Travel snapshot, near the Ardeche, a tourist-free zone of France, maybe a couple hours northwest of Avignon. Cathars, the medieval heretics who doubted Christ's divinity, yet believed that humans could reach spiritual perfection, once marched on these hills. The ghosts of Troubadors, whom some say invented the western concept of Romantic love, still roam the fields of lavender and sunflowers. The sunlight here is aqueous, you feel it flood over you; and the soil is protected from chemicals by the locals. The vintners refuse to artificially irrigate their vineyards: it is up to Nature, they believe, to give drink to the vines. It is Nature's whim to decide how sweet or tart or pungent or oakey the grapes will become this year. The mount of water in each field, which also means the sugar content of
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