My Life in Languedoc, a Memoir in Chapters #9
My best memories of life in Languedoc are of the people I met. I arrived knowing only one person and I’ve left with my heart briming with the names and faces of people I’ll never forget...
In the early days I spread the word about my blossoming wine tour business by calling on hotel and B&B owners clutching a handful of leaflets in the hope that they’d encourage their clients to take a tour. As an incentive I offered a small commission which was enthusiastically accepted by business owners who hailed from the UK and other English speaking countries but not so much from the French owners. I think this is just one of the big differences in our cultures. Whereas Brits and the like are very open about business and making money the French are much more private. This was a gradual discovery for me but once I realised it, I worked hard to forge good working relationships with the people who were receptive many of whom became personal friends.
One such B&B, sadly closed these days, was owned by Val & Mike, a lovely English couple who not only embraced what I was trying to do but looked after me as well. Walking into Val’s kitchen was like walking into a little bit of England as she regularly baked the best cakes and fruit pies I ever tasted. On many occasions I was sent home with a slice of something delicious and I regularly collected clients from their B&B as they drove more and more business in my direction.
There were many more people like Val and Mike, such as Peter who ran a beautiful set of apartments in the centre of Carcassonne that his designer wife had created. Then there was Marylin and Steve, an Australian couple who owned several little rental houses in a Minervois village. All these people kept my tours full all summer long as did Kay and Mark who run the superb Saine-Helene Chambres d’Hotes in the little town of Olonzac. Later, when this couple started running week long Languedoc tours, they chose my business to host the welcome wine & tapas tasting as well as run a vineyard tour day. I owe a great debt of gratitude to all these people, without them it would have been tough especially in the early days.
Another group of People that were highly important are the customers. I wouldn’t be telling the truth if I said I can remember every single one of them but there are some that stand out. The two lovely guys from Scotland who came on a tour in the early days and were inspired to start their own tour business in Scotland. Then there’s Dawn from America who booked one tour for a group way back in 2014 and then toured with me many more times afterwards including a trip to Tuscany.
And then there are MY MILLIONAIRES. Well I call them mine because as far as I know they were the only millionaires I ever took on a tour and they did theirs in style. When they were young and broke they’d dreamed of touring France on motorbikes. Cruising the country lanes, visiting châteaux, wine tasting and eating the best cuisine in the world. It never happened. They just didn’t have the money back then and when they became successful business people, they were too busy. Then one day they decided the time had come but by then they felt a little too old to ride the bikes all day so hired me to drive the van as well as organise the ten day tour. They were two couples. The men drove their bikes and the girls sat in the van with me and all the luggage and boy, was there a lot of luggage!
The tour began in Poole where they lived and we took the catamaran across to Saint-Malo and from there drove to the Loire Valley for a few days then onto Bordeaux for several days then back up through Cognac to the Loire again. They stayed in top class chateau hotels and dined at the best restaurants, but I was happy to stay in B&B’s, much more my style..!
For me there are two standout days from that tour. The first took place in Bordeaux where while visiting Chateau Lynch-Bages, I found out my lovely customers didn’t like red wine. It came as a bit of a shock as obviously we were in one of the finest red wine regions in the world. But Bordeaux also makes wonderful white wine and for those uninitiated it is a wonderful place to find yourself. After the chateau visit we were lunching at a Michelin restaurant close by and as white wine had not been included in the tasting at Lynch-Bages my lovely clients asked me to order several bottles to taste over lunch.
I wondered how the sommelier would take it when I asked him to select six bottles of varying styles of white Bordeaux and no red, but the nose that had been held high was suddenly joined by a wide smile. ‘It will be my absolute pleasure,’ he said hurrying away to make the choices.
A true sommelier will not only select the wine, but they will also taste it for you to check its condition and I could see by the look on his face he was relishing this opportunity to taste as much as we were.
The other outstanding part of this trip took place in Cognac. In their lovely Birmingham accents my Millionaires had told me they had a lot of money and they wanted to spend it so with that glove thrown on the table I sought out a magnificent tasting at Rémy Martin. The day began when a chauffeured limousine collected my clients and took them for breakfast in the Rémy Martin wine cellar which was followed by a grand private tour of the estate and a tasting of various cognacs. They returned to the hotel in the afternoon to rest and make ready for Le Grand Finale, a candle lit dinner with members of the Rémy Martin family and a glass of Rémy Martin Louis XIII, known to be a favourite of Sir Winston Churchill’s.
Another group of people I must include in this memoir are the wine makers, artisan creators of cheese, olive oil, vinegar and honey and the restaurant owners I worked with. Many of them have thanked me over the years for spreading the word about the Languedoc and their produce and bringing people from all over the world to taste or eat but without these hardworking and passionate men and women I would not have had a business. This was a mutually satisfying and, I hope for most, lucrative relationship but one of equal and deep respect.
Chapeau mes amies !