by Louise Hurren, http://www.masdelecriture.fr/blog-vignoble/
It’s high summer in the south of France, and seriously hot. Tourists and locals are sweltering under an officially-declared heat wave. What are owner-producer Pascal Fulla and winemaker Patrice Giorello of Languedoc’s Le Mas de l’Ecriture up to? They’re talking about climbing a mountain? It would make for some neat bottle shots, and the story could be put on the winery blog. And how about a dégustation at the summit: does wine taste different at altitude? Er no, skip that, who cares. When you’ve spent the best part of the day lugging wine bottles up a mountain, you’re going to open ‘em, drink ‘em and enjoy ‘em. Period.
And so it was that Mas de l’Ecriture’s Patrice Giorello pulled on his hiking boots and shouldered his rucksack (warmly encouraged by his Catalan colleague Pascal who stayed back at the ranch to take care of the green harvest). Undaunted by the 38+ degree Celsius temperatures, Patrice headed for the hills, travelling south west from Languedoc’s Terrasses du Larzac area down to Roussillon.
Bordering the eastern edge of the Pyrenees and up along the Mediterranean coast, this part of France has a strong Catalan identity. The language is alive and kicking, and the national colours of fiery red and sunshine yellow are omnipresent. The region is dominated by the 2784-metre high Pic du Canigou, and in June, the Fête de Saint-Jean is one of the high points of the Catalan calendar.
Celebrated across Roussillon, this thousand year-old tradition has its roots in the summer solstice. The merrymaking reaches its peak on the longest day of the year, when the flame of Saint-Jean (a symbol of peace and fraternity) is brought down from the Pic du Canigou to set the sky ablaze with a thousand fireworks. The locals put on their finery for several days and nights and host a series of lavish events that can leave you with stars in your eyes, and a sore head. Yup, those Catalans sure know how to party.
But we digress. Back to the story. Patrice and friends made their way to the top of Mount Canigou. Like the Grand Old Duke of York, when they were up, they were up – and they cracked open the Mas de l’Ecriture Emotion 2007 they’d taken with them, and took some pictures to prove it:
Tags: France, Louise Hurren, Roussillon, Travel