Women hens and wine

Today I'm a happy woman because in it I have covered hens, cakes, wine, more cakes and finally sandwiches. Early this morning a group of us mature female students toured the hencoups of Ballymaloe and what happy chicks they have here. So accommodating and patient with us and our cameras.

It's a rather strange day when you have a wine tasting before noon, but I refuse to complain. We discussed natural, organic and biodynamic wines. Natural wines have no other additives apart from a little sugar and natural yeast. Wines labelled organic use grapes that are grown organically but might have additives put in later in the process so one should be vigilant when reading the labels - "made with organic grapes" usually indicate that the wine has been tampered with. The production of biodynamic wines involve the sun, the moon, people and - possibly - a cow's horn buried in the soil. Not really my cup of tea but I did like their idea of the microcosm 'soil-vine-wine-man' with as little artificial interference as possible.

I enjoyed all the wines this morning, the last one - a sweet wine made of 100% Petit Manseng which is harvested in November - was a stand-out. A well-balanced autumn symphony of sweetness and acidity, this Charles Hours Jurancon Uroulat is a wine one could gladly get a little drunk on some silent night.