Burgundy, France

I often consider how epically LAME the English are in their hypocritical insults towards the French when they vacation there half the time. They aren't wanted. The English are rude to the French, and the French just want their pathetic English pounds. English tourists are easy marks.

Then again, France is full of 1400 year old medieval manors, castles, and thousand year old vineyards.

This village is probably 2000 years old.

Get invaded and sacked enough times, you stop seeing the point of jumping in front of a bullet "for France". Just wait it out.

Clos de Vougeot Vineyards and Castle/Keep

The English invaders come in their big cars with the steering wheel on the wrong side so they can never pass. They refuse to speak French, which just gives the French the right to rip them off. Its asking for it. This village below shows clear signs of German influenced architecture. Its very much a tourist destination, the medieval village of Champagne, from whence we get the bubbly drink.

For all that, when I look at pictures of France I see what my home town looks like, only with stone buildings everywhere instead of the more earthquake resistant wood frames appropriate to California.

If the hills were taller, this could be Sonoma or Alexander or Napa valley.

California has vineyards all over the place, not just Sonoma and Napa valleys, but Alexander valley, up in Lake County, out in Mendocino's Booneville area, down in Santa Barbara (north of the hills in the valley actually), and down in Lodi where they grow good Zinfandel grapes. And that's just California. Oregon has excellent Pinot Noir, and Eastern Washington State has surprisingly good wines thanks to careful irrigation and the fact that grape vines are dormant in the winter so are frost and flood resistant. In Calistoga, at the head of the Napa Valley on top of the eroded remains of the former 10,000 foot volcano, there are even wine caves similar to this one in Burgundy:

kudos to the photographer who took this one.

While the wine business is a business, its also an art and science of high precision. There's huge amounts of competition and the way to stand out is high quality, which most small wineries do because they just can't compete on price with the big places and the multi-billion dollar investments in hardware, land, and vineyards they hold. The big guys are producing $3/btl wines, but they're doing it for around 75 cents/btl so its good profit even if the wine is almost nasty. For $6-8/btl you can get very drinkable wines, and for $12, something a snob probably won't turn their nose up at if served at dinner.

The French have their vineyards and their castles. California has its vineyards and its villas. They have slate roofs. We have Spanish tiles and the Kings Road and Franciscan Missions all along it. I am glad more vineyards are planted here. Its profitable and its a good export to civilized countries. I hope the French keep after their grapes and keep milking the Tourists. The English get out of Britain for a while and maybe someday they'll learn to be more polite. We can always hope.