September | 2022 | Our French Dream

Monsieur Mayor and the Municipal Council
of DAGLAN are pleased to invite you
to the plantation
of the Communal May
Sunday, September 25, 2022
on the Esplanade des Fetes
from 12 a.m.

As you can see from the above invitation the commune was invited to a special event last Sunday, the plantation of a very special pole to commemorate the Marie. This should have been completed a few years ago but with Covid everything stopped. So this was the first opportunity for the celebration and for people to gather and take part in the planting of the pole and of course a great time to catch up with people that you may not have seen for a long time.

Preparing the pole with the customary shield, flags and rosettes. As you can see the men wore the customary flowers in their hair or around their necks.

Everything was prepared, ropes secured and a few men positioned on the roof to help to lift the pole into place.

Moving the pole into position. At every stage of the operation the crowed of people attending the event would cheer and clap.

La Marseillaise and various other traditional tunes were played while the pole was slowly raised up to the sky.

Slowly the pole was lifted into place.

Once in place our neighbour scampered up the ladders to retrieve the ropes.

Looking splendid, a big round of cheers was given to the committee for all of their hard work.

About a hundred people attended the ceremony which was a great success.

A buffet of delicious food and drinks followed and was enjoyed by all.

A great community event, well done.

……….

If you are looking for a wine tour which guides you through magnificent vistas of the Perigord Purple. A vineyard which stretchers as far has the eye can see, with an informative and excellent guide to the various wine process, culminating with a very pleasant tasting of the wines. This is the vineyard to go to.

Château Montdoyen was recommended by a friend of ours, Graham from Planches and Plonk, and Plonk and Plus in Belves and after tasting a bottle or two of the wines produced at the Château Montdoyen that Graham had recommended we just had to book a visit and go and see for ourselves.

Château Montdoyen is situated South West of Monbazillac in the heart of the Perigord Purple.

The domane covers eighty three hectares, forty or which have vines being cultivated.

Grape varieties are red grape Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Malbec. The white grape varieties are Sauvignon Blanc, Sauvignon Gris, Muscadelle and Semillon.

Grapes are harvested by hand, then maceration for about twenty four hours, pressed, rotated, strained and fermentation before the wine is aged on lees. The lees are regularly stirred and after months of attention they are ready for the next process of ageing.

Imagine that you are taken to a dark room then the lights are switched on, oh my wow, this was the sight before us. All oak barrels labelled with the wine and date so they people know when it is ready to bottle. The very large barrel is quite special due to the fact that the grapes go straight into the barrel by a funnel at the top. When the oak barrels get too old they are sent to be used in the process of making Cognac.