64) Wine tasting - a search for the wedding white

Living in an area renowned (or at least in the more erudite circles it is renowned) for its wine, we felt we ought to take on the somewhat onerous task of finding the wine for the up-coming wedding.  The red had already been selected, after a series of tastings, from our local very excellent vineyard  up the road.  However, white is harder to come by in this region.  It appears the main problem is that there is no recognised appellation for Cahors whites.  As a consequence many domaines feel it is not worth making, as presumably it is more difficult to market and you cannot ask as much for it.

Ironically (and confusingly) this actually seems to make it more expensive.  Those few places that do make a white tend to label it as a sort of specialist aperatif wine, and charge over the odds for it.  Not daunted, however, we set out on our quest with enthusiasm and delicious anticipation.  The weather was awful, but we supposed that by the end of our tour the weather would be of little consequence (and we saw a good rainbow).

Even before we had had a drop to drink, whilst merrily bowling along down a very minor country road we almost ran into this very strange, and rather haughty looking, chicken crossing the road.  We blinked.... it was a blinking peacock, in the middle of nowhere (and in the middle of the road).  Do they really have wild peacocks  in France?  Surely not.

Clearly it had suicidal tendencies because it just stood there, slowly turned its head and glaried at us in its supercilious manner, as if asking the question que faites-vous ici?  Actually, having paid our taxes, and it being a public highway, we felt we had a reasonable right of access, particularly in a left hand drive Renault with French plates.  We also knew it would make a particularly tasty roast Sunday lunch.  However, not knowing the penalties for abducting or running down a peacock in France, we waited until it had crossed the road and then continued on.

We found the domaine we'd been looking for but, like most of them at this time of year, it was all shut up.  Having rung the bell several times, somebody eventually appeared - the vigneron.  Steeling ourselves for the arduous task, we got thoroughly stuck in to our degustation.  Although we were looking for white, we were (reluctantly) persuaded to try some of the reds.  And, as well as two whites, we also found a delicious 2005 Prestige (red) which was really quite classy and at a very reasonable price (or so it seemed by taster number seven).

By the end  of our travels we had bought samples of five different whites, all from the immediate area or nearby.  Of course in order to compare them with each other, we had to open them all at once.  Memories of the rest of the evening are a bit blurry...........