Wine Tasting
While rambling around the Burgundy countryside, I stumbled upon an intensely interesting wine shop...
Seemingly innocent and innocuous on the outside, one you're inside, it's a whole other world.
The clerk was busy with a few other customers, I had a look around. I saw some stairs leading down into the caves, the lights were on, there were no signs indicating we should stay out, so down I went.
Into a whole other unbelievable world!
It seemed to go on forever and, in a way it does, as I later discovered.
Then I turned a corner onto this!
I was like, what? How is this possible? What is it for? My author's imagination went into overdrive, I wiped my trusty iPhone out and started taking photos, ka-chee, ka-chee.
The closer I looked the more macabre it got. All the light fixtures looked like this.
Crazy little statues and faces filled nooks and crannies.
These guys scared the heck out of me! There were just off the main chamber, in a dark stairwell going somewhere I didn't really want to know about.
I had the courage to move in closer ...
and closer ...
This figure seemed to beckon to me to follow it. I politely declined.
Then the clerk came rushing downstairs and said, "There you are!" I went up with him and sat down to some spectacular wine tasting. Really, really good wines.
Whilst tasting said excellent wines, the
propriétaire, Philippe Leclerc, came in.
Have a look at his website, his family has owned vineyards in the Bourgogne area for several generations; Monsieur Leclerc really knows how to make good wine.
Anyhow, what a nice guy, we were chatting and I raved about the caves and chambers below the store and then I mentioned that I write horror and historical mysteries. His eyes lit up and he asked, "Would you like to see my private rooms?"
Umm, yeah!
So off we went, even further into surrealism.
Monsieur Leclerc has been buying up houses in his village so that he may dig a maze of labyrinth-like tunnels below them. For 25 years he has been paying masons to dig and build, dig and build underground tunnels. I asked him if he thought he might be a Knights Templar reincarnated, because that's what the Knights Templars did--dig and build--again, his eyes lit up and he coyly replied, "Maybe."
He has recently been working on what he refers to as a piece of art. He does much of the work himself, but also has artists with whom he has worked closely for years. It is not underground, rather, above ground, up and up, and up. He has taken the gorgeous old houses he purchased and transformed them into a private space where he has held "get togethers".
We climbed stairs and entered an open area. This lady greeted me. I wondered if an alien was going to shoot out of her chest Sigourney Weaver-style.
Then I turned around and saw this!
Curious, I moved closer ... careful not to step on these stalagmites. Philippe told us he would cover them with plate glass after he designed some writhing bodies among them, all bloodied up as though they had fallen on the spikes. Nice touch.
As for the devil, he wants the eyes to shoot out lazer light beams and smoke to come out of its mouth.
I looked around at the statues lining the area.
The celling was completely covered in stalactites.
The center piece was my absolute favorite. Two creepy statues guarding a scene from The Garden of Eden a la Philippe Leclerc: the snake descended from a very high ceiling holding Eve in its clutches, while Adam, portrayed as Jesus, was safe in the rafters. Philippe told me that he was going to put an apple in Eve's hand, and that it all meant that the serpent was taking away Eve and the apple before she could get a chance to tempt Adam.
Eve, sans la main et la pomme.
An altogether lovely time was had and I thank Monsieur Philippe Leclerc for having taken the time to show me his beloved works of art. Truly amazing. He was very kind to us. His wine is sitting in my cave at home and I am certain to think of him whenever I open a bottle.
Love,
Charley
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