Montmartre, Paris - October 2007 Gérald wastes no time preparing our stand, the mood is very festive and soon 'bonjours' and wine are shared with other vignerons/artisans.  Let 'la fête' commence!

A quick coffee and contemplation by Gérald and Monsieur Ollivier before they open an estimated 1,000 oysters!

The Fête des Vendanges is about to start....the muscial band gets the atmosphere going and continue throughout the day.

The oysters are proving to be very popular! Delicious with a glass of sparkling, coteaux de saumur or muscadet. And it wasn't only the French enjoying their oysters many visitors enjoyed the experience too.

About to get underway is the famous 'first cut' of France's oldest vines. This small parcel in Montmartre manages to produce 800 bottles of wine, the proceeds of which go towards the needy.

The vines have been cut and the 2007 festivities are well underway. Cheers and music can be heard everywhere. Everyone heads back to the Sacré Coeur where the heart of the activity is to be found.

Thirsty work opening a festival. The confréries enjoy sampling all the different vine growers wine.  Note their testers, these are the traditional wine tasting silver cups used to help evaluate the quality of a wine, these are rarely seen used these days.

On Saturday alone more than 300,000 visitors came to Montmarte and more still over the fête's 3 day period. The festival goes on into the night and is a date to note if you plan to visit Paris in autumn.

England was celebrating their win against France and hoping for an Argentian win against South Africa! The rugby boys bought 'lavendar bear' for the arrival of Baby Beaumont in January 2008.

The England boys teamed up with some New Zealanders who sadly saw the All Blacks knocked out of the World Cup by France. This didn't dampen spirits, ruby chat & wine were on the agenda of their afternoon.