Tuesday 24 January 2012: Des res for sale

I scoped out this mazet on Sunday afternoon; in fact I took a photo, but the light wasn't great and I decided to return on a sunny morning to snap a better one. Mazets are huts that were used to store tools for working in the vines, and to shelter from the weather. Nowadays a white van or a 4x4 serves this purpose.

I doubt if there will be many takers. The vines have been pulled up, and the chances of their being replanted are slim. The wine industry here has gone through a very tough few years, and growers have been given grants to pull up their vines and hang up their secateurs. Now there are acres of scrub where there were once rows of productive vines, representing jobs and hope for local people. The industry is looking up, but the loss of 50- and 60-year old vines like the ones I photographed yesterday can't be made good overnight.

Footnote: notice the contrast with the stony soil from yesterday. This plot is on the alluvial plain near the river.

• DMC-TZ6:
• f/5.6:
• 1/640":
• 14.7mm:
• ISO 80

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