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Courtesy of Your American Friend in Paris, an interview about life in the Perigord, the quality of life in rural France, and my inspirations.
If the embedded player does not work, the interview can also be found on this link.  Bergerac AOC 2014 Origin: On limestone and clay soils from the plateau dominating the Dordogne Valley. The vineyards are mainly facing south-west, therefore have an optimal sun exposure. Harvest: Mechanical in order to harvest during the night, when the cold air protects our healthy grapes from starting fermentation. Grape varieties: Merlot 80%, Cabernet Sauvignon 20% Winemaking: We respect both the tradition and modern technologies: temperature control, reasonable extraction of tannins and colour, very detailed and specific tastings throughout the whole process. Ageing: This wine is aged in French oak barrels for ten months. The attention to its evolution and the regular rackings are the base of a balanced and soft wine. Ageing potential: This wine is good to drink now but can wait 2 to 3 years to reveal its great complexity. Tasting notes: This wine has an intense ruby colour. On the nose, it offers red fresh fruits with delicate aromas of plum, blackberry and biscuit. On the palate, this wine is medium bodied and offers chewy tannins giving this wine good texture and body. In terms of flavors, we have fresh red berries with a touch of vanilla. The finish is fresh, with a spicy note. The best match with food is to drink this wine with friends with some good charcuteries, meat, cheese or even desserts! 
 This week I was sent a link to Diane'sCookbooks, a website in which the (I presume) eponymous Diane has put together a Bruno feast using the recipes on this site and taken from the Bruno novels.
She has done an absolutely wonderful job putting the meal together, and I thought I would share it with you in lieu of an English language cookbook (which we are still trying to make happen!). To see the post in its entirety, please click here. After a 25 year career as a foreign correspondent for The Guardian, a post once held by Alistair Cooke, and later for UPI Martin Walker has settled in to a very agreeable life as an author and unofficial Cultural Ambassador of Le Périgord, dividing his time between Washington, DC and Le Bugue.
We met for coffee and conversation on market day in Le Bugue. Which came first, Bruno or the Dordogne? The Dordogne came first. My wife and I have been visiting French friends in the area regularly since 1981 and we bought our own place 15 years ago. I began writing Bruno books in 2007, after I had made new friends in and around our small town, through the rugby and tennis clubs and the kindness of neighbours. Our local policeman, Pierrot, is also my tennis partner and the kind of wise country copper who never wears a gun, hates to arrest anybody, knows everybody and most of the secrets. He was the inspiration for Bruno, although he’s older, married and rather beefier around the tummy than Bruno. He’s also, like Bruno, a keen hunter and excellent cook. To read the rest of the interview, click here...  A very enjoyable reading at Berlin's i31 hotel with host Zeev Rosenberg and German actor Oliver Betke. Photos by Heidi Dehl of Neues Deutschland, an old friend who visited us in the Perigord.   The next novel in the Bruno series, The Templars' Last Secret, will be published in the US and the UK in June 2017 (exact dates tbc). The chateau de Commarque, which you can see in the video below, features prominently...  Martin at the Lascaux IV exhibition. Just had a wonderful tour of the spiffing and high-tech new Lascaux IV museum, guided by director Guillaume Colombo.
The new copy of the cave is brilliant, much larger and with more of the save than the old Lascaux II and the virtual reality ride is a thrill. The use of new technology to reveal the intricate engravings between and among the 17,000 year-old cave paintings is a revelation. I just got my invitation from President Francois Hollande to join him Saturday for his formal opening of this spectacular new building. BookPage recently asked me what I am currently reading for a rolling feature of theirs:
In Fatal Pursuit, Martin Walker continues his beloved Bruno, Chief of Police Series, set in the beautiful Dordogne region of France. Our reviewer writes, "Martin Walker’s engagingly droll series featuring Bruno, Chief of Police, is a longtime favorite of mine."(Read the review.) Walker and his wife split their time between France and Washington, D.C., and he wears many hats as a journalist, historian, editor, broadcaster and basset hound owner. We asked Walker to tell us what he's been reading lately. Click on the link below to read the piece. WHAT THEY'RE READING: MARTIN WALKER |
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