Focus on our house white – Chateau Bauduc

Posted on October 11, 2011 by Anna Barwick

We’ve been serving Chateau Bauduc Sauvignon Blanc at Rigaud for several years now and in 2012 it will be our standard house white for party bookings and weddings. We’re in good company with this choice – the same wine has been a house white at Gordon Ramsay (for the past ten years), at Rick Stein’s various restaurants and at the Hotel du Vin establishments.

I love the post on the Bauduc blog in which wine writer Jancis Robinson rates the Bauduc 2009 which retails in the UK at £8.95 more highly than the slightly more expensive Chateau Mouton Rothschild blanc 2009, selling at £70 and only half a point behind the wildly extravagant Chateau Haut Brion blanc 2009 for which you will pay in the region of £750. This makes a Chateau Rigaud wedding look like rather good value when you consider how much of the Bauduc blanc is consumed by guests as part of our package!

Oz Clark also had complimentary comments

“The whites ought to fly off the shelf because they are absolutely the right wine for 2011: the zeitgeist of white wine drinking – the Bauduc Whites hit it bang in the middle”

Oz Clarke, March 2011

If you’re getting married at Rigaud, or you’re attending a wedding or a party here and you get a taste for the Bauduc white then you’ll be delighted to hear that you can buy online, direct from the chateau and expect delivery within three to five days. It would be like having a bit of Rigaud delivered to the door, albeit in fact a bit of Bauduc. But I think you get the drift. www.bauduc.com

Twitt
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The Great Night Market Controversy

Posted on July 31, 2011 by Anna Barwick

The Marché Nocturne season is now in full swing and the Rigaud team supported our local village last night, cue mass hangover this morning. It’s a phenomenon that’s really caught on in the past couple of years, hence the hedgerows are filled with posters advertising the dates and villages for the next few weeks.

The idea is a little like a French take on a pop up restaurant. Village squares are filled with communal trestle tables and the people gather to picnic together, sitting under strings of coloured lights to the strains of an accordion player. Villagers gather together a meal from a range of local suppliers, drink copious quantities of wines, and usually follow it all up with dancing. Great night out for all concerned, N’est pas?

On offer last night were Arcachon oysters, melons grown down by the river, some really delicious escargot cooked in butter, parsley and garlic, a charcuterie producer with some great terrines and pates in jars (we chose the goose), Mr. Banier, the butcher from Castillon with his sarment BBQ, the goat cheese producer from Pessac and of course the local baker since no French meal would be complete without a French stick.

You don’t really need to take your own gear but we like to do things properly so we arrive with our own china, wine glasses, steak knives and even a large antique china platter. Chef, Steve, knocked up a few canapés which went down well with the oysters and the rosé and Mr. Banier happily filled with a very rare steak and chips for eight of us.

The whole thing is utterly charming and incredible value since it’s possible to eat well for 10 euros, buy your wines at cellar door prices and enjoy the spectacular sights of local councillors strutting their stuff on the dance floor.

The controversy in my mind is how this sits with the local restaurant owners. The restaurateurs pay rates and taxes on their premises and keep them open throughout the year in the hope that they will make the bulk of their money over the summer evenings when we’re all tempted to eat out on a more regular basis. Suddenly they are now competing with the night markets for clientele that would previously have been theirs.

To make things worse, they’re competing against their own suppliers, the very businesses that they, the restaurants, support all year long. The butcher, the cheese maker, the baker are all taking free stands on a weekend evening to sell directly to the people who would otherwise have taken a table in a restaurant that night. It doesn’t seem quite right to me.

The night markets are definitely delivering what their audience want – the atmosphere is fabulous and now we’re in the height of the season it’s possible to attend a different night market within twenty minutes of the chateau, from Thursday to Sunday every week. But I do worry for the local restaurants. It must be quite disheartening to find yourself undercut by your cheese supplier and facing empty tables over the summer weekends.

Twitt
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The pressure was on for our French-Irish love match

Posted on May 16, 2011 by Anna Barwick

There was a degree of pressure on the team for the first wedding of the season. The groom is responsible for events, including plenty of high spend weddings, at a leading Irish Country House Hotel and a French man to boot. Xavier clearly “knows his onions” when it comes to wedding planning, banquet delivery and the standards of service to expect. His beautiful bride, Bronagh, manages special events and entertainments for a leading Blue Chip. Between them they’ve planned a few parties and managed a few budgets!

Bronagh was clear about what she wanted from the start which was a bohemian feel, with plenty of colour, a relaxed atmosphere but enough sophistication to satisfy the French side of the family. I think Rigaud was the perfect choice of venue to pull this off and that Hayley, fresh back from her course with McQueen’s, scored maximum points with the flowers, which had a definite meadow feel about them.

The use of coloured ribbons was repeated through the day, with a stunning display in the honeysuckle arch which guests walk through to reach the ceremony and a further curtain of ribbons at the entrance to the barn. Multi coloured heavy satin ribbons wrapped the napkins at the dinner table and all of the shades were picked up in the flowers in shades of orange, red, pink, yellow, green and purple. They were clever not to use blue, which would have been too tricky to match with florals.

For this to look as good as it did you have to be brave and go all out for the big mix with a genuine abundance of cut flowers. It’s not a cheap solution but I have a feeling that Bronagh perfected a look here which will be repeated throughout the year. Boho chic, effortless style, bravo!

 

Twitt
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Mark Bolton Photography Hero

Posted on May 16, 2011 by Anna Barwick

We recently entertained garden and interiors photographer Mark Bolton and his very lovely family, who joined an April House Party here at Rigaud. The weather was great and Mark captured lots of images which will form the basis of a new Chateau Rigaud coffee table book. The team really enjoyed having an official photographer in residence and it was perfect timing before the wedding season began so I think we’ll try and make an annual event of it. It’s a long term project to have a self published glossy hardback which tells the Rigaud story, with a few recipes plus housekeeping and gardening tips thrown in.These are some pictures he took of the Tower Suite which is the room we recommend for brides. The light is fantastic for make up and the view from the window is over the lawns where the ceremony takes place. I think he captures the atmosphere of the room really well. More shots to follow later this week..

Twitt
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Middle aged birds are far more fun

Posted on April 5, 2011 by Anna Barwick

Last week we “changed” the chickens. Our rather fat and confident old hens were boxed up and taken back to the shop they came from and five chic young chicks arrived in their place. The old, or as I prefer to say the “more mature” hens, had become birds of a certain age and their productivity levels had fallen. In fact none of them had laid an egg for several months, despite a return to warmer weather here. I realise the vegetarians won’t like this but it was time for the Poule to arrive au Pot.

The problem with the situation is that the new ladies have proved to be interminably boring. There’s no raucous greeting as you approach the hen house, they don’t brush flirtatiously against your legs in the hope of another scrap, and gone are the knowing, head on one side, glances as they try and attract your attention from the weeding…. They just hover in a nervous teenaged group, whispering to one another. No confidence, no conversation, no fun at all.

I’m wondering if there’s a message here for the middle aged sisterhood?

Twitt
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Refit complete and open for business

Posted on February 24, 2011 by Anna Barwick

It’s been a tense winter refit….Due in the main part to me not getting “The Van” here on time. I did get a bit bored with hearing that we couldn’t do such and such because the materials needed were “on the van”.

When it finally arrived it contained a complete professional kitchen, two sofa’s, eight elegant arm chairs, a roll top bath, 150 litres of designer paint, (one of which had burst open), eleven sheets of stainless steel, a massive 8 cubic metre walk in fridge (flat packed of course), a pair of hand stitched curtains with a four metre drop and two pairs of shoes for the Badger….

Work is now finally complete and the new look chateau has been inaugurated by our No.1 Client who described it as “simply stunning” and their corporate week here as “flawless”… That’s partly why she’s our No.1!

So what have we done exactly?

The new professional kitchen has a spectator gallery for future cookery demonstrations and gourmet house party weekends. Pull up a bar stool and watch the chef in action. We’re planning a series of food and wine weekends and gastro events – see here for more news of these later in the year.

“The Stable” is a purpose designed nursery space, equipped with toys, games, art materials and of course nannies! Plus a dining table for children’s high tea. We’ve always had a great nursery and brilliant childcare at Rigaud but now it’s located downstairs and behind a stable door. The noise will be greatly reduced and no need for the teeny tinies to climb up and down the stairs.

The “New Room” is the imaginative name for our brand new and superior grade bedroom, with roll top bath and walk in shower. It’s another stunner bringing the total number of bedrooms to nine, plus a dorm.

The Gallery has been transformed from the aesthetician’s hell that was Buzz Lightyear meets Simba from The Lion King via the My Little Pony Dream Castle, into the now tranquil space for contemplation. Painted a serene Prussian Blue, with low suspended pendant drum lights it’s going to make an impressive catwalk for this season’s brides.

I know what you’re thinking, if you’ve read this far…. Where are the pictures? We want to see all this sophistication and glamour you speak of! Well patience is a virtue and all WILL be revealed in the near future. We’re just organising a for couple of professional photographers to shoot the chateau in the next couple of months, watch this space for the results!

Twitt
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Hitchcock moment au chateau

Posted on December 9, 2010 by Anna Barwick

A murmeration of starlings over the chateau.

Twitt
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Miss Havisham’s Chateau Wedding!

Posted on December 8, 2010 by Anna Barwick

The chateau has the air of Miss Havisham’s wedding this afternoon as the flowers remain throughout the house, but a stillness pervades. The guests have long gone.

Sarah and Robert celebrated their vows over the weekend in great style, filling the chateau with life and style and a party atmosphere so when it came to clearing up none of us could bear to throw away the blooms. Hayley combined some gorgeous deep red velvety roses, with white heather, eucalyptus and a vintage pink ranunculus rose. The effect was very pretty, giving a seasonal tinge without allowing Christmas to take over.

I often think flowers look their best when they’re just over their peak. It would be a brave bride who went with full blown, slightly dropping roses but that’s when I think they look most lovely. (No comments here or comparisons please!)

The wedding had a definite air of a country house party with log fires, wellies and woolly jumpers. The winter months generate this atmosphere so well. The guests also raved about their St Emilion visit on Saturday which was arranged for them by the team at Vignobles et Chateaux in St Emilion, (www.vignobleschateaux.com) where Patrick also sold them some very smart wines for their wedding meal that evening. All in all it was a very smart do!

Twitt
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Chateau fungi

Posted on November 8, 2010 by Anna Barwick

Twitt
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The Season’s going up in Smoke

Posted on November 5, 2010 by Anna Barwick

It’s our end of season party tomorrow so we’ve invited local French suppliers to help us celebrate the failure of the gunpowder plot in traditional English style. I doubt our Frenchie friends will understand the goings on, given that they celebrate the opposite outcome every July 14th. Vivre la difference!

Hayley’s up to her ears in pumpkin soup, made exclusively with chateau grown produce (small Potimarron pumpkins are great for soup, carrots, celery, onions, garlic and a chilli for that bit of a kick)

Eric is building an enormous bonfire, starting with the sofa that was trashed by guests earlier in the year and moving on through many empty wine boxes and broken umbrellas to deckchairs and hammocks which have seen better days.

Steve, our fabulous chef, is mooching about taking arty pictures of mushrooms while Marcelle is packing up for their trip to the mountains. He’s responsible for the mulled wine tomorrow.

The Badger continues bravely with development of the new chateau database.

I wonder in and out of everyone’s way making useful comments about how they could improve their performance, in a motivational sort of way which of course they love.

And there’s an eerie effigy hanging from the rafters of the barn, dressed in the Badgers’s oldest work clothes, looking spookily like my husband swinging from a gallows…..

Twitt
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