Wine Fest ... err. Sinus Fest?

bestiole-de-la-guarrigue-ensemble,
originally uploaded by ryanovineyards.

Sunday, we got to attend a local wine and everything festival held in Moussoulens.

Ampelography, the identification of vines based on visible characteristics, lends its name to the event because we love our winemakers here (at least when it's time to party). The amazingly named festival, Les Ampelofolies, focuses on products of the vines ranging from fine wines to plonk to distilled press juice (anti-freeze).

But, at a glance, we see that Les Ampelofolies celebrates a whole lot of things that do not grow on vines. There's a growing focus on truffles and other less pricey regional delectables. It's really a celebration of all things smellable. A festival of the nose. Smell the terroir. Smell it!

And it's fun. Oh is it fun! Eat all day. Like a carnival where everything is delicious and the vendors made everything themselves. There's pros and amateurs. Volunteer firefighters selling home made cookies. Youngsters like my neighbors and I selling fine wine. Bands dressed as enormous insects.

And of course, like all French village fests, it is a celebration of the moustache.

Video for those who hate reading or just can't get enough of the wine fest ambience.

Some vineyard footage

I finally had a bit of time to compile some of the vineyard footage. Please excuse the low quality. I'm recording all of this with my laptop's built-in webcam and the macbook icam is not meant for these sweeping outdoor shots. Add Internet compression to that and some psychotic time-lapse editing and you have video that I hope is just on this side of watchable. Anyway, people have been requesting some outdoorsy footage and some footage of the town around the vineyard. Hopefully these clips will satisfy.

The music is "quelle classe!" by Les Auditeurs (my friends and I just recorded it this week!).



You can see the town hall of Villemoustaussou, the fruit orchard on the vineyard, Muse the Wine Dog, and some pretty blossoms. Excitement abounds on the outskirts of Carcassonne, France.