Shameless, indulgent nostalgia .........

 1986: Wearing a Redmon Cycling Club sweat-shirt

During a slightly overdue tidy-up I came across some photos from the 1980s and 1990s. My apologies for the nostalgic and rather egotistical memories.  

 1986 Vaucluse: Max Hasender of Schwarzenfeld, 

Jim and Paul, Max's eldest son 

 

1986 Cycling in Bavaria 

 

 1986 Bavaria: Almost a white shirt – what can he have been thinking of?

1986 Bavaria: Max Hasender, Jim, CRM and Richard Hasender, Max's father

 February 1989 Muscadet CRM with a 

once serious wine writer visting François Bonnehomme

(above and below) 

on first assignment for Decanter

Pays Nantais with Gilbert Bossard  

Not sure of the date

 

Pays Nantais with Jean-Ernest Sauvion 

then of Château du Cléray and Maison Sauvion  

September 1992: being intronised into 

Les Entonneurs Rabelaisiens de Chinon

Glass of Chinoin already empty......

 

In Vino Valréas (Les 5 du Vin) + Prime Trading 5 (investdrinks)

My post today on Les 5 du Vin:

'There was a time when I was still teaching, without a thought that I might one day write about wine, that we would spend most of our six week summer holiday in a campsite in a pine forest at Faucon just to the north of Vaison la Romaine.

We fell in love with the area - the villages, the smell of lavender and thyme, the countryside around the Ventoux and Les Dentelles de Montmiral and, of course, the wines. Our stay in the campsite was bien arrosé - mais avec modération, bien entendu ! Our everyday wine, red Côtes du Rhône came in a cubi from the nearby Cave Co-opérative de Puymeras. In addition we visited and bought from producers in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Gigondas and Côtes du Rhône.

Indeed before we bought our shared house in Touraine we considered buying a place in the Vaucluse. However, houses in the area was already expensive to buy and in those days there were no low cost airlines or TGV to Avignon, so the Vaucluse was neither affordable or practical being too far from London.

Sadly since 1987 my visits to the area have been rare - just a few press trips including a memorable Rasteau and truffle weekend. Kindly invited by Valréas to participate in their In Vino Valréas, my three-night stay in Valréas has brought back memories. It would be good to return to the area and spend more time.'

Read the rest here

•••

My post today on investdrinks: 

A message from AT about Prime Trading 5 – a company I would avoid at all costs not least because it breaks the 2013 Consumer Contract Law.
  

'I came across your blog as I was searching the web for information on the above company. I wondered whether you would want to learn of my recent experience of them. I have had persistent phone-calls from 'George Richards' trying to convince me what a profitable investment fine wines would be were I to engage with this company.'

Read the rest here.