A very fine road-trip
I wouldn’t exactly call it a ‘booze cruise’. I’d like to think we were being just a little more…. sophisticated… than that. My business partner and I had indeed crossed the Channel. For booze. Yes. But we’d gone on the bikes and we’d taken a few days about it – call it a ‘working holiday’. Well, we did discuss our business plans in one or two gastronomically ‘superbe’ bistros en route to our destination. That sort-of qualified it as a business trip, right? We took it slowly – a 3-day run to the South, with campsite stopovers in beautiful, rural France. But we made it to the tiny village of Chateauneuf du Pape on target and found the campsite easily. That meant we had a full four days to take our time over the tastings, before making our choice of those fine, rich reds, and heading for home.
Popes used to reside in Chateauneuf du Pape during the heat of summer – we had just a few late spring days, but we made sure we made the most of it. We criss-crossed the area between Orange and Avignon, visiting ‘cave’ after ‘cave’, discussing the merits of one year over another, one grape over another – and tasting, of course. Endlessly sampling those magnificent wines. Theoretically, this was work. In practice, I couldn’t imagine a more perfect way to pass a springtime holiday.
I’d got it all arranged with Customs Clearance Ltd before we left home, so I knew what we needed to do, to organise the shipping, Customs clearance and delivery to our stores, just outside London. I’m so glad I spoke to these guys as I hadn’t realised they could handle clearance for wines
15th Feb 2010
