The sign on the back of the old truck says "(ride) in complete security…with Michelin tires".  sans plomb (sahn plom) noun     : unleaded Example Sentence (see "Audio File" at the end of this edition) L’essence sans plomb 98 est plus détergente que l’essence sans plomb 95 et se révèle plus corrosive, en particulier pour les pièces en élastomères (caoutchoucs). Ces deux carburants contiennent de … Continue reading sans plomb

A tree-lined lane in our village where horses stopped traffic over the weekend. From "The Ultimate French Review and Practice":Review + Practice = Confident Communication in French! More here. arbre (ar-bre) noun, masculine  tree L’arbre devient solide sous le vent.The tree becomes strong beneath the wind. –Seneca. On Saturday morning, hours after the grapes had shed their morning dew tears and been carted off in … Continue reading arbre

Couldn’t get a photo of our rock star harvesters as they would like to remain unseen. Here are some rock star bees for you. Looks like they’d rather go incognito like the others… Eazyspeak French teaches 800 vocabulary words; quickly extends conversational skills un embranchement (ahn-brahnsh-mahn) noun, masculine  junction; side road. I’ve been meaning to write about our grape pickers but sense that they might … Continue reading embranchement

I realized later that we had vegetarians at the table… Live and learn. Infuse your soul (and studious self) with French music: Les Nubians la bombance (bon-bahns) noun, feminine  feast; carousing Ou je me trompe fort, ou quelque joyeuse bombance est dans l’air aujourd’hui.Either I am greatly mistaken, or there is to be some jolly merry-making today. –from the book "On ne badine pas avec … Continue reading bombance

And what if we all just ate grapes and called it a day? Our dog, Braise (brez). Today’s word is "faim!" (That’s right: "faim exclamation point".) There’s so much to tell you but I’m afraid we’ll only skim the surface of this French soup as I’ve got fruit farmers to feed! More, in today’s column, below.                           … Continue reading faim

Mr. Espinasse, king of the vines in his grenache-tinted "robe". There’s a flurry, flurry, flurry of activity here at the moment with soon-to-be hungry harvesters who’ve just been handed the reins (make that "vines"). I’ll let the pickers steer those grapes into the buckets today while I catch up on our column below…before popping into the kitchen to scream "What on earth am I going … Continue reading vendange

Our twelve-year-old vigneron/vine farmer, Max. Hello from the blustery Vaucluse where the Mistral wind is harvesting the grapes for us! All we have to do is get down on our hands and knees and scour the dirt floor for the fallen fruit! It’s a sticky, scratchy business but with a sweet return (we hope). The harvesters arrive on Sunday night — in the meantime, my … Continue reading imprévu

Note: the first label was made by a graphic artist–the second and third were pasted together by Jean-Marc during a brainstorming session. Leave your comments (and read others’ opinions here). more at twiigs.com… Continue reading Wine Label Poll

A Frenchman’s photo fit for a French wine label? Well, that was a mouthful. But will it make an eyeful? French Demystified…simple enough for a beginner but challenging enough for a more advanced student… Check out the book, here. un avis (ah-vee) noun, masculine   1.  opinion; notice; advice [From Old French "ce m’est à vis" ("this seems good to me")] Je donne mon avis non … Continue reading avis