Well, today at 3:00 p.m. in Quillan--the Notaire, with power of attorney, signed the final documents on the house. It is now ours! We began the process of purchasing the house in May--so we feel relieved that it is complete. Buying property in a foreign country has been a learning experience for us. We are really thankful for the English speaking people who have helped us through this process! A special "shout-out" to Helen, the realtor, Chris, the B&B friend, and Ellie, our American friend who lives in France, without each of them--we would have been lost at different stages of this purchase.
Now that it is done--the celebrating will begin! We will drink our Limoux Blanquette tonight in celebration! We kept hearing about Limoux Blanquette and seeing it advertised on billboards, so we finally stopped at a winery,
Sieur d'Arques, in Limoux--a town 30 minutes from Quillan, and bought a bottle. We wrapped it carefully in bubble wrap and placed it in our luggage in April and saved it for this special day!
The History of the Languedoc vineyard dates back to the 5
th century BC when the Greeks first introduced grape vines and their cultural practices. It was in 1531, one century before Dom Pérignon, that wines from Limoux stepped onto the world stage thanks to Benedictine nuns from the St Hilaire Abbey, a neighbouring village, who created the first sparkling wine in the world: La Blanquette de Limoux. The earliest written references to Blanquette de Limoux can be traced back to the lord of the region, “le Sieur d’Arques” who swigged down “flasks of Blanquette” to celebrate his victories.
Four centuries later, in 1946, the founding winemakers of our winery christened their wine, Sieur d’Arques. (This info taken from www.sieurdarques.com)
So, tonight, we shall "swig down" our bottle of Blanquette to celebrate our victory!
