You’ll have to be quick but if you find yourself driving down one of those tree-lined avenues where the plane trees are majestically showing off their autumn foliage and Canigou is sitting white and snow-capped against a steel-grey and blue sky - drink it in. When you come back next week the scene may have changed

Zooming round the winding roads along the coast towards Banyuls-sur-mer, we pass the vines, hundreds of them, all looking rather forlorn and bare. « This is the nicest part of the life-cycle of the vine, » said my husband, « the time when you drink the wine . » There’s always something good to say about life in the P.O.!