Wednesday, September 1 enroute to Barcelona by train. I am on my way to meet my friend, Sue Levinson, in Barcelona. I left Patrice at the station in Beziers as she on her way back to Paris. Angel is snuggling in my lap and the southern France landscape is whizzing by the window.
Sue and I will have several days in Barcelona and then come back to Abeilhan for a few days before we go back to Paris and then home to San Francisco. I can’t believe my summer in France is coming to an end. In some ways it seems like it has gone by so very quickly and I don’t want it to end. In other ways it seems like it was such a long time ago that I left foggy San Francisco for sunny southern France. I’ve definitely gotten used to life here and will really miss it though I’ll be back before very long.
Four days ago something happened. Suddenly there was a new chill in the air in the morning and almost immediately some of the leaves on the grape began to change color. This change seemed to bring about vigorous activity among the farmers in ours, and surrounding, villages. We saw them suddenly working on their grape harvesting equipment. In some cases, like Roger’s, mechanical problems were found that had to be fixed immediately. Clearly they had observed signs that the time for harvest and crush was here and time was of the essence.
I was somewhat surprised. At the winery dinner at Les Trinites, and my subsequent visit there, we were told that a late harvest is expected as the winter had been prolonged and the summer heat late arriving. Obviously something had changed. I had noticed over the last few weeks that the red grapes had begun hanging heavily on the vines but the suddenness of the move to harvest took me by surprise.
We started hearing truck and heavy farm equipment in front of our house all night long. In the daytime we could see equipment and workers in the vineyards. They have been picking the white grapes and we see full truck bins of them being crushed into the wineries. There are also remnants of these grapes in the streets. The harvest of the red ones has not yet begun. I am sure that by the time Sue and I come back to Abeilhan the crush of the reds will be in full operation and the smell of red wine will perfume the air. What magic.
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A few leaves are starting to change here also. It has been strange as summer didn't arrive until mid July. So one would expect a late change of seasons too. But not the case. The neighbors have been commenting also.
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