le Wine Shop— A New Wine Shop in Pézenas Features Local Domain Wines and stocks English Beers and Ales.

Photos and text © 2015 Steve Meltzer

If you love discovering niche and boutique wines then le Wine Shop in Pézenas, France is the place to go. The proprietor Dominic George has a passion for artisanal wines from small Languedocian domains. For several years he has operated wine tours of many of these wineries and had dreamed one day of having his own wine shop. Then last September he took the plunge and he opened his place. 

We found out about le Wine Shop from an English friend who, ironically, told us about it because it is his favorite place to buy British beers and ales. Intrigued, we hit the road to Pézenas and to give the shop it a look.  Tucked away behind the L'Assiette du boucher, adjacent to the main Pézenas round point-- le Carrefour de la paix-- it’s easily accessible from the D13 and A75 and the Avenue de Verdun.

A large open space the walls of le Wine Shop are lined with wines from several dozen local domains. These are the products of small and medium size producers many of whom, as is often the case in the Languedoc, are a bit off the beaten track or in some cases nearly impossible to find.

That’s one of the things I like about a good wine shop. A wine maven like Dominic does a lot of the hard work of travelling the countryside to find great wines. Now this not to say that I don’t like to visit domains on my own. But I find that one of these visits can turn a bit awkward when none of the wines are to my taste. I end up having to make a very “merci, désolé” retreat. 

Dominic likes to talk about wine and once started you quickly get a feel for the breadth and depth of his knowledge. That he likes to share this enthusiasm is evident. When you enter the shop you immediately see a large gray rural table surrounded by chairs where Dominic conducts his wine and food tastings 

When we arrived at the shop Dominic asked us about our wine preferences and soon had opened six bottles for us to taste. We ended up buying several bottles of a wonderful red --“Domaine de Cadablès (2012)” a niche domain near Gabian. It cost € 8 bottle. After a while our conversation turned to another of Dominic favorite topics, the astonishing landscapes of the Languedoc. He spoke about some of the incredible places he had encountered while travelling to small domains and recommended half a dozen great locations for photography; all the while as he opened bottles for tasting. The wines at le Wine Shop are all ‘domain’ (cellar) priced and start at € 5. There are also special sales.

le Wine Shop offers almost daily wine tastings programs.'s the Wines of the Languedoc--a tasting of eight wines-- The Wines and Food of the Languedoc--6 wines paired with 6 typical regional foods--and a Wine and Cheese Tasting. Dominic told us that he’s also happy to create custom wine and food tastings for groups of six or more people. 

Besides wine, Dominic loves the beer and ales of his native England and has a large selection of them; you are bound to take a few of them home too. 

For something entirely different at the end of the week Dominic offers a most special tasting. Summer Fridays at 17h he has a Wine and Chocolate Tasting (€25). It is a remarkable blending of six great domain wines matched with six amazing chocolates from a local master Chocolatier.  It sounds like the perfect way to end a week and to experience Languedoc living at its best.

le Wine Shop is located at the west end of the Avenue de Verdun (its # 65) adjacent to the restaurant/butcher shop, L'Assiette du boucher about 500 meters west of the McDonalds.

le Wine Shop

65, Avenue de Verdun

34120 Pézenas

04.99.41.11.71

06.50.61.99.03

contact@lewineshop.fr

www.lewineshop.fr

The Return of La Maison

Looking for a Great Meal?  Try This Unique Dining Experience

Living in the Languedoc we are surrounded by an astonishingly lush landscape with an abundance of fresh local products. Luckily we also have many restaurants that make exciting use of our natural abundance and to that list of great restaurants add La Maison. Located in the charming village of Tourbes on the outskirts of Pézenas. It has been a part a focus of Tourbain life for decades and now it has reopened under new management. Guided by the culinary skill of Chef Damian Martin and the solid management experience of his wife Florence, the new La Maison is sure to find its place at the top of the Languedoc’s fine dining list.

Damian and Florence bought the restaurant from its former owners Aurelien and Adeline Houyez and after remodeling re-opened it in late April. They work as a team with Chef Damian running the kitchen while Florence manages the front of the house and coordinates the restaurant’s chambre d’hotes rooms. As the welcoming ‘face’ of La Maison, Florence’s warmth and professionalism--as well as her fluency in French and English--clearly puts guests at ease. “I love meeting people and my work is enhanced by doing my best to ensure that all our customers have a pleasant experience, “she told me. 

The La Maison experience begins with your first bite; the cuisine is inventive, surprisingand daring. Damian riffs on conventional cooking formulas and like a jazz musician drawing on his broad experience guided by intelligence, he spins the spicing or introduces an unexpected ingredient to make something familiar altogether new.

At the heart of Damian’s approach is his short menu. 

Offering just a few dishes allows him to concentrate on each dish and to best express his creativity. Working with the day’s freshest ingredients-red tuna brought to him by a local fisherman or lamb from the Averyon-- he produces his day's fishes. But this pursuit of quality products necessitates a menu offering just two or three entrees, two or three plates and a few desserts. There are no frozen or chilled standby dishes waiting for reheating in the microwave. By limiting the menu Damian can better focus on every dish that leaves his kitchen.

It has been a long journey to La Maison for the Martins. Damian was born in Galway on Ireland’s rugged West coast and grew up in a family immersed in the food trade. “ My father was a butcher and passionately taught me this art,” he explains.”I proudly worked as a butcher for 6 six years before embarking on my culinary apprenticeship. It was at this point I realised my destiny to dedicate my working life to the culinary arts.” 

After receiving his initial culinary training and certification in Galway Damian promptly set off to travel the world and hone his skills, a journey that took him across Asia and Europe. 

Florence comes from a small village in the Averyon and grew up in the restaurant trade. “ My mother worked in our local restaurant and on many occasions I helped her with village fetes and weddings. This was my learning block for organising and delivering quality service.” After receiving her diploma in hospitality, Florence moved to Plymouth, England and a few years later moved to Dublin.

Damian returned to Ireland in 1998 he found work in one of Dublin's finest dining establishments and that is where he met Florence. They fell in love and after many years in Dublin decided to move to Florence’s native Averyon. While Damian worked at local restaurants, Florence got a job with one of France’s top chefs, Michel Bras at his Michelin three-star restaurant Bras, in Aubrac. The couple got to know Bras and Damian recalls that he was touched by the great man’s “simplicity and kindness.” 

Their training and experience shines through at La Maison. Damian’s commitment to quality has paid off and since its opening has developed a loyal following simply by word of mouth recommendations. My wife and I have dined at La Maison manyl times and whether we had fish or meat dishes; everything was superbly prepared and scrumptious. I photographed many of the dishes we had to give readers some idea of Chef Damian’s output.  

Damian Martin says that he has a goal of making his culinary “mark” with La Maison. Judging by the reception he’s gotten so far he’s well on his way to achieving his goal.

La Maison

Restaurant and Chambre d’Hotes

9 Avenue de la Gare

34120 Tourbes

 

Hours: Sunday, Monday, Tuesday Lunch service 12h-14h

           Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Lunch 12h-15h, Dinner 19.30h-21h

           Closed Wednesdays.

 

Dinner menu 30€

 

Reservations are definitely advisable: 04.67.98.86.95

email contact@restaurant-lamaison.fr

Website: www.restaurant-lamaison.fr

 

Souvenirs d’ombre et lumière

Souvenirs d’ombre et lumière 

--Memories of shadow and light--

 photographies de Steve Meltzer 

Je suis blasé, fatigué de mes photographies, épuisé par ces moments décisifs, leurs couleurs vives et leur insistance sur la vérité. Leurs détails, et leurs respects méticuleux du monde réel émoussent mon imagination, tel un rasoir qui tranche à travers mes yeux. Tout… a été révélé et rien.

Photographies à la recherche de la perfection - nus gracieux, insectes monstrueux, palmiers, plages, visages étrangers, champs de fleurs, couchers de soleil et jeux d’enfants  - ont toutes été des clichés bien avant mes prises de vue. Les «idées reçues» du visuel ont simplement servi à renforcer les attentes et les croyances des spectateurs sur un univers reconnu de la «beauté».

L’ennui qui m'a poussé à me risquer, à rompre avec mes méthodes établies et mes longues habitudes m’a fait réaliser ces images. Pour cela j’ai utilisé une lentille trou d’épingle (sans verre) sur mon appareil numérique. Cette «lentille» laisse passer la lumière à travers un minuscule trou. Non modifiée par l'optique du verre, la lumière tombe sur le sensor de l’appareil en laissant sur ces images sa signature.

En violant les règles de la netteté, de la couleur, et de la fidélité qui sont la norme dans la photographie moderne, ces images deviennent complexes. Elles racontent des histoires incomplètes dont le récit est mystérieux. Elles suggèrent, mais laissent le spectateur libre de son interprétation.

Ces souvenirs d’ombres et lumières sont des énigmes attractives qui séduisent l'œil et le leurrent, peut-être pour stimuler l'imagination.

I had grown tired of my photographs, exhausted by their decisive moments, their brilliant colors, and their insistence on “truth.” Their detail and their meticulous adherence to the real world dulled my imagination, like a razor slashed across my eyes. Everything was revealed and yet nothing was revealed.

Images in whose perfection--graceful nudes, monstrous insects, palm trees, beaches, foreign faces, fields of flowers, sunsets and children at play--were all clichés long before my shutter snapped. Visual “received wisdom” they served to reinforce the viewers’ expectations and beliefs about a knowable universe of “beauty.” 

Ennui drove me to risk, to break with long established methods and habits. I made these images with a glassless “pinhole lens” on my camera. The “lens” passes light unmodified onto the camera sensor leaving these images as its signature.

By violating the rules of the norm --sharpness, color and fidelity--these images become difficult. They are incomplete stories whose narratives are mysterious. They suggest but do not indicate. They are memories of light and shadow, enigmas that seduce the eye and luring it in perhaps stir the imagination.

Le Sud de France 5.9: Searching for The Moon and Molière.

Martine

Wednesday night, after sundown, with tripod on shoulder, we set out to “chercher la lune.” Tonight there was to be a spectacular  total eclipse of the moon and I hoped to get pictures of it. However as we crossed the village square, we ran into a bunch of our friends who were sitting outside the village café finishing their dinners. After ten minutes of kiss-kiss-kiss and many “bon soir,” I explained our mission to them. 


Immediately, several  looked up into the sky to find the moon. As locals, they felt certain they could show us, we Americans, where their moon was on this special night. But there was no moon to be seen. Everyone looked and looked, and then pondered this mystery. A small boy was even sent off to see if perhaps the moon was hiding behind a building or tree. But he found no moon either, anywhere.


A great deal of conversation followed this strangeness as it was not like the moon to disappear like this on important nights. Our discussion lasted late into the night and despite the talk, there still was no moon to be seen. It turned out, we were told later, that the moon was low in the sky and visible only from the vineyards beyond town.  


Setting out to find the moon and ending up  discussing its loss instead, is the kind of  redirection of intent that often happens in Molière's plays. Which made it a fitting way to end a week of music and theater productions that made up the Molière Festival in Pézenas. 

I hadn’t read much Molière (Jean-Baptiste Poquelin) before we got to France and I hadn’t understood his importance as one of the major figures in French literature and theater.

the Place Gambetta

We live near the town of Pezenas in the Herault and it just so happened that in the middle of the 17^th century, Molière and his touring company, l’Illustre Théâtre, stayed in here, under the protection and support of the Prince of Conti--Louis XIV’s governor of the Languedoc. Molière famously spent his time performing his works and seducing the noble ladies of the region.

A couple of hundred years later, Pézenas realized the treasure it had in that visit and today the town has a Hôtel Molière, a Brasserie Molière, a Restaurant Molière, the Caveau Molière (with its Vins Molière) and the Molière Festival.

Martine and Sganarelle

That would be a lot of Molière, perhaps too much, if not for the fact that he is a great, funny playwright and his plays are wild combinations of broad slapstick comedy--with real slapsticks--and very complex language. His goal was to undermine received wisdom and opinion and poke fun at the pompous. His plays have aged well and I think still resonate today as powerfully as when he wrote them.

The photos with this post are from Molière’s “The Doctor in Spite of Himself” (le médecin malgré lui) as performed by the maniacs of the Théâtre de l’éventail (the theater of the hand fan) of Orleans. The performance was held outdoors in the Place Gambetta in the heart of Pézenas' historic district of Renaissance era buildings.

looking for a doctor

The play starts with the protagonist, Sganarelle beating his wife Martine, with a slapstick. Two men accost him and berate him for this, but then things are soon stood on their head when Martine objects to the men's presence and tells them to mind their own business. She says that she just might enjoy a beating every once in a while and who are they  to interfere?

Then it turns out that the men are on a mission to find a doctor for a  rich man who will pay well for one’s services. Martine, seeing a chance to make some money tells them that Sganarelle is a doctor. Sganarelle is the cunning, over-the-top country wiseass, who ultimately gets the best of all the other characters, and it was role Molière always took on for himself.

Sganarelle find a doctor’s costume--a black smock, white ruffle collar and pointed black hat--and goes off to be a doctor. He soon finds that he likes being a doctor, saying at one point, that being a doctor is the best job ever. The main reason is that if the patient lives the doctor is hailed and praised, and if the patient dies, the doctor simply shrugs and says that it is the will of God, in either case the doctor gets paid. Hmm…sounds a lot like modern medical care.

Sganarelle and his patient

the beautiful wet nurse

Later, when he asks a beautiful wet nurse to undress for an “examination,” her husband objects and Sganarelle says to him derisively, “How dare you contradict a doctor’s commands!” Even his lack of any sort of medial knowledge doesn’t stop him. He tells one patient that the heart is on the right side of the body and the liver on the left. When the patient points out that he has it backwards, Sganarelle’s response is the haughty and elegant line, “We have changed all that!” (Nous avons changé tout cela.)

Molière is anti-establishment and sarcastic, making fun of religion, the aristocracy, the peasantry, and anyone else he could squeeze into a play. I like that and I enjoy feeling Molière’s presence around me here in the Midi, in the richness of the language and the way people play with it. He's also alive in the cynical attitude people have towards poseurs and pomposity.

Next year, the Molière Festival will take place again  in Pézenas in early June and I have been asked to create an exhibition of the photos in this post--and others from the Festival—for the event. So, despite misplacing the moon, we found Molière; which I think made for a very good week in le Sud de France.

Nous avons changé tout cela!

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Le Sud de France 5.5 : The Chateau Abbaye de Cassan.

Goats

It is Spring in the Herault and the grapes are growing, the goats are kidding and the karaokes are singing. On the bright side of life, Carla Bruni is complaining that Sarko is ruining her "career" but on the downside of things, it was a rainy Easter weekend. We were determined to get out of the house and since it was a dark and stormy day, we had to look for something to do indoors. 

Fresh Ginger root at the foire

Turns out that just up the road from us, in a very old chateau, there was a “foire de saveurs et odeurs.” That is French for a “flavors and smells fair” which sounds much tastier to my ears than the American “food fair.” It was held at the Chateau Abbaye de Cassan near the town of Roujan and we decided that it’s just the thing we needed to brighten up a gray day.

Charlemagne

History envelops and embraces you in the Herault and the Chateau-Abbaye is a good example of that. Back in the first to fourth centuries the Languedoc was called “Septimania,” which does not refer to an XXX rated movie “Seven Maniacs,” but rather to veterans of the Roman VIIth Legion who conquered most of this area and settled here. They took possession of the Languedoc from Narbonne to the Rhone. The Chateau site was originally a  Gallo-Roman outpost dating from about the 4^th century  and then in 805 A.D Charlemagne built a priory on the site. A Romanesque church was added in the 12^th century and in the 18^th century, years before the American revolution, a grand chateau was constructed. For a thousand years, the Abbaye priory was one of the most celebrated church structures in the region and a stopping off place for travelers making the long and arduous pilgrimage to Saint-Jacques de Compestelle in northern Spain.

The Abbaye de Cassan today is a huge estate set amidst vineyards and a working winery. The Chateau has rooms available for meetings, concerts and events like weddings, and there are  plans for creating a full scale corporate retreat and conference center that are still several million Euros in the future. 

Arriving at the Abbaye, there wasn’t much to see from the parking lot, just an old wall and an sign with an arrow marked “Visitors” that led to a gift shop. Eek, a gift shop before you’ve even seen the place, that's very American. Slipping through the gift shop, avoiding the tourist ware, we ended up in a large tree shaded courtyard and a path to the Chateau.

The outer corridor

So far, this didn’t seem like much but entering the Chateau you suddenly feel as though you have stepped into the unfinished set for a Three Musketeers movie. What we hadn’t realized was that the parking lot and the gift shop were tucked into the backside of the building. Seen from the front the chateau’s a different story. It is a huge building with long, curtained corridors stretching its entire length. Nestled within the corridors are several large rooms that were the living quarters.

The dining room

In the wide corridor that the path led there were a dozen or more stalls selling artisanal food products. This was the heart of the “saveurs and odeurs” and in the middle of the corridor we found the stall of “Roses et Délices.”

Created by a couple from Massac Hautes-Corbières named, Bernard and Marie-Laurence Million (honestly), "Roses et Délices" is a line of handcrafted confits (jellies) and syrups made from flower petals--the petals of thyme, rosemary, mint, violets and roses. These are the most delicately flavored jellies and syrups imaginable. Just a tiny spoonful on a piece of chévre or some ice cream, explodes with the flavor of the flowers. M Million suggested with obvious pride that the rose confit when sprinkled on foie gras or duck breast is simply spectacular. Marie-Laurence added that a few drops of the syrup added white wine makes a heavenly “kir” and mixed with champagne produces the most “royal” of all “royal kirs.” To learn more about the Million’s petal jellies and syrups take a look at their website at www.RosesetDelices.fr.

These handmade chocolate was sold at the foire!

Flower petal jelly and syrup are just one of the incredible culinary treats that keep popping around the Herault. Producing artisanal food in this part of France reminds me of home beer brewers in the States. They are passionate and committed; and only a little crazy.

The Romanesque church

Walking on we came to the crafts fair. It was set-up in the Abbaye’s 12^th century church. As you can see from the photo, with it’s high arched, Romanesque ceiling, it was the most extraordinary venue for a crafts show imaginable.

A 12th century fresco in the abbey

Finally, we got to the table set up with a display of the Chateau’s own wine named fittingly enough, "Chateau-Abbaye de Cassan." 

This fortified tower looks like a chess "rook"

The Chateau winery produces several wines that are blends of different grapes, like syrah, Grenache, cabernet. Their least expensive wine is named “Le Jardin des Simples.” This name refers to a medieval herb garden. A more complex wine is called “Le Jardin de Labyrinthe" or the Garden of the Labryinth and above it in price (15 euros) and complexity is “Le Jardin de Songes” or “the Garden of Dreams.” I just love these wines' names, they are a lot classier than “Yellow Tail” or “Two Buck Chuck.”

And then there was a lovely rosé called “La Rosé de Madame de Brimont” which was made entirely of cinsault grapes--one of the most important local grape varieties in the Languedoc.

After tasting the rosé, one of the winemakers pulled us aside to tell us the story behind the wine's name. Madame de Brimont, was the beautiful mistress of the Prince de Conti who was the King's administrator for the l'Herault. His palace was in Pezenas some ten miles away and with a little string pulling he obtained the Chateau for his lover in the middle of the 18th century. Over the years she visited the Chateau and her prince often and, the wine guy went on, it is said that years after her death, Chateau servants would see her ghostly figure playing the piano in the Chateau salon.

At that moment, after rose petal jellies and rosé wine, standing in a haunted castle at a flavors and smells fair, it seemed to me that we could not have found a more perfect way to spend a rainy day in the Sud de France.

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Le Sud de France 4.9: A Passion For Pézenas

We are moved again, this time into our own house. As we settle in we decide that since the weather has finally cleared, we'd take a stroll through town and get a better feel for its streets and neighborhoods.

 

Pézenas is best known for its Renaissance mansions and palaces. The town boasts that the playwright Moliere, who wrote comedies and farces-very fitting for Pézenas--often brought his troupe here to perform and enjoy the city. 

The town’s name probably comes from the Latin for fishpond but the town’s exact origin is lost in Roman times or earlier. But the role it’s played in history is not lost. It was an open city, tolerant of different beliefs and lifestyles.  Like other parts of the Languedoc it was a city in which Roman Catholics, Cathar Catholics and Jews all lived together as one community. 
Then in the early 13^th century the city was conquered by the French army from the North and the Cathars were wiped out. 

Walking through the old streets we passed an archway bearing the sign “Le Ghetto” which means that this was the Jewish quarter.  It reminded me that several meters below our feet there exists a centuries old system of tunnels that run from the houses to the fields outside the town. One recently discovered tunnel entrance starts a building which was used for Jewish ritual baths. These tunnels were used during WWII by the French Resistance. 

Naturally any place that supports freedom of thought requires escape routes to evade whomever the current forces of intolerance are. And there’s always some variety of the thought police ready to clamp down on people for just trying to live their lives.

photos c 2011 steve meltzer photographe

Walking through Pezenas, I found myself taking pride in living in a place where freedom was so highly valued and its one of the reasons I have a passion for the place.

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