This Thursday, 24 February, 12-8pm
Bishopsgate shop
Walkaround/informal
£25 per person inc VAT(redeemable against 2009 Rhone en primeur purchases)
You can't get a beer even on a Friday night in Chateauneuf-du-Pape. And yes, you do need a beer after the immense effort of finding a restaurant which is actually open - a sad symptom of the apparently terminal decline of the deepest of deep French countryside.
But our dynamic duo of sample collectors see that only as a challenge. As we send this, they're back on the road again, hurtling round the narrow, steeply ditched back roads of the region picking up lovely fresh barrel samples of 2009s for our tasting this Thursday. Today the Meridionale, tomorrow the Septentrionale, with scarcely a worthwhile plate of food between them. (They'll have to stop in Burgundy on Wednesday for something to eat.)
Come and taste the fruits of their labours and, if you have time, listen to their war stories of the 35-hour week and strikes and other major French issues, as well as the life of the road warrior. /CW
Tentative line-up of producers:
Thierry Allemand
Franck Balthazar
Beaucastel
Pierre Benetiere
Bouissiere
Les Cailloux
Chave Selection
Clos du Mont-Olivet
Giraud
Pallieres
Vincent Paris
Pegau
Roger Sabon
Saint Cosme
Saint Prefert
Marc Sorrel
Soumade
Pierre Usseglio
Vieux Telegraphe
