.' I dissolved into tears. There was a silver lining inside the card; they were coming to visit us in a few weeks.
  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 â 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 myself 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 capsules, 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 lurid pink lips underneath didn't look quite as
  Appellation is an ancient concept developed in France to denote a quality food or drink from a geographic area. The first food to gain the pre-cursor to appellation d'origine contrôlée (AOC) was Roquefort cheese back in the 1400s. Wine appellations were relative latecomers, only officially initiated in 1935. Our reds, rosés and dry whites fell under the Bergerac appellation, one of the original areas to gain AOC status. Saussignac was made a commune appellation in 1982 but its dessert wines were famous as early as the 1500s. At the time all I knew was that those grapes were so good I could not stop myself.
  As I stuffed the fifth bunch into my mouth, I noticed that Sean was having difficulty understanding something Cécile was saying. Cécile repeated herself. Sean turned to me.
  'I think she's trying to ask us a question.'
  'I know, but I didn't catch what it was.'
  Cécile looked at us as if we were aliens from outer space.
  'Are you trying to ask Sean something?'
  Cécile cracked up and all three of us roared with laughter while Ellie looked on in mild amusement. I think she had realised just how little we knew about how to farm vines. Here we were trying to learn something completely new and complex â winegrowing â in a language we didn't even understand. If we didn't laugh we would have cried. I felt like I was Alice in Wonderland. We had a long way to go.
My birthday card from our closest friends, Barry and Aideen, arrived with the caption: 'The road to a friend's house is never long.' I dissolved into tears. There was a silver lining inside the card; they were coming to visit us in a few weeks.
  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 â 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 myself 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 capsules, 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 lurid pink lips underneath didn't look quite as
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