* * *

A small wine doesn’t mean a small time. Wine drinker knows that. Wine travelers knows that better.

So it is in the vineyards of the ordinary—I use that term fondly—Bordeaux produced in the region’s Entre-Deux-Mers zone, lying between the Dordogne and Garonne Rivers. Far removed from the evocative, well-dressed chateaux and labels of Margaux, Latour, Lafite, Haut-Brion and Mouton et al., here we are much closer to the Bordeaux of cafés, easy-going restaurants and French supermarkets. You don’t post a photo of a bottle of these wines, you post a photo the friends you share it with.

Each year on the second Sunday of June, you can share some with 2100+ friends as the wine cooperative Les Caves de Rauzan organizes a walk in the vineyards, a day of wine, food, music and viticultural brotherhood on the edges of the small town of Rauzan (population 1100). Rauzan is 30 miles east of Bordeaux and 10 miles south of Saint Emilion.

Les Caves de Rauzan represents more than 400 growers totaling 8649 acres (3500 hectares) in the Entre Deux Mers zone of the Bordeaux winegrowing region. While the individual growers take care of their vineyards, the cooperative takes care of the winemaking. Recent mergers of the cooperatives of Rauzan, Grangeneuve and Nérigean, each with its own site of vinification, have made Les Caves de Rauzan the largest producer of appellation wines in France, primarily AOC Bordeaux and Bordeaux Supérieur and Entre-Deux-Mers.

The vast majority of the vines in the zone produce red grapes—merlot, cabernet franc, cabernet sauvignon—blended for the Bordeaux and Bordeaux Supérieur. The white grapes—sauvignon blanc, semillon, muscadelle—are blended for the Entre-Deux-Mers. All told, the cooperative produces 176000 hectoliters of wine. That’s the equivalent of about 25 million bottles: 70% red, 15% white, 15% rosé. Eighty percent is sold by wine trading merchants under a wide assortment of labels. The rest is sold directly.

Cellar treasures? No. These are young and relatively low-end wines on the Bordeaux scale. Oak-heads should look elsewhere, though they’ll certainly enjoy themselves at the party in the vines.

All ages are welcome as the event draws hikers, bon-vivants, couples, families and groups of friends or co-workers. The 3.7-mile (6K) walk or “promenade gourmande” takes place in seven musical and appetizing steps from mid-morning and through the afternoon: welcome, aperitif, oysters, foie gras and cold cuts, entrecote (rib steak), cheese and dessert.

Within the ruins of the Chateau de Rauzan, participants are greeted by the Order of Bordeaux and Bordeaux Superieur Winegrowers (and a jazz trio) and are ceremoniously given a glass and a collar glass holder, turning each person into wine pilgrim of sorts.

Departures every 15 minutes from 10am to 1pm keep the 2100+ participants from bunching up in any one stop. Pilgrims proceed at their own pace, lingering as long as they want at any one station. Nevertheless, a bottleneck inevitably forms at the vine-grilled entrecôte stop where the accumulation of wine and now the steak and marching band help bring the atmosphere to its most joyful pitch.

Watch this video and join the party in the vines.

For more information about this walk in the vineyard see the site of Les Caves de Rauzan.

© 2016, Gary Lee Kraut

The post A Joyful Walk in the Bordeaux Vineyards of Rauzan appeared first on France Revisited - Life in Paris, Travel in France.

The festival, which takes places through the month of April, reveals a diversity of approaches to travel and place—poetic, harsh, intimate, imaginary, mysterious, playful—by French photographers who collectively present far-flung “itineraries” from Bordeaux to Tokyo to Africa to South America.

Their work is shown in thirteen venues spread throughout Bordeaux (museums, galleries, garden gates, public spaces), with most of the venues being devoted to the work of individual photographers. Entrance to all venues is free.

Among the photographers for the festival’s 2012 edition are:

Sophie Chausse, who returns to her native Gabon 20 years after leaving the country:

Cyrus Cornet, who takes an “antivoyage” into the French suburbs:

Damien Guillaume, who brought back still-life images from travels in South America:

Christopher Héry, who photographed individuals encountered in Nigeria:

Pascal Ken, who presents images of seven days in Tokyo:

Julien Lombardi, who examines a city’s potential for drift, whether natural, uncontrolled or dangerous:

Thibault de Puyfontaine, whose “Late Colors,” images from Egypt and Mozambique, were shown in Paris in 2011, as described at the time on France Revisited:

Kristine Thiemann, who presents a playful vision of Bordeaux’s Benauge quarter:

Itinéraires des Photographes Voyageurs, Bordeaux, an annual festival of travel photography taking place in April. For more information see www.itiphoto.com.

The post Travel Photography Festival in Bordeaux appeared first on France Revisited - Life in Paris, Travel in France.

By H. T. Wald

When will you come
visit me in hills
where Paleolithic hands painted
where Cathars became Perfect
where men still speak of the earth

When will you come
sip the wine
feast together
sit in the garden by the old stone wall
remembering how you laughed so hard the chair broke
and you said “If I could live here”

When will you pack your bags lightly
for your cousin to drive you to the airport
for the plane to Paris or Toulouse or Bordeaux
for a train to the station where I’ll pick you up
just thirty minutes away

When will you come to the hills
Where you dreamt that you cloaked yourself
in a landscape of fertile green and felt
so secure and free
at home “If I could live here”

When will you come
stay in the village
rejoice in the seasons
explore the known and unknown of ourselves
each other and the world at this wooden table

When will you come
as you said you would come
some day soon
if you could
live here

© 2010

H. T. Wald is a writer and poet.

The post Poetry: If I could live here appeared first on France Revisited - Life in Paris, Travel in France.