Fresh from Arcachon. Andy bought them from the vendor about an hour after they’d been plucked from the sea. They tasted of surf and seaweed and the silver mist that rolls in off the Atlantic in the fall.

Nathalie roasted these monsters in an old fireplace. They sizzled and spat over the flames and then she carved them into succulent strips that we ate with fresh bread.

The grapes are ready. It’s time to pick them, crush them, and make some wine.

The air is brisk at the Chateau in the fall but the sun warms it up by midday.

After our feast of oysters, beef, bread and last year’s merlot, we went for a walk and took off our sweaters.