Domaine de la Renaudie

While our vegetable garden grows, so does the much bigger garden planted by our neighbors the Denis family. They have about 60 acres planted in grapes, including the vineyards that nearly surround our little piece of Touraine real estate.

Part of the Denis family's vineyards right outside our back gate

Patricia and Bruno Denis grow Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc, Gamay Noir, Cabernet Franc, Côt (Malbec), and Pineau d'Aunis grapes on their land. They are the third generation of their family to grow grapes and make wine here. Bruno's father Jacques is still active in the business, with a couple of plots of vines that he planted three or four years ago and tends to himself.

The Domaine de la Renaudie's new look for 2008.
We enjoyed this bottle with some visiting Australians this week.

I think the Touraine wine business is doing well right now. Wines from Burgundy, Bordeaux, and Champagne are pretty expensive now, what with the economic downturn. Touraine wines are competitive both from a price perspective, but also because of the range of wines made here, from dry whites to dessert wines, from light Gamays to more structured Cabernets and Côts, on to dry peppery Pineau d'Aunis rosés and sparkling wines made from Chenin and Chardonnay.

The Renaudie's little white van parked just outside our hedge

Patricia Denis recently told me that she went to a wine fair in Stuttgart and that the German market for Touraine wines is booming. Up at the wine co-op in Saint-Romain, one grower producer said that he is experimenting with different vinification technniques that will produce the kinds of wines the German public prefers.

The vines seem to be enjoying our wet May weather.

The market for bubbly Touraine is getting stronger and stronger, evidently. They used to call the process they use to make the sparkling wines « la méthode champenoise », but Champagne producers succeeded in getting exclusive rights to that term. Now it is called « la méthode traditionnelle ». And Touraine wine companies are marketing their sparkling wines under the name Fines Bulles de Touraine — Touraine tiny bubbles! The quality is good and the prices are affordable — 5 to 8 euros a bottle as opposed to 25 to 40 euros for Champagne.

The Denis used to sell a still Chenin Blanc wine that I really enjoyed, but they don't have it any more. Bruno said all the Chenin is now going into sparkling wines, to keep up with that market. I'll have to fall back on Vouvray Chenins for my still wines. I also like the Chardonnay white vin de pays produced by the co-op in Saint-roman.

And so are the big yellow banana slugs.

The Denis family calls its winery the Domaine de la Renaudie. The core of their holdings in the area is the vineyard centered on La Renaudière, the hamlet where we live. We treat it as our own private park for walks with the dog. And then we enjoy the wines when we get back. Well, not Callie. She's a T-totaler.

How to prune tomato plants

Jean-Pierre Coffe is a French author, radio and TV personality, and former restaurant-owner. He is known as a passionate defender of “authentic” cooking and natural, healthy food products. He has written many books on the subject of gardening and food, one of which is Le Potager Plaisir (1998) —“vegetable gardening for the pleasure of it” might be a good translation of the title.


Here is how Coffe says that tomato plants should be pruned. I’ve scanned sections of Coffe’s book and translated them.

“In June it's time to prune and train onto supports the traditional types of tomato plants that produce big, heavy fruit. By June, the plants are established and growing. If you don't prune them, they will produce a lot of leaves but fewer tomatoes.

“Pruning them is simple: cut the main stem of the plant just above the third cluster of blossoms and, except for the two lowest side branches (called “suckers” in English and les gourmands in French), cut off all the suckers that grow in the crotch between the main stem and and each leaf. Let the two lowest branches grow until they produce two clusters of blossoms, and then cut them off too.”

“The clusters of tomatoes are heavy for the size of the plant. To keep the stems from breaking, attach each one separately to a stake or other support, but not tightly. Make a figure-eight with the string or wire before tying a knot in it. Ideally, a tie should be place just above each flower cluster.

“Note that there are varieties of tomato plants that do not need to be prunes. With those, you just cut back leaves or entire branches from time to time so that the tomatoes are exposed to the sun, where they will ripen more quickly.”

Here's a photo from Le Potager Plaisir showing tomatoes

grown as Jean-Pierre Coffe recommends.

The tomatoes that need pruning are the “traditional” or “indeterminate” varieties. Here's a link to a video featuring Lee Reich where he explains the difference between “determinate” and “indeterminate” tomato plants and his pruning technique, which is different from Coffe’s. Reich’s tomato plants seem to grow a lot taller than Jean-Pierre Coffe’s.

Here's another French web page that explains the single-stem and double-stem methods of growing tomatoes. It says you get more tomatoes with the double-stem method.

French landlords can't ban pets

Here's another recent article from La Nouvelle République, our regional newspaper here in the Loire Valley:

Can a landlord refuse to rent to me
because I have a dog?
A reader found a house she wanted to rent, but the landlord
refused to rent to her because she has a dog. Can he do that?

I wanted to rent a small house in Blois, because I needed an extra bedroom. I was having a lot of trouble finding a place that was big enough and that I could afford. After seeing three privately owned properties, I found one that was just right for me. When the time came to sign the lease, the owner, whom I had already met and who had seemed to be glad that I was interested in his rental property, changed his mind. It was because I had a dog. I hadn't brought the dog along when I first viewed the property. Can the landlord refuse to rent to me on these grounds? (E-mail message from Sandrine in Blois)

Can a landlord impose a “no pets” policy on tenants? The law is clear, and the answer is no, as long as we are talking about an animal normally considered as a household pet. Any clause in a lease that goes contrary to that principle is strictly illegal and will be considered null and void under article 10 of the law of 9 July 1970. If the tenant has a boa constrictor, a monkey, or some other “exotic” animal, however, there's no guarantee that a judge will rule in his or her favor. In any case, the tenant is financially and legally responsible for any damages or nuisances caused by the pet (barking, meowing...) that might give rise to complaints from neighbors. Since the adoption of the law of 6 January 1999, attack dogs (specifically) cannot be left alone in the public areas of apartment buildings.

Questioned on these matters, a real estate agent in Blois agreed to say the following:

“In general, nothing precludes a tenant who is renting a house, or an apartment in either a privately owned or government-subsidized building, from keeping an animal that is ordinarily classified as a household pet. Stipulating any prohibition against pets in a lease is illegal.

“No matter what kind of animal it is, however, a household pet cannot ever be allowed to create a disturbance or any degradation in the common areas of an apartment building. If it does, the owner of the animal is legally liable. As for damages within an apartment, the tenant must do his or her best to prevent or repair them; in any case, if the rental property shows signs of such damage when the tenant vacates it, the landlord is within his rights to demand reparations, even if the cost exceeds the amount of the damage deposit.

“As for noise issues, neighbors have the right to file a complaint, and judicial authorities will make a ruling. In any case, tenants who have pets must inform their landlords of that fact, whether they are renting a house or an apartment, and whether the landlord is in agreement or not.”

Here's Callie posing with the pile of wood she has gathered
during walks in the vineyard over the past 6 or 8 months.

In France, owners of hotels, vacation rental properties, and restaurants can ban pets. We have rented a gîte rural in the Auvergne for a few days in September, and the owner doesn't mind if we bring Callie. It was the same when we went to the Ile d'Oléron last May. French dogs have a good life!

Selling Loire Valley wines in America

Here's an article from yesterday's local newspaper. The translation is mine. Monmousseau is a wine company based over in Montrichard, 10 miles west of Saint-Aignan.

“A Solid U.S. Market for Loire Valley wines”
Annick Coucharrière is just back from the United States, where she has set up a network of importers for Monmousseau wines — state by state. And successfully, despite the economic crisis.

She’s a straight talker. Annick Coucharrière doesn’t mince her words and has little patience for people who do. And she has no problem speaking English. The head of the Monmousseau wine business is just back after spending a month in the States. She goes over two or three times a year, and her colleague Isabelle Moreau does the same.

It’s been like that for 10 years now. The company has had good relations with American importers for a decade. Not with one big importer at the national level, but with smaller-scale importers in about 30 U.S. states. “These are operations on a human scale,” Mme Coucharrière says. “This is the way we like to do business.” She’s cautious, innovative, and... successful. Looking back on the work of a decade, Annick Coucharrière has no regrets. Today, Monmousseau’s wines are sold in some 42 states, and sales are up.

Exporting 50% of production

“The U.S. is our biggest export market,” Coucharrière says. Bigger than Japan, Germany, or Quebec, which are strong markets too, and bigger than Australia, which is growing steadily. With total annual revenues of €4.5 million ($6 million U.S.) and an output of 1.3 million bottles (75% of it sparkling wines), the export market now represents 50% of all sales.

The fact is, because of its special nature, maintaining the U.S. distribution network requires a lot of hard work. Sales need to be monitored almost on a daily basis. Work goes on in real time. “The United States is a market where there is a real opportunity for Loire Valley wines,” Coucharrière says. “The potential is enormous, because wine consumption has increased 30% over the past decade and Americans are getting a little tired of overly oaky wines. There is real enthusiasm for light, fruity wines. But we have to keep working to make people aware of Loire Valley wines.”

Obama and the economic crisis

So what about the economic downturn? “When I left on this last trip, I was a little nervous,” Coucharrière says. “Among the 10 states we visited, Florida and California are suffering terribly. In Seattle, too, for example, you can imagine the reaction to Microsoft’s recent decision to lay off 50% of its workforce*. Paradoxically, the wine and spirits business hasn’t itself been affected so far. In every market, however, sales of expensive wines are down, and that benefits companies selling in the $10 to $15 price range. At Monmousseau, that’s exactly the kind of wine we are selling.”

And what about Obama? He is having an undeniable effect on the country. “I haven’t met a single American who doesn’t expect the new president to be a miracle worker,” Annick Coucharrière says.

* I don’t think Microsoft has announced such massive layoffs.