Bordeaux and a very good book

I move from the celebrations of Barra to a short holiday among the chateaux of Bordeaux for this week’s offering.

I had never been to France before and have next to no knowledge of wine – making it, tasting it, smelling it or drinking it – so on the second day we decided to rectify this and booked a whole day’s tour taking in three chateaux (chateau being French for wine-making croft!).

Off Ania and I went to explore the vineyards of this region famed the world over for its excellence in producing the very best of wines.

Each chateau on the tour provided a fascinating insight into the passion that the people of this area have for wine. The first was particularly enjoyable because the woman conducting the tour was so similar to the type of kindly, strong-mind crofter’s wife you would meet anywhere in the Highlands.

Although she had no English and we have no French, and her commentary had to be translated by our guide, she exuded a genuine character and commitment to her family’s profession that transcended the language barrier.

As matriarch of this wine-making family, she was much less of a suave sales-type than her equivalents on the subsequent tours but she won me over far more effectively. She was direct, slightly scary and definitely gave the impression that she would hit with her rolling pin anyone who might have had the poor taste, audacity and courage to not like her wine! Fortunately the wine was superb so the rolling pin wasn’t required.

For the rest of the trip, the food, the wine, the scenery and the welcome were exceptional.

However, regardless of their combined attributes and effect they were all outshone by the book I happened to take with me for passing the time on the trains and planes.

Ardnish Was Home is the first novel written by Angus MacDonald from Spean Bridge. I have known Angus for a number of years and although I hold him in very high regard, I have to admit to being a little sceptical about the prospect of what his first novel might be like. I have long awaited a non-fiction book that he has been working on about his experiences as a businessman, so a novel was very unexpected.

Angus, while having a military background (Queen’s Own Highlanders), has made his name starting, building up and selling companies.

The track record of those who have been highly successful in one field and then turn to novel writing is not a good one and in many instances these books are merely vanity projects that lack literary skill and depth of narrative. However, Angus has bucked this trend with Ardnish was Home and produced a work of simple beauty, which effectively deals with many of the complexities of conflict and history while providing a captivating story as a foundation.

While travelling by train through rural France the beauties of the landscape were wasted on me as I was so engrossed in the story. Next week I will delve in more detail into the background of the author and the gripping narrative of his first book.