Posts Tagged ‘southwest france’

The Gers department sprawls over an area of 6,291 square kilometres and the population is estimated at 174,500. River Gers runs for a length of 178 km, starting from the foothills of the Pyrenees and mingles with River Garonne near the city of Agen. The Gers area in southwest France is a fertile place and the main engine of economy is agriculture.

The local food and drink specialties include Cotes de Gascogne, Floc de Gascogne, Armagnac brandy, wild mushrooms, and foie gras. The 10 largest cities in the Gers department are Auch, Condom, Fleurance, L’Isle-Jourdain, Lectoure, Eauze, Vic-Fezensac, Mirande, Gimont, and Pavie. The departments of Haute-Garonne, Lot-et-Garonne, Hautes-Pyrenees, Pyrenees-Atlantiques, and Landes surround the department of Gers. Gers is one of the least populated in density and most rural in the entire Western Europe, according to data. As such, purchasing property in Gers is a profitable proposition, with the low land and building rates making the purchase a highly profitable investment.

The southwest France and southern France are very good places to invest in properties like holiday homes, single houses, chateau, farms, barns, gites, and even castles and watermills.

Typical Properties in Gers

Let us consider one typical property in Gers to enable you to understand what a good and wise investment it is. A land with an area of 2,968 square meters, having a house of 100 square meters and containing 3 bedrooms and 4 rooms is available near Lectoure in Gers. The house has got a large barn adjoining the main building, apart from a sitting room and a kitchen, both fitted with fireplaces. However, the structure requires complete renovation and restoration. The property is priced at EUR 60,000 or 56,922 British pounds, including the agency fees.

Low Priced Property in Gers

Similarly, a 2,500 square meter land with valid certificate (CU or Certificate de Urbanisme) for the construction of private dwelling in Castleneau Magnoac – Tie sur Baise area is on sale for a price of EUR 23,000. Another land located at about 65 km from Pau airport, with an area of 2,740 square meters and a building permit is offered for EUR 27,000.

An ancient house in 1 hectare of land that requires full renovation costs about EUR 100,000. A 3-bed villa on a 5,500 square meter level ground property and partially constructed and facing south is available at the same price of EUR 100,000.

High End Property in Gers

If you are interested in higher priced houses in south west France and property in Gers, then you can take a look at a beautiful farm house with 2 independent gites and a pool in a land of 5,000 square meters.

This property is priced at EUR 200,000. At the same price, another huge country property, situated on a land of one hectare, and containing barns and outhouses, is offered with an option of buying an additional 5 hectares in the same tract.

Author: Rumble Romagnoli
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Programmable pressure cooker

This article will launch our new series, I Love French Wine and Food. You may be aware that we have written over two dozen articles in our first series, I Love Italian Wine and Food. This series will continue this labor of love, but for French wine and food. While this article launches the French series, it is actually not our very first one describing French wine and food. We posted the article I Love French Wine and Food Beaujolais Nouveau in time for the opening of the Beaujolais Nouveau season in mid-November. We will soon be taking a look at other wines in the Beaujolais region of southeastern France.

Lets start with a few statistics for the French wine industry as a whole. France constantly fights with Italy for the title of the worlds biggest wine producer. As in many other European countries, the French are drinking less wine, but better wine. France has more than 2 million acres devoted to grape vines, and produces more than 600 million cases of wine each year. France exports over one third of its wine production all over the world including a considerable portion to the United States.

We are going to look at eleven wine French regions: in alphabetical order they are Alsace, Beaujolais, Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne, Jura and Savoie, Languedoc-Rousillon, the Loire Valley, Provence and Corisca, the Rhne Valley, and Southwest France. Each article will discuss the region and its distinctiveness. Well talk about the wines and the foods that characterize the region. We will try to have at least two articles per region. All articles in the series (except for this one) will give our unbiased tasting report on a wine. We will taste the wine with food, including several main courses and at least one imported cheese usually French, and sometimes from elsewhere in Europe. In our Italian series the wines we tasted cost between $6 and $38, but were mostly in the range from $10 to $20. We expect to pay more for French wines but intend to work in approximately the same price range. Dont expect a report on three fine French Champagnes. We are going to be flexible in our wine tasting. But there are two rules that we follow. First rule, all wines that we taste and review have been purchased at the full retail price. Second rule, if we are unhappy with a wine we will let you know. If you followed our previous series, you know that we werent always happy with the Italian wines we tasted and Ive got the funny feeling that the same thing will happen with French wines.

Now back to the subject of French wines.

Wine Classification.

France has legally defined four national wine classifications that presumably help the consumer make a selection when faced dozens of unfamiliar choices. Some regions such as Bordeaux define additional classifications that will be discussed in the appropriate articles. The French national classifications were first introduced in 1935 with the goal of regulating wine production in given geographical areas and helping the areas to develop their own specific identity. Starting with the lowest level, these four classifications are vin de table, vin de pays, Vin Dlimit de Qualit Suprieure-VDQS, and Appellation dOrigine Contrl-AOC.

Vin de table may be translated as table wine. Table wine production has been severely reduced during the last decade or so. At present, only about 12% of French wine carries this plebian classification. Almost all table wines are red. Table wines follow few rules, except that their labels may not indicate the grape varieties used, the vintage year, or the specific area that the grapes came from. You wont find many French table wines for sale in North America.

Vin de pays may be translated as country wine. This category was first established in 1968. At present, the annual production of vin de pays is more than twice that of vin de table. The label must indicate the location where the grapes were harvested. Once in a while an exceptional vin de pays is produced, which should not be surprising when you consider that almost one French wine bottle in three carries this classification. Lets not worry about vin de payss specific rules which can be complicated. Sooner or later, we will probably review such wines. With a little luck well find a bargain or two.

Vin Dlimit de Qualit Suprieure – VDQS may be translated as superior wine. This is a very tiny classification, comprising only about 30 French wines. You may think of it as a waiting room for AOC, the highest French wine classification. Of course, not every VDQS wine gets promoted. We are not going to make a specific effort to find VDQS wines.

Appellation dOrigine Contrl AOC may be translated as controlled-origin appellation. Approximately half of all French wine is accorded this top-level classification. I dont know about you, but such a high percentage makes me wonder how helpful this classification can be. To achieve the AOC classification, a wine must meet laws defining the grape varieties used, the grape growing methods and wine-making methods employed, the maximum yield produced, and the minimum alcoholic content. In addition, the wine must pass a taste test. When you consider that only about 3% of wine tasted fails the taste test, dont be surprised that the AOC classification is far from a guarantee of quality. Most of the wines that we will be tasting carry the AOC classification.

Author: Levi Reiss
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Cellphone news