A hefty weekend: Part 3 - À fleur de vigne

Cravant June 2013

Sunday according to the météo was going to be rain and thunderstorms. The last thing anyone wanted. Since Friday the Cravant festival committee had been putting up covered stalls and chapiteaux (marquees) for our village foire aux vins (wine fair). In the past the Cravant wine fair had been held in the square in front of the church and the mairie. But it had begun to attract people who only wanted to drink rather than to buy and after a while, the decision was made to stop. That was two years ago. Cravant then represented the Chinon appellation for two years, playing host to the big September Vins, Vignes and Randos. An annual event, combining wine tasting and walking that takes place across the entire Indre et Loire region, wherever there are wine producers. Cravant proved the perfect spot, with it's rolling vines, little hills with great views across the valley and the plains, the forest and forty vignerons, who produce some wonderful wines. The two events held in Cravant, the village received nearly two thousand visitors. It was extremely well organised and both years, started and finished at our football ground. Someone locally realised that this was perhaps the ideal event with which to replace the traditional Cravant wine fair and so À fleur de vigne was born and took place for the first time on Sunday 9 June 2013. 

Starting point

There were three possibile routes. One for car drivers, a six kilometre walk and an eleven kilometre walk. The starting and finishing point was up near Le Gateau, which consists of a private house (with the same name) in the old part of Cravant (Vieux Bourg) and a large area of open land, and where big marquees for eating had been set up, along with other local producers - cheeses, patisserie etc. It was here you bought your 'entry ticket' - a wine glass, which had been specially engraved for the event. Apparently in the past before the wine fair was staged in the square in the centre of the village, it used to take place at Le Gateau. So À fleur de vigne was  returning to its roots, with around thirty wine producers taking part. We were so lucky. Apart from a bit of drizzle first thing, it stayed dry.  

Alain leading the way

Our day began at 9.15 am. round at the house of our neighbour's Jacqueline and Norbert. They'd invited Alain who lives opposite them and his new girlfriend and some other neighbours who we'd not met before. So coffee and croissants to get us going. Alain is an ebullient buoyant personality and Sunday, he was on top form. We were in stitches. It was a great way to get started.  We set off at 10am. It was cool, greyish but in many ways perfect for walking. We kept bumping into people we all knew. So lots of stopping to chatter. The routes kept crossing over each other so although we were doing the six kilometre walk, sometimes we found ourselves doing a section of the eleven kilometre and even part of the car route. 

Glorious Cravant

We walked all over the place, into parts of the village we didn't know existed, vines we'd never seen before, and met vignerons whose faces up until now, we only recognised from the group photo retaken in 2010/11, of all the Cravant wine producers. We have a copy at home. The first photo was taken at least thirty years ago. The latest one reveals the generational changeover, with sons and quite a few daughters taking on the family domaine.

Mike heading into Le Chateau

The routes took us through wonderful Cravant countryside, with various pit-stops along the way. Armed with wine glasses and accompanied by enthusiastic neighbours, we all headed off to our first at Le Château  which from the opposite side of the valley you can see perched on the hillside. Part of Le Chateau is being restored, but today it had been taken over by musicians, wine producers and visitors. Each stall had two vignerons. At Le Chateaux our  tastings included Pierre Sourdais, Cristel Sourdais, Dumont, Denis Gasnier, Delallande, Domaine Pallus (another Sourdais) and Jaulin. Lovely atmosphere and there we bumped into some other neighbours, so our walking group of eight became a walking group of fourteen.

Amongst the vines

Next stop was a fabulous walk through vines from the top of the village down to pit-stop 2 at the Cravant panorama. 
Wine producers on this site included Bernard Baudry,  Gouron, Spelty, Bournigault, Moreau and Pascal Lambert who is our closest wine producer and completely bio. Have no idea what time it was. With all the chatting and meetings of friends and neighbours, the walk was more at a stroll place. Met a French friend from one of our Anglo-French groups who'd been intrigued enough to come along and see what À fleur de vigne was all about. This particular group often visit Pascal Lambert for a wine tasting, but not anyone else really in Cravant, so it was an opportunity for them to try a few other wines and get an idea of the range from just one grape - Cabernet Franc.

Working the old way

From there we headed off to pit-stop 3 which was at a site called Le Sauleau. There's a particular wine producer, Vincent Girard who works this area and he was actually there, with horse and plough. Distinctive looking individual with an incredibly long black beard. Ideal Father Christmas material - in another setting. By the time we'd arrived he was having a break and someone else was looking after things, as in the photo. The weather had started to pick up. So lovely sunshine. We didn't taste all the wines, so can't say who they all were, other than there were more vignerons from our part of Cravant and then some others slightly further away in Chezelet, a hamlet really between us and the next village along, Panzoult.

By now we were all feeling incredibly hungry, so started the walk back to Le gateau and the food tent. We got there around 2pm. Plenty of people there already. Given the type of event it was and the number of people they were catering for, it still comes as a surprise to be asked how you want your steak cooked. Of course it  was delicious.  We bought wine separately. Then cheese arrived from a special stand where you were served a little mixed plate of five local goats cheeses on freshly sliced bread. They were all gorgeous. After that Alain bought a bottle of fizzy and Jacqueline and Norbert bought a traditional tarte au vigneron, which was lovely. Met up with some American friends from Seuilly, who'd arrived with some of their friends who were staying for a short while. After lunch we started walking again, taking a slightly different route towards more wine tastings. Although truly by this time, I wasn't in the mood for any more wine. Had been carefully only sipping never drinking the tastings. It's the worse thing to do, if you expect to have wine with lunch and survive the day. 

Finally, eight hours later at 5pm we arrived back at the old church in the vieux bourg, Cravant. The others were continuing on walking and also waiting for the band to play at 7pm. But we had to call it a day. Things to get sorted out for our flying visit to the UK this week for meetings, to see friends and to pick up the last few boxes that we left with a friend in Bradford on Avon, after they wouldn't fit in our car. Also we had a barbecue to go to later that evening.

Our American friends are barbecue champions. Chris particularly loves to do them. He is a brilliant cook. But their barbecues aren't for eight or ten people. They do them when they have a houseful staying. The first time we went there must have been about thirty five people. Last night about twenty five. It was lovely relaxed evening. However by 11pm we were feeling pretty tired, so came back home.

This morning I sorted out photos which Mike printed off for me from the walk. Took some round to Jacqueline and Norbert and some others to Alain. They come out pretty well. We had a fabulous day and by the end of it, had that feeling of satisfied exhaustion which only arrives when you've had a great time.