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Garagiste (english only)

This summer  we had the oportunity to work with Jon Rimmerman at Garagiste out of Seattle, WA, for the first time. He sent out the following presentation then sold LOTS of our wine.  Colline on the WEST COAST!! Next time we do this I will let you know, dear reader, BEFORE the wine goes up for sale - so you can get some!

The Garagiste - as I understand it - is a really cool idea. It's an email list and a warehouse. Judging from the e mails I receive - there is some really amazing food and wine that goes through that warehouse.
This is the skinny.

They send an email(below).
People reply.
They order the wine.
They pay us!
The wine arrives in the warehouse.
The people go get it - or have it sent to them.
Fini!

The Colline family will be going to Seattle after Christmas to meet the folks and check out their outfit up close and personal.  Fun fun fun!!
Here goes! This is the complete presentation that went out to the Garagiste list - without the prices - discretion oblige!



Dear Friends,

A little dream.

A tiny gem.

A lot of hard work.

A mountain of fun.

Colline de L’hirondelle.

We all have a desire at one point or another in our lives - to cast aside a known reality in favor of an alluring unknown that holds as much promise as it does fear. The magnetism of a permanent escape of the foreign sort – an escapade of learning life anew – of growing vines, tending cow bells and whisking away to small town whistle-stops.

Some of us actually live that permanent escape.

Just ask Amy from La Gramière.

You can also ask one of the swallows below.

The goose-bumps of discovery remain the same for me, whether its in Nelson, NZ or Carcassonne, my intuitive cutis anserina usually tells me I have little time to lose or lose-out altogether. It’s the same intangible and intrinsic feeling I’ve had with so many of your past Email List favorites and it’s the same today.

As I stand in front of three glasses (that contain the wines I offer to you below), its apparent that a star is rising – off in the distance of the southwestern French horizon.

With undoubtedly the most charming and (for lack of a more cerebral word) cute labels in the trade, Colline de L’hirondelle is about to stamp their maker’s mark on the US wine-consciousness and that day begins this morning with a simple code of ethics:

Wine of a dream, a gem, of hard work and a Swallow Hill of fun.

The inspiration of Didier and Jennifer, this tiny project near Douzens is loaded with promise. Like last summer’s Oltretorrente (more on their second release in a few weeks), I knew I had about five minutes to secure any substantive rights to this wanderlust of an escape. While I also knew there would be missteps along the way (not every wine was going to be perfect – it’s only their first few vintages), the potential was too serious to pass up...

So I didn’t.

Nor should you.

If you think about it, how often can you sample BIO/organic Chenancon in pink and red colors?

If you said anything other than “never” I am suspicious.

With various rows, plots and soils surrounding their little “hill of the swallows”, the vine age ranges from near 90 years to 10 years. All are cared for and harvested with the tender pride reserved for small children.

With an emphasis on the above mentioned (and nearly unknown/local) Chenancon, this is a series of examples to dig into for its upfront fruity appeal but also its unexpected and quite deep/dark varietal tone. No, they are not the most complex of beverages but they are so much fun to drink and enjoy – what wine was always intended to be.

Dream. Gem. Work. Fun.

Thanks Jennifer and Didier for remembering what’s important and what isn’t – I have to re-orient my thinking every summer and kick myself in that over-swelled head of mine - to remind my mind that wine is about love and simple conversation, not about anything pompous, obtuse or what seems ridiculous as I peer at a wine farmer inching along in his 1956 tractor, barely able to make ends touch.

Something tells me, he’s proud and happy with his vinous life – without producing $1000 bottles, 100pts or trophy cases.

Just like Jennifer and Didier.

Community notes on all Colline de l’Hirondelle: http://www.cellartracker.com/list.asp?Table=Notes&iUserOverride=0&szSearch=colline+hirondelle

Lots of information here: http://www.collinedelhirondelle.com/

ONE SHIPMENT ONLY

FIRST COME FIRST SERVED up to 12 x each wine until we run out:

2012 Colline de L’hirondelle “Ventilo” Rosé (Chenancon) 
(this year’s rosé is particularly great – it's a fruit-filled friend of the mineral-seeker with juicy red berries bursting within – it’s their best yet and it will last for at least another year with ease.)

2010 Colline de L’hirondelle “Cocolico” (Chenancon et al)
(this is their red wine focused on the indigenous Chenancon – it also bursts with deep-toned red fruit fun and a swagger across the palate that should not come this young in a winery’s life – a curiosity that is more than a question mark, it’s a cannonball off the high-dive into a pond of cherries, berries and a strong southern accent. The last time I checked, 2010 wasn’t the worst vintage in the South...)

2010 Colline de L’hirondelle “Oiseau” (Grenache et al)
(includes an 87 year old parcel of Carignan – the most accomplished of the three wines, this blend of Grenache, Syrah and Carignan is more adult in nature but can't hide its intent to run around in the backyard like the first day of summer vacation. More black fruit than red, more palate coating than juice-filled, it’s spice-tinged persona is not necessarily better than the above but it will turn heads...)

La Gramiere

November 6/ 6 novembre 

This post features a kitten and a curly haired two-year-old  - and while that kind of thing is usually not my style -  here we go.  

Il y a un chaton et une petite princesse avec de longues anglaises blondes dans cet article. Je sais que ça peut paraître un peu cucul la praline – mais bon - on y va quand même.

This summer, many moons ago, I went to visit Amy  Lilliard at La Gramière, her winery north of Nîmes.  Amy is American making wine in France with her husband...sounds like someone I know. Amy has no American accent whatsoever when she speaks French, which makes me almost hate her -  but not quite, because I actually really like her.

Cette été, il y a fort longtemps, on est allé rendre visite à Amy Lilliard, à La Gramière, sa cave au nord de Nîmes. Amy est américaine et fait du vin en France avec son mari. Son histoire me fait penser à quelqu'un que je connais. Amy n'a absolument pas d'accent quand elle parle français et ça m’énerve presque … mais pas vraiment parce que je l'aime bien.
 


The kitten climbed onto Vivi's bag without her knowing it and didn't want to leave. Awwwww. 
Le chaton est monté sur le sac de Vivi sans qu'elle s'en rende compte. Il ne voulait pas partir. Oohhhhh.
 
I dragged some wine-loving friends - they left the men home with the kids (7 of them - the 8th came with) and we visited Amy, tasted her lovely wines, and saw her really cool bar-in-a-van.   I've gotta have one of those!

J'ai convaincu des amies amatrices de vin d'aller voir Amy. On a refourgué les enfants (sept sur huit) aux hommes – et on est parti faire une dégustation. On a aussi vu son bar-dans-un-camion génial. J'en veux un !

This one REALLY enjoyed the wine tasting.  We had to take turns tasting and hanging out outside with her. Those are her beast teeth. Not so awww.  
Celle-ci a s'est VRAIMENT éclatée pendant la dégustation. Il fallait qu'on déguste et joue dehors à tour de rôle. Là ce sont ces dents de fauve. Pas vraiment oooohhhh.


She wasn't always a beast. Here she is showing off Amy's fancy bar-in-a-van. Cool huh? 
Elle n'était pas un fauve tout le temps. Là elle montre le bar-dans-un-camion de Amy. Cool,hein ?

And the group picture - with Amy and me in the middle.
Et la photo d'équipe – avec Amy et moi au milieu.

It turns out that Amy sells her wine to Garagiste, the same amazing Seattle based wine list through which we sell our wines.  Great minds...more  on that later.

Il se trouve que les vins d'Amy et les nôtres sont vendus aux Etats-Unis par Garagiste, une vente privée sur email basée à Seattle. Les grands esprits... je vous en reparle plus tard.

les étiquettes en GRAND / going BIG with the labels

August 16 / 16 août
So this is BEFORE.
 Donc voilà AVANT. 
 Photo Lydia Daniller

This is during.
Ça c'est pendant.

The signs are painted - the ladder is out - I think we're at the measuring stage here. 
Les paneaux sont peints - on a sorti l'échelle - et je pense qu'on mesure là. 


and here's AFTER ( with Nina and Lucette for scale)
et voilà APRES ( avec Nina et Lucette pour montrer l'échelle)

 (with the sky and my bike for scale)
(avec le ciel et mon vélo pour montrer l'échelle)

Close up ! Pretty, huh!
De très près! Ça le fait, ça!





panoramic views! / vues panoramiques!

July 15 / 15 juillet
the hill
 la colline

the winery
la cave

friends tasting
des copains dégustent



Panoramic photos of our little operation taken by my tech-savvy father on his telephone. Click on 'em to make them bigger.  You can see pretty much the WHOLE winery looking at the last two.
 
Des photos panoramiques de notre petite entreprise prises par mon père, amateur de la technologie, sur son téléphone. Cliquez dessus pour les agrandir. On peut même voir toute la cave dans les deux dernières photos.

PICNIC! / PIQUE NIQUE

May 5 / 5 mai

Didier made sure that the only sunny day in May was the day of our picnic and it was a beautiful day. See for yourself! Thanks Sam and Kat for your beautiful photos.  (black and white and faded color -Sam and group shots Kat) I think I took 5 photos the whole afternoon.

Didier s'est assuré que notre pique nique tombe le seul jour ensoleillé du mois de mai ! C'est lui qui s'occupe de la méteo pour les fêtes et il s'est dépassé cette fois-ci!   Merci Sam et Kat pour les photos (noir et blanc et couleur rétro pour Sam et les photos de groupe pour  Kat).  Moi, j'ai dû prendre 5 photos en tout l'après- midi.









See you next year!
 A l'année prochaine!

Trois Fois Vin!


May 31 / 31 mai



After a long correspondence with Marie- Dominique - we are very excited to have Cocolico 2010 in the list of wines of the month on Trois Fois Vin.

Après une longue correspondence avec Marie-Dominique - nous sommes très content d'avoir Cocolico 2010 dans la liste des vins du mois de Trois Fois Vin.




Not only is she very knowledgeable and charming, but LOOK how cool her site is.  And orange is the color of the month. Half of the wines have orange in their labels! I feel a fad coming on!

Elle connait et parle très bien du vin.  Elle est charmante et REGARDE comment c'est beau son site!  L'ORANGE était la couleur du mois.  La moitié des étiquettes ont de l'orange dessus. Je sens un mode qui se lance!  Pour voir sa présentation de notre cher Cocolico c'est ici.




"Reading" in the vineyard / "la lecture" dans les vignes

This year pruning the vineyards was an activity I REALLY looked forward to.

All this excitement was due to the discovery of audio books to listen to while pruning.  I wish "audiobook" sounded as cool as it is. 
 Didier went to the library and listened to l'Etranger by Camus, Sherlock Holmes read by someone who took himself VERY seriously and HALF, poor man, of Hunting and Gathering by Anna Gavalda before his i-pod crapped out.
Cette année j'avais hâte d'aller tailler la vigne ! 
 
Toute cette motivation parce qu'on a commencé à écouter des livres audio et ÇA CHANGE TOUT! J'aimerais que "livre audio" évoque la même émotion que "film" parce qu'ils sont géniaux.

Didier est allé à la bibliothèque locale et à écouté l'Etranger de Camus, Sherlock Holmes lu par un monsieur qui se prenait TRES au sérieux, et la moitié, le PAUVRE, d'Ensemble, c'est tout d'Anna Gavalda avant que son ipod ne rende l'âme.

I was luckier and have a tougher ipod. I started with books read by volunteers on a site called Librivox where I listened to all the Willa Cather they had. Well - READ WILLA CATHER,  SHE ROCKS! That's my take on that one...

I started with My Antonia - 8:06 (yes, that's 8 hours) and was transported - sometimes a different person reads each chapter - one of the readers did wonderful Bohemian accents with rolling r's.
O! Pioneers  5:48 More bohemians among the plains protestants .... scandal in a small town.
Alexander's Bridge  3:19 a short story of a midlife crisis and a bridge circa 1910 
One of ours  13:35 winner of the 1923 Pulitzer Prize - a surprising mix of her slow old fashioned style and really modern ideas. 

J'avais la chance d'avoir un ipod un peu plus costaud.

 J'ai commencé à écouter des livres sur le site Librivox lu par des bénévoles. J'ai démarré par tout le Willa CATHER (1873-1947) qu'ils avaient. Et ÇA VAUT LE COUP! Ses livres ne sont pas traduits sur Librivox - mais  j'ai écouté et adoré Mon Antonia, Pioneers, Le Pont d'Alexander, et L'un des Nôtres ( lauréat du Prix Pulitzer en 1923). Une copine française m'a assuré que les livres sont traduits en français et qu'il faut absolument que je lise Le Chant de l'Alouette.... qui ne se trouve pas sur la liste de Librivox !
 



Then I moved on to Edith Wharton for a little uplifting reading. I know, I'm kidding. I think they ALL end badly.
I started with Ethan Frome - 3:12 dated but still cool and a TOTAL DOWNER - Beautiful descriptions of the East Coast of the US in winter and small town life.
The House of Mirth - 12:32 Oh, the rise and fall of Lily Bart! - I spent at least a week with her and missed her when it was all over.
Madame de Treymes  2 hours- a short story set in France - love does not conquer all.
I didn't listen to the Age of Innocence because Daniel Day Lewis did it so well on screen. 
Je suis ensuite passée à Edith WHARTON (1862-1947)– écrivaine de livres qui finissent mal sur la haute société new-yorkaise en 1900. Oh ! La chute de Lily Bart dans Chez les heureux du monde . Elle me manquait quand tout était fini. Je n'ai pas écouté le Temps de l'Innocence – Daniel Day Lewis l'a très bien joué dans le film.



After that I went out on a limb (I just wrote and erased "and read") and listened to two books by Stewart Edward White, an author  I had never heard of. 
Arizona Nights - 5:40 Fantastic stories of cowboys and the rough west read on Librivox by A.E. Moraney who has just the perfect twang in his voice.  
 The Blazed Trail - 11:27 a little bit of a capitalist manifesto for me but I loved the river men and the lumber camps in the cold North.
Après j'ai trouvé un super livre sur des cowboys Arizona Nights de Stewart Edward White(1873-1946) que je ne connaissait pas du tout. 


Then I started going to the library so I switched to published audiobooks in French.  The trouble with them is that I  had trouble turning them off at the end of the day because they were so good.
My favorite (maybe of all - sorry Willa) is Hunting and Gathering by Anna Gavalda (12 hours). It was read by a group of actors with the music and the sounds accompanying the story and felt like the best of a book and the best of a movie.

And then all the pruning was done!

I just bought The Scroll version of   On the Road....mmmm.....because there's always work to do in the vineyards - even after the pruning is done.
 
Et pour finir - mon préféré - en français – pris à la médiathèque de Capendu : Ensemble, c'est tout de Anna Gavalda. Avec des acteurs qui jouent chacun des rôles dans la lecture, c'était comme le meilleur d'un livre et le meilleur d'un film...

Maintenant la taille est finie... mais j'ai acheté le manuscrit de Sur la Route de Jack Kerouac parce qu'on na jamais vraiment fini à la vigne...




Pruning DONE! FINI la taille!


 April 19 / 19 avril

In honor of the day last week when we finished pruning for the season here is Alexis pruning one of the old vines. I was supposed to help Alexis learn how to prune,  but he didn't need much help. I just bugged him and made him pose for photos.
The next day with Didier he used my electric sheers....

Alexis made at least one full circle around this vine ... if not 2.
We did this thousands of times. And now we're done. Until next year...

Pour fêter la fin de cette saison de taille la semaine dernière voilà Alexis qui taille une des vieilles vignes. J'étais sensée lui montrer comment tailler mais il n'avait pas vraiment besoin de mon aide. Donc je l'embêtais et l'obligeais à poser pour des photos .
Le lendemain, avec Didier il a utilisé les sécateurs électriques...
 

Alexis a fait au moins 2 tours de cette vigne !

On a fait ces tours de ceps des milliers de fois cette hiver. Et maintenant on a terminé ! Jusqu'à l'année prochaine...
 






Denmark / Danemark

started January 23, 2013
finished March 4 / 4 mars 2013




Our first shipment of wine to Denmark left in the above automobile... traveled for countless hours through wind and gales and high water... and arrived in one piece thanks to Dag, our man in Denmark.  Now our northern neighbors can enjoy our delightful elixir... at least in Give!

The Colline in Denmark!

Notre premier envoi de vin au Danemark est parti dans l'auto ci-dessus. Il a voyagé de longues heures à travers des orages...et il est arrivé sain et sauf grâce à Dag, notre ambassadeur (ironique bien sûr, tu peux mettre entre guillemets) au Danemark. Maintenant nos amis du nord peuvent déguster l'élixir de la Colline chez eux... du moins à Give.

La Colline au Danemark!





Wheelbarrow
Brouette



human chain
chaîne humaine

...


2CV

Denmark!
Danemark!

Didier with Dag and Patricia - our neighbors in the village ( they live across the street from the cellar - when they are in Douzens on vacation). They are some of our biggest fans.  They single-handedly organized the export of our wine to Denmark and then DROVE it there!

Didier avec Dag et Patricia – nos voisins du  village ( ils habitent en face de la cave quand ils sont à Douzens en vacances). Ce sont nos plus grands fans. A eux seuls, ils ont organisé l'export de notre vin au Danemark et puis il l'ont mis dans leur voiture pour le CONDUIRE là-bas!