My last weeks in Europe

My biggest achievement after my accident was that I was finally able to drive a car again and therefore suddenly my life became bigger than only the vineyard. Although looking out over sundrenched vines is beautiful, even this can become very boring. 

The last few weeks at the wine domaine, making wine, were spent in a relative relaxed atmosphere. All the grapes were processed and thus only the ferments needed to be monitored.The production of rose is reasonably straight forward, but it was a new experience again.

Then it was time to say goodbye to the Provence and my surgeon and physiotherapist there. They were both not 100% sure whether my hand would fully recover by just therapy but told me to give it another few weeks. So, I could do that while I was going to have a little 'holiday' before heading back home.

My first stop was in Narbonne where I was entertained and hosted by some great French (ex-) colleagues from my 2012 vintage in New Zealand. We had a nice evening out and the next day I was able to taste some of their 2012 wines in progress in their cellar. This was followed by an amazingly really French lunch - thank you so much guys!!! And surely would like to return to taste the final wines.

Then I went to Emporda (Catalunya) where I was very lucky to get introduced to two very interesting, but very different wineries, being *LaVinyeta, see: http://www.lavinyeta.es/  The owner/winemaker did a great effort to show me the vineyards, the winery and most importantly the wines. Although it is a modern facility, the wines are clearly 'old world' style and a real pleasure to taste. The other winery was Gelama, see http://www.gelama.cat/en/emporda-cellar.html.  A very small, old-style facility where the young winemaker is experimenting with small batches to get wines of stunning quality. To finish this his mother offered us Manchego with grape-marmelade which was a very special combination that even I, who normally will not eat cheese, could appreciate.  Apart from tasting wine I spent time with my great hosts in the region and visited numerous places, like the Dali Museum in Figueres, the great restaurant of Cap de Reus and the very beautiful touristy route getting there - awesome. Also visited places where Dali lived. Then we visited Girona - a marvellous old city where we walked along the old city wall and strolled through the little streets and enjoyed drinks at a terrace at night. I could have stayed in Catalunya for much longer, because I really enjoyed the place!! The best thing about this stay were the lovely people I met!!

My great hosts - Anna, Anna, Eva and Gemma - in front of Casa de Dali in Port Lligat.

On the way to Cap de Reus

The real Paella in Cap de Reus

Statue of Salvador Dali in Cadaques

From here I traveled to central France to visit one of the latest Dutch immigrants there. The trip over the Central Massive in France was amazingly beautiful with all the autumn colors. And it was a shame I could not stop to make pictures, but it was a very enjoyable trip. However, as soon as I got off the highway the fog set in and I was wondering whether I would reach my destination for that day. Luckily, I had a GPS in my car, that can bring me anywhere and after nearly getting lost in the forest, I managed to reach their house. It is a beautiful spot, very tranquile and pleasant.  And as always - it doesn't matter how long you haven't seen friends, you just pick up where you left the last time you met - thanks for the hospitality guys and all the best with setting down!

My last part of the journey was Holland of course where I spend time with my family and visited some friends. 

The city of Delft, Holland

Multi-level parking

Stupid tourist.......

....... and of course more........

My mum's at her 82nd birthday party

Then it was time to go home - driving my temporary car to Paris and getting ready for the long flight back home. On Auckland Airport I was happy enough to meet one of my friends there and have a pleasant catch-up before going on the last leg of the journey. First thing I saw of Blenheim were the vineyards that were already green, green, green - and I realised that another vintage is on the horizon!! 

Happy to be home and enjoying the Marlborough spring!

Love,

Anita

"All the leaves are brown.....

...... and the sky is grey" - and no, I am not dreaming of California but of New Zealand!!

At this moment summer finally seems to have come to an end in the Provence and all the grapes have gone. While I am typing this blog the rain is pouring down, the thunder is roaring and I am sitting inside with a warm cup of tea with real 'speculaasjes' from Holland that reached me via a special delivery.

The weather is great to reflect a bit and I can say, that the last few months has been quite an adventure again with the normal ups and downs that life throws at people, and thus also at me. Below some pictures of the ups of life in the Provence.

 

Sante! 

Start of dinner hosted by the Domaine owners for the volunteers who are going to assist with the harvest.

Relaxing at the petanque-court

  

Tavernes, Var (Provence)

Cotignac, Var

 Cotignac, Var

Cortignac, Var

Bras, Var

Hand-picking of grapes

Processing of machine-picked grapes (with a little help of the dog)

 And the grapes kept coming.......

 Outside Chateau La Coste / Art Center in Le Puy Sainte Reparade (Provence)

One of the many beautiful sunrises at the Domaine

Now I will start planning my last three weeks in Europe while looking forward to springtime in New Zealand.

Love,
Anita

Slowly recovering

So, now it is 6 weeks after my accident and time for an update. I am still in the Provence, living on the wine domaine and will probably stay here longer time. At the moment preparations for vintage are in full swing but of course I have to miss most of it.

The last 6 weeks I made visits to Toulon 3x per week for changing of dressings and fysiotherapy. These trips were very tiring since it took around 5 hours every time, time mostly spent waiting and sitting in the taxi.

Finally, this week they took the pin out of my tumb which means I can start slowly moving this again and I have fysiotherapy daily, but luckily only 30 minutes away.

In the mean time I have been blessed with visit of my family here in Provence. We made a lot of trips in the surroundings.

Sorry, for the short story and for taking a long time to react to all e-mails I received, but typing with one hand is veeerrrrrrrryyyyyy ssssssslllllooooooowwwww.

Kiss,
Anita

A stupid mistake ........

..... with some nasty consequences.

To make a long story short,  I was looking around in the vineyard while the trimmer was going on since everything is just a bit different than at home.  When the tractor had stopped I noticed something strange and went to have a better look, not realising that the blades were still running.  I reached to fix and heard a yell and then it was too late. I was rushed to the nearest hospital  by the proprietor , but there they could not do anything for me, so I was brought to Toulon. I got surgery on three fingers, two cut tendons and a broken thumb. Was brought back by ambulance and in the mean time I realised that my French adventure had taken a slide in another direction. Never a dull moment.

So, since a week I try to live with the use of just one hand, my left one and thus the 'wrong' one. I have improved a lot but there are things I just cannot or am not allowed to do like: driving a car, flossing teeth, tying shoelaces, closing rubbish bags etc.etc.  I am very fortunate that I can stay on this property and the lady-owner transports me to the hospital when needed (3 times a week at the moment) and this whole trip takes 4 hours all together. Also, I feel confident that I will recover since I am in very good hands at a specialised hand clinic.  They have already started to give me fysiotherapy on my hand, which is encouraging but for at least 6 weeks I will have to wear the cask around my hand and thus no work for me.

If anyone knows of a handsome male nurse who wants to stay in the Provence for a while .......

Cheers,
Anita

Suddenly life stands still

Two weeks ago on Sunday I got a call and learned that my oldest brother had had a heart failure and was in the hospital in coma. Since he was a healthy marathon runner this was very unexpected. The following days I was waiting for news but went on with my life in France in the meantime, since they were going to try to recover him.

So, one afternoon I made a great visit to a former study-mate of mine who owns a marvellous Chambre d'Hote http://www.la-barraque.com/  only a short way from where I am - she is also the person that got me on track to the place I am living now. It was a beautiful trip and a nice afternoon during which we just talked on - after 10/12 years - like we had seen each other recently.

I also spent a nice afternoon in St. Maximin de la Beaume - a village 10km from here where there is a huge, old basilique. There was a tour with explanations all in French and it was a great way for me to try to understand a bit more - I think I got around 75% of what was said, which is not too bad?

Well, then it was Thursday and I got the call telling me that my oldest brother did not have any brain activity anymore, meaning that this was the end for him; he passed away a few hours later. Even though I was so closeby in Europe, I still did not make it in time, but I travelled in my rental car to Holland. It was great to be able to travel there and be with my family, which would have been very difficult from New Zealand. It was a heavy week though that was made easier by friends who made the time to catch up.

And although it was not easy, I had to return, so on Thursday I made the long drive back to France again, to be in time before all of the weekend holidaymakers started to travel south. So, now I am back here in the Provence and trying to pick up where I left which is not as easy as I thought.

Love,
Anita

First of all, my cellphone number in France is +33 6 4866 8533   however, where I am living now, I do not have cell phone reception, so email is still the best way of contact for now.

6 July, 2012
It was not easy to get up so early again, but it has to be done! Luckily when we start at 7am it is only around 17 degrees - however, after 'smoko' the temperature goes up to 25 degrees or so, which feels to me like plus 30 degrees - I have not realy adapted to the summer temperatures yet. This morning was more of the same and wire lifting - it was quite a pleasant morning and after that I spent the rest of the day at the swimming pool, which feels like a private swimming pool at the moment. How could I have imagined last week that I would end up in such a place and be able to relax..........

7 July, 2012
Yes, it is already weekend and so no work for me today. So what to do on a day off in the Provence - after some long consideration I came up with the 'grande idee' to go for some winetasting and soaking up some Provencale scenery.

It took me to a rural town where it was market day and where I bought myself a nice skirt (yes, you read this right!!! ) and blouse, since I packed obviously all the wrong clothes for this climate and surroundings.

The destination for today was Chateau La Martinette near Lorgues that I had read about. It is a Chateau that was redone in its old glory by some Dutch people. However, I never met these owners, but a friendly girl at the cellar door which took me through all of their wines, which was mainy Rose, since I am here in the French capital of the Rose. In Provence 40% of the French Rose production is made and this is equivalent to 8% of the world production of Rose.

Then I got the taste and decided to visit another one, this time Chateau Roubine, where I tried to practise my best French again when I got responded to in Dutch. http://www.chateauroubine.com/vin/domaine.htm It sometimes feels like half of the Provence is Dutch, also the number plates of the cars here proof this. This winery produces some very high quality wines and it was very enjoying to spend time going through there three tiers of both whites, roses and reds. Two of the reds were a real high light for me. This was a Chateau Roubine, Terre de Croix 2009, 14.5% - which is a belnd of Cabernet Sauvignon and Syrah and the Chateau Roubine, Inspire 2009, 14% which is mainly Syrah and a little bit of Sauvignon Blanc. These wines both have some time to further improve. They export to NZ, so you wine-lovers there ....... try to find it somewhere!

After all this excitement I travelled through to Draguignan for a filling lunch before heading back to my 'base' for a swim and relaxing time.

Love,
Anita

The first days in France

3 July 2012
And when I arrived in France - the earth started shaking again in New Zealand. This time it was on the North Island and luckily it was very deep, so no real damage. It was felt in a huge part of the country though and also very well in Blenheim.

4 July 2012
I had a very good night sleep - no real jetlag symptoms at all, so the day started great although the breakfast was as basic as the hotel, but it did not bother me at all! My first goal of the day was Aix en Provence where I needed to sort a SIM-card for my cellphone and a GPS for my car. Well, getting into Aix was more of a challenge than anticipated. Not being used to traffic lights and more than 5 cars waiting for an intersection, driving into Aix was quite an experience for me. Needed to change quickly to European driving mode (slightly aggressive), otherwise I would still have been waiting there somehow/somewhere. Although Aix is not a huge city, it felt like that to me. Also had to wait in the shops for a long time to get served, but finally managed to spend a lot of money but got what I needed.  And in general it is a very beautiful city.

After a very nice and well-deserved lunch with a nice rose I headed to http://www.domainefavori.com/winery-france.htm. This vineyard/winery owned by Dutch people I 'discovered' via an 'old' studymate from years ago in Holland. They offer free accommodation for 4 hours of work in their vineyard 5 days per week. Well, what a great way to be amongst the French vines. Especially, when you can also enjoy the beautiful swimming pool and in general the very nice and relaxed surroundings. After a few hours here I already feel at home, but not the least because of the very friendly people here - and imagine they are all Dutch !!!!  One downside is that I will not improve my French, but to practise it a bit, I bought the book Alice in Wonderland in the French language.
The afternoon ended with a nice swim and then I got invited for a meal by one of the other volunteers and I gladly opened one of the bottles of wine that I bought this afternoon after a very good winetasting at Domaine Saint-Jean-Le-Vieux.  http://www.saintjeanlevieux.com/provence/accueil.php. And imagine - this lady was born and raised in New Zealand!!! How small can the world be ?! So, it was great to talk a bit about our experiences with the cultural differences etc.  But the evening finished early, because .......
Tomorrow morning at 7am it is working time!!!
5 July 2012
Woken up by the alarm at 6am - well, that doesn't sound like holiday, does it? And of we went - 4 of us - to do 4 hours of removal of watershoots - ooohh, the joys of bending and kneeling all the time. I really must admit that I was tired after this - clearly not used to any physical work anymore and the temperatures doesn't help either. But only one more day and then I have already weekend!

In the afternoon I went to one of the villages around here and had a nice lunch again before driving to another bigger village for some happy supermarket shopping. Here I spent a lot of time, especially in the wine department. It is sooooo amazing to see the huge selection of wines here and the prices! I am not saying supermarkets are cheap here, but some products are.

In the afternoon I switched on my TV to watch the Tour de France, and guess what - the TV just has the Dutch connections and I could follow it all in Dutch. How am I going to improve my French here???? And then I did something that was very unusual for me - suddenly had an afternoon nap - well, I absolutely must have been more tired than I thought.

The day was finished with a very nice dinner with the owners and one of the volunteers that is leaving tomorrow.

Love,
Anita

On the way.......

Sunday 1 July, 2012
When I write this, I only have a few more hours at home and then I am off to Auckland where I stay for the night before my long travel to Europe starts.

I have luckily been able to say goodbye to most of my friends here in Blenheim, some of which will leave themselves before I return and therefore I might only see again in some other corner of the world. Yes, we are all moving quite a bit around here, something that sounds strange to the Dutchies, I guess.

The last week has caused some turmoil in my life again - the job that I would originally take up on arrival in France is not there for me anymore. Although I have another offer, this is not set in stone and only starts in August which leaves me with at least 6 weeks of holiday time. But, of course, the reason to travel to France is to make wine (and drink it). Will keep you posted.It looks like I have some adventures ahead and am determined to make the most of it! Now it is off for a 48 hours journey to Marseille but actually only there the real journey will honestly begin ........

Tuesday 3 July, 2012

Finally on Sunday 1 July around 1900 I am seen off at the airport by a friend. My suitcase is too heavy but doesn’t cause a problem for my flight to Auckland and my carry-on luggage is not checked at all. The flight was smooth and since it was at night we had a beautiful view on Mount Taranaki/Egmont that was covered in snow. After a motel night close to the airport the next morning it is off to Auckland airport again. Here I put my suitcase on the scales and I am nicely (NOT) told that it is not allowed to have anything more than 23kg – and the cost of my 2.4 kg extra was around NZD250.00. The solution was to take the 2.4kg from my suitcase and put it in my carry-on luggage. All done and then my carry-on luggage was 11.5kg. The lady directed me via the Premium check-in and there the weight is not checked. This was a very good lesson for any future occasions. So, in short, I still had the same amount of Kgs to take on board ………. weird rules!!

Then it was time for some breakfast and trying to find a tv screen with the final of Euro 2012. When I was all installed after around 15 minutes the screen went to commercials etc. Well, missed the first goal – and then it was time to check my flight – missed the second goal. And then it was time to go to the gate and there were no tv screens, so did not see anything else and had no clue about the outcome for a few days to come!

My seat on the plane from Auckland to Tokyo on Air New Zealand was good and I had enough space. Also the in-flight entertainment was satisfactory, so this made good for the hassles with the luggage. The atmosphere on board was nice and quiet and the 11 hours were not too difficult to handle. Very interesting to mention for a few of my friends is that the red wine on board was a 2009 Pinot Noir of The Crossings. Needless to say that I had a few glasses of that, because it went very well with the Japanese style beef dishes.

The airport of Tokyo is not half as entertaining as Singapore Airport (this one is still my all-time favourite, not the least because of the swimming pool). So, it was great to finally (after 5 hours) get on the plane again. I was already very tired by then and did not really look forward to the 13 hours to Paris, but the only  thing one can do is to try to relax and go for it. For the first time in decades I was not able to have an aisle seat in the plane, but luckily I slept for a large part of the trip which was surprisingly since the seats were really tiny both in width as in leg space. This Air France/KLM flight was a huge step downwards from the Air New Zealand one before.  

And then after over 50 hours of travelling this morning I finally arrived in Marseille, where I get myself a rental car and already managed to get on the wrong side of the road once - ggrrhhhh. It is great though to see the nice hills, to experience summer temperatures and the French around here are very friendly even, and the food is nice as well!! I now just need to organise cellphone connection and a navigation system and then I am sorted for my travels/work or whatever comes my way.

Love,

Anita

La Douce France .......

It has been a while since I started vintage and in the mean time finished weeks ago - it was a very strange, quiet, slow vintage which in the end means less work. Therefore, my contract did not get extended and I had to come up with some new ideas. Since vintage was bad all around, finding a job straight away here in Marlborough, New Zealand was a bit of a challenge.

Solution: flying to France, take up a job for 5 months in the South and spend some extra time in Europe after that.

So, on 1 July I will be in a plane to Paris and starting work straight after arrival, which also means that I will not be able to watch the Euro2012 final.

This is where I will be: http://www.maplandia.com/france/languedoc-roussillon/gard/ales/cruviers-lascours/, so the area is not too bad at all! Great advantage is that I will be pretty close to Spain and Italy as well!

Well, needless to say, that I had and still have some stressful times, but hopefully the French summer will make me relax. In the meantime I have started French lessons to be better prepared for my life there. And hopefully I will find someone to rent my place, because my job in France is mainly to build up some extra experience.

I still need to get used to the idea myself - and if any of you Europeans would like to come to visit, let me know, since I will have most weekends off in July and August.



Au revoir!
Anita

Dark side....... here I come again!!

Yes, it is that time of the year again ------ vintage in New Zealand! Slowly the town has been filled with a very international crowd of people. Unfortunately we have had the worst summer since around 80 years and therefore the grapes haven't developed very fast, which made everyone wait and wait and wait a bit more.
This Tuesday, however, we have been hand picking a first bit of the grapes - just 8,000 kg. Well, that is not very much, but took us, a group of around 40 workers, around 5 hours to harvest. Luckily there are machines to do the other 30,000,000 kg !!

During vintage the business runs 24/7 for everyone. After a few vintages in the cellar, this year I will be assistant winemaker which is a great challenge and huge opportunity to build my career. It also means sitting on a chair at a desk for long hours during the night. Yes, I will be going back to the dark side again and really looking forward to it.  Now, it is time for the last catch-ups with friends and the last parties. Well, I am tired already !! Better have a bit of a quiet weekend??

Catch you all again after vintage!

Love,

Anita

Summer in NZ ?

The two weeks of holidays that most Kiwi's had was a mixed bag of weather. There were a few beautiful days but also really bad weather with lots of wind and rain. Unfortunately, that was exactly around the time the grapevines flower and the fruits need to be fertilized. The fruitset has been very disappointing this year and probably the harvest will be late and short - so, a little challenging at least!
I was able to pick a few days with nice weather in the forecast to pack my camping gear and go to Hanmer Springs <a href="http://www.fourcorners.co.nz/new-zealand/Hanmer-Springs/">http://www.fourcorners.co.nz/new-zealand/Hanmer-Springs/</a>. Before getting there I stopped on the way to Kaikoura to go to see baby seals with two friends who travelled to Kaikoura as well. Unfortunately, we were here in the wrong season - have to get back after vintage. But it is still a nice spot

Along the coast there were still the mature seals hanging around.

Hanmer Springs is set amongst the mountains and forests which makes it a great holiday destination, not the least for the springs. But during the holiday season it is far too crowded in the springs for me, so I just walked and enjoyed the scenery that is so different from Blenheim.

Apart from the scenery I enjoyed a lot of good food and wine in Hanmer Springs, since I found that nice restaurant there: Chantellinis http://www.chantellinis.com/gallery.html that I can recommend to anyone who plans to travel that way. I felt treated like a queen - only disadavantage was that I had to pay myself.

On my way back I made a nice trip around via Murchison, Motueka and Nelson

 and then the weather started to deteriorate again - and I was back in time from my camping trip.

At the end of January I have been to Auckland for a few days to catch up with some 'old' and new friends. Apart from eating and drinking and chatting hours away I went for one day to Waiheke to do some winetasting. This island that is just 45 minutes from Auckland by ferry is very arty and produces some Bordeaux blends of reasonable quality. One day was clearly not enough to enjoy all of the island but I managed to visit all the wineries that I had been recommended by a friend. I also enjoyed the hospitality of friends in and around Auckland - thank you so much!!!!  I hope to be able to have you around at my place some time.

Back in good old Blenheim it was time to look after the house and garden again. Actually, the garden is a bit too big for me to maintain very well, but it still looks pretty well, apart from the veggie patches - but next year most of those will be gone and the backyard changed in more of an entertaining area - at least that is the plan at the moment.

So now the holidays are over for me this year and work will take up alot of my time - at least until the end of June when my contract ends (again) and after that ........... probably a new challenge? who knows?

Hugs and kisses,
Anita