Up first thing as a busy day ahead starting with the Lamproie Fete in Sainte Terre. Lamproie are a type of eel and a very traditional and expensive Bordeaux dish. The Lamproie are only fished at this time of year and are cooked in a thick red wine sauce - using Bordeaux wine of course! The Lamproie are sold live and are extremely ugly creatures but they taste divine.
The French, as always, need no excuse to put on a party and eel day was perfect! There were brass bands, a huge marquee with 300 people having lunch, local food stalls, antiques fair, bars and a car boot sale! We could of stayed all day but we had a lunch invitation at Chateau Mangot in St.Emilion.
Today was also the 'portes ouverts' in St.Emilion where all the Chateaux open their doors and welcome visitors. The lunch was for 100 guests and we sat down to eat in the magnificent cellar looking out onto vineyards. The menu was matched superbly with various vintages of Chateau Mangot including asparagus and duck with the 2008 and the sauté de boeuf and the 2005 although the 2002 was excellent with the brebis cheese.Dinner was eel now excellently disguised in the red wine sauce and it went beautifully with the recently bottled 2009 Grand Chai Montagne Saint Emilion.
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