The Magic of Veuve Cliquot

When the walnut harvest was finished, and all the nuts were bagged this November, I went into our small town and purchased a bottle of Veuve Cliquot for Roger to thank him for helping me find a buyer for the walnuts; and for helping me bag and weigh all the nuts. I bought a box of Leonidas chocolates for Francine, who Roger had lassoed into helping us bag nuts.

During October, I picked up 780 kilos of good quality, biologique walnuts. And, I met my goal, which was to bring in more money than our former caretaker did the previous year. I beat him by a 100 Euros, despite many of the trees having been trimmed this past January.

Roger was my trusted advisor during the harvest, answering all my questions and coming over to the Moulin several times to check on my nut drying procedures. Drying nuts is a lot like Goldilocks and The Three Bears: you don’t want them too damp, and you don’t want them too dry, they have to be just right. From his house, he could hear the nut dryer blowing, and thinking that perhaps it had been running too long, would come over and gently, but earnestly warn me about the dangers of over drying one’s nuts.

I took the bottle of Veuve Cliquot over around 7pm so that the two of us could celebrate the end of the harvest with an aperitif. When I gave him the boxed bottle, he inspected the box, reading every word that was printed on it. Then he gently removed the bottle of champagne, holding it up and reading every word printed on its label.

Sounding as if he was overcome with great awe, he said to me, “All my life, I have said the phrase ‘Veuve Cliquot’ to mean something really wonderful; but in all those years, I’ve never tasted it.”

Roger has lots of money and if he sold his farm, he could probably make a respectable bid for the Veuve Cliquot company which would probably be accepted. But because he has lived his seventy-six years simply as a steward of nature, he isn’t numbed, as I am, as most Americans I know are numbed by our orgy of food and drink. A bottle of good champagne is a treasure to him. I was filled with happiness that I was the one who brought him this bottle.

By contrast, I left for California and a week after arriving went to a wonderful holiday party where the Vueve Cliquot flowed like water, and while everyone was appreciative of our hostess’ good taste in food and beverage, I’m sure no one was spiritually moved because she went to the trouble of serving Veuve Cliquot. All of us were just too sated to deeply appreciate her generosity. (Admittedly, I was overly sated with Veuve Cliquot that night.)

Yesterday morning, I heard a shouting ad on the radio for a discount liquor store touting Veuve Cliquot for sale at $29.99 a bottle. The ad made me mad because it was desecrating my wonderful memory of Roger caressing the Veuve Cliquot bottle. Is nothing sacred? I can’t wait to get on the Air France plane tomorrow for la belle France, to leave all this mind numbing abundance behind me!

Have a wonderful New Year’s Eve and remember to stop and savor the Vueve Cliquot.