shades of orange

Being from California, I never got to experience proper seasons.
It's October in St Emilion and it shows. Everywhere you look
you see shades of orange. I am loving it. I usually dont like to drive
but this season I am enjoying winding down the little
roads and admiring the splendor of fall.


the view from our office
Had to pull over and take this picture
liquid amber my favorite

enjoying the view

Happy Autumn to everyone :))

Being Bordelais

Bordeaux is the capitol of the Aquitaine region. Its inhabitants are called Bordelais.
with a population of 1,200,000 inhabitants, is the fifth largest metropolitan area in France. The city is among the world's major wine industry centres.
Bordeaux wine draws its name from the famous wine that has been produced in the region since the 8th century. The historic part of the city is on the UNESCO World Heritage List as "an outstanding urban and architectural ensemble" of the 18th century.

I Love Bordeaux!! It is a beautiful exciting city.
I would highly recommend a visit if you are in Paris, it is a 3 hour train ride.
It is very easy to pick out the Bordelais women,
they are chic and look like a Hermès ad.






The opera


Regent hotel a #1 choice
Peruvian dancers


great spot for people watching



the reason to have a smart car :)








with my GPS its easy getting around




they have the best transportation system


The Jardin Public


The Jardin Public (public gardens)
is a fantastic park for the kids


an orangerie at the gardens

Michael and I had lunch here, it very quickly filled up.



have you ever seen such beautiful hydrangeas?

The history of Bordeaux goes back between 30,000 and 200,000 years ago. The area of Bordeaux was inhabited by the Neanderthal Man , whose remains have been found at a famous cave known as Pair-non-Pair, near Bourg sur Gironde, just north of Bordeaux.

The history only starts here. You will have to make a visit to experience the rest.
Bordeaux will not disappoint you with wine and food selection:)

Vendange

Its the Vandange season (grape picking season)
People have been talking grapes and good year or bad year for months.
This year will be an OK year because there wasn't enough sun to
really mature the grapes.
There are two different types of wine makers. One that do it for the
money and those who are passionate about it.

Those who do it for the money wont clip off extra grapes or hand pick .
They will rent these machines that shake the branches and all the grapes fall off.
Those who do it as a passion will clip off some of the grapes so all the nutrients will go to the remaining grapes during the last month of ripening.
They will also have their grapes hand picked.
These will be the more expensive bottles.
The grapes here are mainly Merlot.

A machine that shakes the grapes
Hand picking is tiring work, you are bent over all day long


After they are hand picked they are thrown on the back of a truck



Most of the pickers are from Eastern Europe (Poland, Romania)
that come here to make some fast money.
They pay $15.00 an hour so they caravan and camp out here during the Vandange.

The grapes are then put through a conveyor belt and all the stems are taken off

After the stems and leaves are removed they are put in a barrel
and squished, and the wine begins :)

Next time you have a glass of wine you will know how it began .