Vincent Pinard
Standing on the slopes overlooking the village of Bué, not too far from the town of Sancerre, everywhere I looked there were vines. The vineyards radiated life and energy, the leaves still a verdant green despite it being October. The vines were sucking up every last ray of the autumn sunshine as they soldiered on, valiantly ripening their fruit, somewhat against the odds at this late stage. They did not have much time left to do their work though; the harvest was now well underway, as was evident from the swarm of pickers moving with great speed through the vineyards, stripping each one clean of fruit as they went. Once finished, they and their harvest all piled into a waiting convoy of vehicles to deliver the fruit to the cellars, before moving on to the next parcel of vines.
One of these little convoys caught my eye; like all the others the predominant vehicle was the ubiquitous white van, but one vehicle in this convey was different; sandwiched between one white van and the next was a small Citroen Méhari. While not one of the truly iconic cars of France, less instantaneously recognisable than the Citroen 2CV or Citroen Traction Avant, the Méhari is still quintessentially French. Utilitarian, with a plastic body and loose-fitting canvas roof, it was for many years widely used by the French army, this perhaps being reflected in the range of available colours, which included beige, beige and beige (and green), and not a lot else. Nevertheless this particular model was not being driven by a member of the French Foreign Legion, on secret assignment in Sancerre, but was clearly being pressed into service to ferry both pickers and grapes around.
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