Château de Cruzeau
There had been a dramatic storm during the night, and André Lurton grinned as he piloted the little Citroen 2CV around another fallen branch.
Finished in gunmetal grey, with pressed steel wheels painted an ivory hue, and the rippled bonnet that gave these early models such a distinctive look, he had always loved this little car. It had rolled off the assembly line in 1956 – nearly twenty years ago – and it had been in the Lurton family for much of that time.
André had hopped into the driver’s seat at Château Bonnet in Grézillac, 45 minutes ago, and was en route to one of his more recent acquisitions, Château La Louvière, on the outskirts of Léognan. His mind wandered as he drove along; daydreaming, he was back in 1944, behind the wheel of a Willy’s Jeep. André had completed his national service under the command of Jean de Lattre de Tassigny (1889 – 1952), at the time the youngest general in the French First Army. Lurton had been there when they had liberated the Colmar Pocket, the last piece of French territory held by the occupying Germans.
Of course, that was all many years ago, and much of what he once remembered had now faded from memory. He remembered the grip of the wheel in his hands though. André had loved that Jeep, almost as much as he loved this little 2CV.
Rounding a corner André was brought back to the present with a jolt; the storm had brought down several pine trees, the branches strewn across the narrow tarmac road. Bring the car to a stop, he pulled the handbrake lever as hard as he could, hopped out to take a look. The trees were young, nevertheless the roots were well established, and they had lifted huge divots of earth as they had toppled. And here André saw something that piqued his interest.
Gravel. Lots of gravel.
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