Welcome after the Christmas break!
I do not impose myself where I am not wanted. Well, this sentence is not the most accurate. I would rather say that a better way to describe my approach is: where the door is closed, I enter through the window. Today the next meeting with Chateau Volterra! If you remember well, the last time there was… a nice man, great wine, an unpleasant fellow countryman – the worker at the vineyard.
This time we go there for particular wines and to see what is new. We are at the door at 4.55 PM. Just then Someone turns the key in that door. Once again our fellow countryman, once again I am happy and once again a nuisance. “It is closed, please come some other time and… that very characteristic – kind of the Franks-like – shrug of the shoulders. He must have been there for a longer time. Oh no, no… A Slav does not shrug his shoulders like that. This shrugging of the shoulders and a small snort is actually kind of nice in France, but as we can see, not always. I have to admit that this time I feel anger growing inside me. It is the anger of powerlessness, and in the meantime that Somebody scampers off and that is it. I did not even manage to say ‘Hello’, not to mention ‘Goodbye’.

I have been taken down.

Although our Slavic origin could suggest something completely different, we live quite near, so we go back there one more time. I honestly doubt that any tourist would decide to stay after this kind of greeting, or what is more – that he or she would come back once again. But there are such people, those who belong to the bullheads’ club.
We arrive again.
The door is open and the staff is in this time. The wine is here as well, but it is well.. let’s put it the delicate way – quite a surprise. However, we should not come where we were not wanted. I have been taken down. Something completely different that I might have expected. This time we drink Chateau Volterra Coted de Provence 2018 and Domaine Volterra 2010 red, as well as Chardonnay 2012. Each sip makes me want to flee this place as fast as possible. I take a glance at my husband and I contemplate the possibility of using the spittoon quickly. The best of it all seems to be the Chardonnay 2012. It tastes like grappa, although without the percentage. Mhmm… I have nothing against a small glass of good Grappa after the supper. Not here though. It is underwhelming. I have not been looking for Grappa. One must live long to learn. Nothing is certain. Everything changes. We go back. We go back to our wine cellar. Of course, it does not mean that the following years are not going to be fascinating. The most important thing here is that they have to change the approach to their clients, who by chance can have some knowledge about what they drink.