Chestnuts
Mark K October 24th, 2007
Limoux is the area where sparkling wine – blanquette de Limoux – was first invented, long before the idea was “borrowed” by the people of the Champagne region. This picture was taken in Emile Satge’s blanquette tasting room down the street form our hotel. We had been invited to join the neighborhood in preparing chestnuts for the celebration of the end of the wine grape harvest to be held in the town square tomorrow night. We were issued knives and told to cut a small slit in the side of each chestnut, so that it wouldn’t explode when roasted.
The French people were gathered at the far end of the room and we Americans closer to the door. We would grab a chestnut from a bin, make the cut and then toss it into one of the buckets on the floor. When we finished, we felt a bit awkward because we couldn’t communicate with the others very well, so we returned to our hotel.
Emile Satge is well know in the region not only for distributing blanquette, but because he was a member of the local rugby team which in 1968 became champions of France. He’s a huge man with strong beefy hands and a booming voice. A few minutes after we left, there was a knock on our hotel door – it was Emile, telling us very loudly in both French and English that we would return to his tasting room to enjoy a glass of blanquette with the others. Since it looked like he would carry us back if we didn’t come on our own accord, we quickly agreed.
Some of us made timid efforts to “work the room” and mingle with the locals. Afterwards, I regretted that I hadn’t jumped in to the middle of the locals and started a conversation, even if I would be butchering the language right along with the chestnuts!
A photographer from the local newspaper come by while we were working and took our picture. The picture was published in todays paper and I’m imagining that the headline said something like, “Knife-wielding Americans Attack Chestnuts in the South of France.”
