My first visit to Languedoc was about thirty years ago. It was a family holiday with my late husband and our children. We rented a cottage in the depths of the wild and rugged Corbières for a two-weeks.  The kids were about nine and ten and we were attracted to Languedoc because it would satisfy their joy of swimming in the sea, our love of France and its ancient buildings. Because it was one of my husband’s deep pleasures, wine was also a factor and he was interested in what

The Worlds First Fizz One of the things I enjoyed most in the early days of my new business, was designing tours. I loved discovering routes that passed through the most stunning scenery and would spend days seeking out-of-the-way hidden places. I wanted to take people off the beaten track to show them things they wouldn’t easily find for themselves. From the beginning I decided to include things other than wine such as historical villages and foodie visits to honey, olive oi

A Luna Landscape John and Nicole are the owners of a small organic winery in the Minervois called Close du Gravillas. They were two of the first people I met when I was searching for wineries for my tours. I was drawn to their pioneering spirit, driven by a passionate desire to make the best Languedoc wine possible. Nicole is a true Occitanne, born in the Roman city of Narbonne whereas John hails from the plains of Kentucky where bourbon is the drink of choice. They met at a

For five years, 2009 to 2014, I split my time between England and France. The winter months were spent in England teaching wine studies at my own wine school as well as at a College in Birmingham. Summers were spent in France running wine tours. I always returned to Languedoc on April 1st. I liked the idea of arriving on April Fool’s Day, it was my way of sticking two fingers up at fate, saying OK I know how foolish I am but watch me go… The second year I decided to live in a

This is a story of how a love of wine gave me a new life in the Other South of France. #1 The Minervois. It was April 1st 2009 when I left England and drove south to the rental cottage I’d found when I’d stuck a pin in a map of Languedoc. I was heading to France with a dream of starting a wine tour business. Two days later I entered the Minervois, a district just north of Carcassonne and stretching eastwards from there. I was driving my beloved Audi cabriolet Fifi, who was te

Over the past decade or more I’ve done quite a bit of writing; independently publishing my first book, The Wines of the...

Well, that’s one way of looking at it but a better one is to turn your thinking around to how did this wine get into the bottle? Where is...

The last four weeks my job title should been Cover Girl, or girl trying to create a cover for her debut novel. Who knew how difficult it...

It took me seven years to type THE END. At last I’d finished writing my debut novel but as anyone who’s written a hundred-thousand words...

By 2014 fourteen years had passed since John had died and I’d somehow reached the grand old age of sixty. My wine tourism business had...

In my head a 1000 voices whispered encouragement, urging me to France. They couldn’t be drowned out by the voices of doubt, I was deaf to...

My pen hovers over the page. I write three words, then rub them out. How to begin? Is there a better way of writing ‘today is the first...