Travel-sized Mise en Place: Vineyard in France

On Tuesday the 21st we took a train from Barcelona to Narboone and from Narboone to a small stop called Lezignan in south France. Our first host for workaway picked us up. We piled into Patricia's car and she said, " You ready for another ride? I live far from here, but it's the best place in the world." We zoomed past acres and acres of vineyards through the countryside past a small town called Siran. Then finally we arrived at her 12 acre vineyard surrounding a beautiful stone house. You can look in one field and there is a small historic chapel then off past the fields you see the Perinees mountains. It was breathtaking.

Clos Centeilles it means "trapped by vineyard" and Centeilles is the area she lives in. Patricia bought the vineyard in 1990 with her husband. They had a lot of work to do to be able to make a name for them selves and rise above the other local winemakers. Her husband got tired of the work and they later separated. She has been running the business and taking care of the vineyard by herself since 2000. In France it's very uncommon for a woman to work, it's typical for only the man to work. So when she would go out and work in the fields people would come watch her.

She has been very successful on her own and now her daughter is finishing school in the study of wine and she will take over the business in a year or two.

She has over 20 grape varieties growing and produces over 15 kinds of wines. There are 30 vats in the cellar where she keeps the wine for 2 years before she bottles it. Then she has walls of pallets filled with bottled wine. And later when she gets an order she caps and labels the bottles for shipment.

People come from all over to her tasting room where they can taste 8 different wines and buy some to take home. She usually has 3 or 4 tastings every day. She also has several vendors that buy her wine and sell to restaurants all over the world. She even has two in the U.S.

Justin and I have been here for ten days and we got the chance to help out with several different jobs around the vineyard as well as cook for her on some nights.

The first day we capped and labeled 420 bottles for a shipment going to Germany. She started us off easy. She cooked dinner that night from the vegetables we picked from her garden. We talked a lot about where we came from and what we do at work and where we have traveled and where we are going next. But she mentioned that she has only ever had one good angel food cake in her life, it was when she was a little girl and has always wanted one since. So I searched in her pantry to see if we had all the ingredients to make one. It was hard to find the French equivalent to some thins. The second day was my birthday I turned 24! We didn't work too much we met her daughter Ceciel and her roommate Lysa and helped her move into their new flat. Then I made an angel food cake in her French kitchen! That's all I wanted to do on my birthday, cook! We had a big dinner and the cake that night. Patricia loved the cake she said it tasted just like the one she remembered and wanted the recipe. The next morning we started working in the vineyard we had our espresso coffee and then headed out into the field. Our job this day was to mark with spray paint the vines that were sick so later after harvest she can treat them. It was hard to decide which ones were sick or not but we got the hang of it and finished one whole field. Then we ate lunch and worked in the cellar that afternoon. We climbed on top of the vats and opened the lid and skimmed off the sediment from the wine oxidizing. We could tell some wines were very old they had very little sediment and some had a lot. The smell in the cellar just smells amazing it's musky but potent with wine. We also helped her organize the part of the cellar with the cases of bottled wine. That night we all cooked dinner I made roasted potatoes with rosemary and she made some kind of mystery meat. It was good but we still don't know what it was she only knew the French name. For dessert we had cake again and apricots from her tree.

The next day we worked the the vineyard early so it wasn't so hot. I worked with a lady named Fatia she only spoke French but she showed me how to tame the vines that were not full grown. We would twist and tuck the long vines to grow the right way. Justin learned how to trim the fully grown vines that were too big. We worked till lunch I made a pasta salad for everyone and then took a nap in the afternoon while it was hot. Then went back out into the fields when it cooled down some and we both trimmed. We had to cut enough for the tractor to fit down the row to spray the vines that night for a fungus. While we ate dinner it started raining she was so happy it's been very dry this summer. We learned that to have on your label the letters aoc you can only get water by rain. It certifies the quality of the grapes. And that's what she does. Justin and I stayed up that night and attempted to play monopoly but it was in French! He won of course.

We had the weekend off work so we slept in and she let us attend a wine tasting she had that afternoon and we got to pick out our favorite wine to take back with us. Then she took us to a village nearby called Minerve. It's an old medieval town. We explored it and had a good time.

Patricia recently planned a business trip to find a new vendor in Poland and she only had time to go during our stay. Which we understood it was good for her business. So Saturday the 25 was her last day with us. She was sad to have to leave so soon she said she really liked our time together and we were one of the best workaways she has had. That night we had a big meal with all 5 of us. Patricia made her version of beef burgundy with her wine and cooked it for 8 hours. It was delicious. She wanted to learn how to make the angel food cake so I showed her and her daughter how to make it. It was a good night with good people. We had to say our goodbyes the next morning. She said we always have a Place to come home to in France now.

The next 6 days we stayed at her house with Lysa her daughter's roommate. She also went to school for winemaking and works at a couple vineyards along with her father's huge 30 acre vineyard. So she knew a lot about wine and she is 23 so we could relate more. We all got along great she loves to cook and knows a lot about food. So we all just cooked together and worked together and she taught us some French. The rest of our days we worked in the mornings in the new cellar that they are building. We cleaned shelves and bottles and organized the old vintage wines she was keeping. One was as old as us!

After work we would have the rest of the afternoon to rest or do whatever. We mostly focused on cooking dinner. The first night she made us fresh mojitos and we cooked a nice rotisserie chicken with roasted potatoes and zucchini. The second night we made pork chop with shallot, Rosemary and red wine. She paired it with a great wine from the cellar. That night we taught her how to play a card game we love to play. The third day we went into town and went to our first French market or grocery store. They had funny looking baskets that you roll around. Lysa helped us get the things on our list or find the French version. We got back to the house and made fresh hamburgers. She said she wanted an American meal. So of course we had fries too. We tasted some French beer that she recommended. We found our sour beer we were searching for. And now she was hooked on the card game we taught her so we would stay up and play cards and practice our French vocab.

The fourth day we had more time in the afternoon. Justin and I made homemade gnocchi. We rolled the dough on her big marble table she has in the kitchen. Then we blanched it and while we waited for it to cool in the fridge we made cream brûlée. When it was dinner time Lysa cooked some sausage outside on an open fire using an old vine as wood. It smelled wonderful. We seared the gnocchi and made a pear, white wine butter sauce then added walnuts and sage to finish. It was one of the best meals so far and the creme brûlée for dessert. Today we made French toast (in France lol) but they don't call it that. They call it pan Purdue. So we had delicious French toast with bacon and coppa and Edam cheese. It was a perfect last meal with our new friend.

We are so grateful for these past ten days. We have learned so much and met great people and tasted great wine. It has been a great experience and a great first workaway.

Tomorrow we work a little in the morning and pack and take a night train to our next adventure in northern France by the coast above Paris.