Although we both love Carro, it was arguably a mistake going there this time; with hindsight, we should have gone to somewhere in the Camargue, like Aigues-Mortes or Le Grau du Roi (so impossible to pronounce if you have a non-rhotic accent, as I have), as we wanted to drive through the Camargue, but we needed to get here by 4:00 pm as we had booked a gastronomy tour.
So we got up earlier than usual and were away by 09:00, even after using the services. We asked the sat-nav to take us to the Bac de Baccares, which is the big ferry across the mouth of the Rhone - sadly, we were one of the last machines on and couldn't see anything, but still a pleasant experience.
We drove up through the Camargue, and I cut off a fair chunk of motorway by telling it to go to a supermarket in St-Gillies - not that I wanted much, but we needed diesel and I decided to buy (rather nasty) pre-made sandwiches for lunch to save time.
We reached the motorway around Montpellier, and then it was rather dull from then on - we stopped briefly to eat our sandwiches - until we got to the outskirts of Perpignan, where the motorway was closed in one direction (we are not sure why, but we think road works) and caused a massive traffic jam and the usual very slow traffic and roundabout after roundabout to Mas Alart. M Belmas, the proprietor, says they are talking of building a fast road from Perpignan to the coast, which will improve matters.
We have been here many times before, but this time we booked a "gastronomy tour", which was fabulous. M Belmas told us about his farm - 15 hectares of mostly vines, but also olives and almonds - which has been organic since 2022. He is the fifth generation to farm here, and hopes his son will eventually take over.
(sideways photo again, sorry; better ones on Facebook) He prunes the vines by hand, which he says gives better results, but the harvesting is done by machine. He misses the days when he employed a gang of students and casuals to harvest the grapes, but he says the machine paid for itself in two years.
He showed us round the pressing and storing rooms - only one of the very old storage tanks is still in use, and he and his son are trying to turn some of them into storage cupboards and things. We saw the filtration machine and the bottling machine, waiting to start bottling around the end of the month, and next door we saw the labelling machine, which is new. He had to buy a new one because the old one was beyond repair. It happens!
Then we went into the shop and tasted a great many of the wines - we had already tasted one rosé that he had not yet bottled (last year's, in bottles, was nicer, I thought), and had some snacks which included a tortilla (which he admitted that he had not made himself), local ham on toast, local goats' cheese toasted and drizzled with local honey (this was absolutely delicious), olives and various bits of sausage.
Also some local biscuity things that we haven't tried yet, but he gave us the leftovers of the feast to take away.
We also bought a dozen bottles of wine - three red for the Swan Whisperer, three each of two different whites for us both, and three of his latest offering, a sparkling white (which is scrummy!). I also bought a bottle of their red wine vinegar, which I love, and should probably have bought some olive oil as well, but didn't.
Sadly, he won't be able to bottle nearly as much wine from last year's harvest as usual, as it has been so dry. They are desperate for rain - I see some is forecast for Sunday, and hope they get it. In other parts of France, as in the UK, they have had too much, but not here.
