Very few feelings compare to the joy traveling Scotland diving into warehouses examining barrels for our customers. It’s not easy after enjoying that little fleeting glory, something which only a tiny portion of the population will ever experience, to return to normal life. If there’s one place that softens the blow of leaving Scotland, it’s Gascogne. This little slice of untainted heaven remains one of the most underappreciated regions of France. It doesn’t have Castles like the Loire Valley or beautiful beaches like the Riviera, but it does have one of the most important food cultures in France and a proud yet welcoming population of devoted to the agrarian industries that sustain this region.

Gascogne seems like a land lost to time. Time simply stops here. A few days can seem like an eternity, while a few years disappear in the blink of an eye. That’s how the locals describe it though. It’s an old place, not only historically, but there are simply not a lot of young people around. They move away to Toulouse, Bordeaux or Paris for school or to find work. There’s plenty of work around here, but young people don’t want to do the work that’s available. If you’re not working in the vines then you’re dealing with pigs, ducks, geese or other crops. There’s no other industry in this region, but Toulouse is becoming one of the fastest growing cities in France with a booming tech and aerospace sectors.