Hi -  I'm Liz. I write the blog Elizabeth's
Vines and today I'm in Sigoules which
is in south west France in the Perigord
Pourpre which is heavy-duty wine
country and as you know I write about
wine, culture, food and all associated
things of great interest and today we
had the meeting of the Confrerie. As you
can see I'm in my regalia - I'm
wearing the colours of the Confrerie
du Raison d'Or de Sigoules. This is a
Confrerie that I've been a member of for
about three years and every year there
is a special event in Sigoules which is
the founding village of our Confrerie.
Today we are celebrating the annual
event and introducing new people into
the Confrerie. So what are these confreries?
Confreries are like old guilds
or associations of workers that go back
to the Middle Ages in medieval times; the
conferies have their roots in that period
of history. Today, in a modern context,
they're more used as as an adjunct to
tourism to economic development and to
really working in the tourism culture.
And talking about culture, confreries are
also about culture and they've been
recognised by UNESCO as having an
intangible asset and they are part of
la Gastronomie which, of course, is so
valuable in France; this is a cornerstone
of French culture, its food and wine and
the Confreries are regarded as part and
parcel of that recognition through
UNESCO.  So why am I a member of a
confrerie? Here I am, a Canadian spending
part of the time in south west France?
I was invited to join the Confrerie
because I write a wine blog and I write
about wine and associated activities
so I was asked if I would join the Confrerie
and actually act as an ambassador
in Canada - so talk about the Confrerie in
a more of a Canadian context. So
that's one of the reasons.
I enjoy writing and
I enjoy writing about wine. This is actually a
hobby for me - it's not something that I'm
compensated for - I love it!  And the other
aspect of being a Confrerie member is
that it really is an opportunity to
socialise with French people who are
very engaged in their community and I
really find that very interesting,
enjoyable - and it's fun! And one of the
core values of the Confrerie is, in fact,
convivilaity and friendship, so this fits
right into the idea of socialising with
French people who are very active and
supportive of their community. And it's all
about promoting regional products and
the culture and our Confrerie here not only
promotes the regional products but
also arranges walks (randonnées) through the countryside so that people can
discover the Perigord which is
wonderful. And another aspect of the
Confrerie, which I have found particularly
enjoyable, is that it's given me the
opportunity to go with some of my Confrerie colleagues to other parts of France.
So, for example, I have been to the Pays Basque.
This morning - at the end of one of our celebrations,
we had the opportunity
to hear the members of
the Confrerie from the Pays Basque sing - and they have the most wonderful voices -
deep, very wonderful singing voices and this is one of the aspects that I've really
enjoyed is this opportunity to go to
other parts of France and become
aware of their culture.  So being a member
of a confrerie is really about celebrating
the culture of that environment - and I
love it!
So, if you found this interesting, you can
follow me on my blog at www.elizabethsvines.com
and you can find out more about
my background and why I'm interested in
wine and what I've done to further my education in this area.
I enjoy looking forward to you following my blog.  Thank you.
