The book in my previous post describes Virgile as he is setting out into wine production in 2001.  At the back of the book the author Patrick provides an update stating that much has changed since 2001, Virgil has now become successful in the Languedoc wine industry.  But his success has taken him away from something close to his heart; the production of wines for the enjoyment and pleasure of wine drinkers:

Happily, a recent collaboration with a UK internet-based  business called Naked Wines has played a significant role in rekindling this primary enthusiasm.  Their unusual arrangement encourages customers to subscribe on a monthly basis, effectively sponsoring the making of special, limited edition cuvees, which they are then able to purchase using the investment which they have accumulated, (They call them ‘angels’, like theatrical angels.)

Meanwhile, for Virgile, like other wine-makers, this sponsorship allows him an outlet for his creativity, which is entirely separate from  his own domaine, creating wines which he would never normally be able to contemplate.  While some of the wines that he has made for his angels use grapes from his own vines, the arrangement also allows him to operate effectively as a ‘flying wine-maker’ (albeit without the glamour of the flights!), producing wines with grapes that are grown and picked by other landowners, under his supervision, but using their cellar facilities.

This has, for instance, given him the opportunity to make several wines in the Ventoux in the Rhone Valley, using partly the grapes grown on his late grandfather’s land – something he had never previously permitted himself to dream of doing.  I has also allowed him to try his hand at Merlot and a Sauvignon Blanc (taking him back to his early experiences in Chile) without the need to replant or invest in additional parcelles which offer those varieties, or indeed to commit himself to those particular winds in the long term at all.  To all of these he brings the same essential values and philosophy: above all, wines made for the pleasure of drinking them.  and the proof of his success must be the fact that one of his Naked Wines offers sold all of its 3,000 six-bottle cases in just three days and another exhausted a 500 case supply in a mere three hours!

Being angels we received the book with a wine order and it arrived just in time for my birthday last year.

Synopsis (from the author’s website):

In Virgile’s Vineyard, Patrick Moon explores the world of Languedoc wine. Among the cast of characters that Patrick meets during his year of discovery is Virgile, a young local wine-maker who offers to initiate him into the mysteries of each seasons work in the fields and in the cellar. Virgile is passionately committed to perfection, even though his limited means afford him just a handful of hectares and the smallest cellar imaginable.

At the other extreme is Manu, Patricks dipsomaniac neighbour, a diehard traditionalist producing a private wine-lake of unspeakable rouge. With Manu as his self-appointed guide, Patrick embarks on a quest for the revolutions leading lights a succession of lively encounters with growers as diverse as the wines themselves interwoven with entertaining digressions into the history of the regions wine-making.

Meanwhile the author struggles to deal with his long-neglected French home an unfamiliar and unpredictable world where the brambles have grown as tall as the olive trees, the water supply has just dried up and there is a ferocious animal under the roof tiles…

Review:

The book is set out in months of the year, giving insight into what typically occurs in each season. I found the book delightfully refreshing and full of humour.

I warmed to the many characters who were described in the book and also learned a lot about wine making and the exacting requirements for appellation controle rather vin de table…

The author’s adventures reminded me of my visit to Carcassonne and left me with the feeling of wanting to live in that area of France…

PS: I have received a gift of the sequel (Arrazat’s Aubergines) from Mr C.  I am looking forward to reading it on our upcoming long weekend away.  Our Christmas present to each other