Bonjour,

Breakfast this morning was simple and delicious. Jacques and Karen served us four local cheeses, fresh bread, and coffee. I think I was the first one to dig in and had a slice or two of all four cheeses before we got a word of caution from Jacques. He said we might not want to eat the crust on the green-brown powdery looking cheese. He said it’s made with arachnid eggs placed on it. Arachnids are spiders or the spider family. I had already eaten the crust or edge of all the cheeses but I’m happy to report that I suffered no ill effects. The arachnid eggs are evidently placed on the cheese to contribute to the flavor and they give the cheese a distinctive appearance.

After breakfast, we drove to the nearby village of Frangy. Jacques knew that we were interested in visiting a winery and he knew there was a small local winery in Frangy. Jacques went into the winery, met the owner, and told him that he had friends visiting who would be very interested in seeing the winery operation and tasting some wine. That was all it took and we were in for a real treat – which took us through lunch.

1. Here was the breakfast table. Bread and cheese were being sliced. The cheese on the right was the arachnid cheese. All four cheeses were purchased locally, as was the bread.

2. You can see the owner taking us into his winery.

3. In addition to his stainless steel tanks, he also uses some fiberglass tanks to ferment his wines.

4. Now we are in the barrel room. In addition to his French oak barrels, he uses some acacia barrels. The owner is 82 years young and treated us like old friends.

Voila,

Bill