As we left Bergerac, it was all wine vineyards throughout the hilly terrain, and this time I couldn’t rely on my GPS to guide me to a Deaf couple’s vineyard and winery. I had to rely on a traveler’s instinct, spotting the INFO wooden sign when I entered the village of Pomport, seeing the words “Domaine de Grange Neuve” to my thrill and utmost inspiration, because the wooden sign actually put the Deaf vineyard on the map!

I rushed through the narrow road leading to their vineyard, pulling over to the small parking lot. Frenchman Regis Castaing walked to me and Seth smiling at us as if we were his special guests, and as much he extended his welcome to us, we could see he was a bit shy because he doesn’t know much French Sign Language (LSF), not even American Sign Language (ASL). We made the best of it and gestured to each other, understanding one another pretty good, having some laughs with exaggerated gestures. Some families just don’t have much exposure to Deaf culture, but it doesn’t stop me from visiting Deaf people.

“DeafNation is doing a ‘No Barriers with Joel Barish’ video show in France,” I explained to Regis, and he understood who we were. I said we can communicate “through gesturing,” and Regis in his sneak peak into Deaf culture, could only say, “wow.” It was dawning on him that Deaf people were coming out of the woodwork before his own eyes, seeing how we as Deaf people can succeed using sign language as a native, primary language in our media endeavors.

While we were still at it communicating through gestures, his wife Paulette, appeared out of thin air. She seems a very active lady, which explains her sudden pop up while we were deeply engaged in conversation. She sign-speaked “Regis, let’s give DeafNation a grand tour,” and I looked over at Regis, who pointed out, “that’s what I am doing now,” it appeared that they were really excited about us doing a story on their family. Paulette knew sign language!

They are 4th generation family owners of the wine business. Their oldest son walked by saying, “let’s have fun with our Winery tour!”

With the French wine family camaraderie going on, Regis continued, “we have another child, a daughter, who just gave birth to two children, extending the family into the 6th generation.”

Regis hopes that their 6th generation children will continue their winery legacy despite current trends leading people to different jobs and other interesting things in today’s society. “Many people are moving to bigger cities,” said Regis.

Paulette mentioned they have 70 hectares, the equivalent of 173 acres. That is a lot of grapes growing. And plenty of dinner wine.

Pointed Regis, “The Chateau is down the valley. It is used for guests who want to stay away from the noisy city or to spend holidays with family or friends.”

Here is a Wikipedia description of chateaus: “A chateau is a manor house or residence of the lord of the manor or a country house of nobility or gentry, with or without fortifications, originally—and still most frequently—in French-speaking regions.” I do need getaways to a chateau, and France is a perfect place because wine freely flows.

“Wine season is from September and October,” explained Regis, sounding like he knows the vineyards from the back of his hand.

I saw flowers blooming on the vines, and Regis sensing my intuition, confirmed “the flower blooms before the grapes are grown.”

We walked back to their winery warehouse to see the different machines used to process and the wine presses with new wine flowing.

Said Paulette, “technology changed the wine industry, doing more production with less employees.” French wine needs to keep up with other wineries from around the world, especially Chile for their red wine.

We walked by many huge secured bins that preserved wine for years before they were bottled. We even walked down into the cellar.

Said Paulette, “We do some special wooden barrels for higher priced wine due to a different taste.” They explained that lots of bottles are coming from stainless bins that don’t have the flavor the wooden barrels give.

We walked up and joined one employee doing the corks, the foil wrapping over the top and labeling 6 bottles before finally packing it into a box. I was so thrilled over the things I did, including packing the boxes. Hope one of them will go to America’s stores.

If you find “Joel Barish” on any of these bottles, let me know! I am proud of their family winning some awesome awards in French wine events.

The next thing we experienced was their tasting room, seeing different wine bottles. They offered me three varieties for me to try, one white wine, red wine, and a sweet dessert wine. I decided to purchase several bottles because it was too good for me to leave without any bottles from them.

DeafNation presence with us interviewing them made them feel honored, even overjoyed, we like to share and enlighten people about Deaf people around the world. I came away very impressed with their hospitality and the quality of their wines.

Deaf people can do anything, from flying airplanes to making wine. This winery family work very hard year-round by pruning the vine, keeping up with the water quality, eradicating weeds, adding new baby vines and many other exciting tasks in ensuring the wine comes out as good quality stuff.

We drove 3 hours to Bayonne through countless vineyards. French vineyards are bigger than any other countries with all the vineyards they have.

We arrived in Bayonne only to discover at 95% of business in France were closed due to the Pentecôte holiday, and I was lost in the maze of old Bayonne. It was such a beautiful place with lots of small stores and cafes. It became one of my favorite towns at that moment. I must come back here next day with “everyone” working and walking around town. (www.bayonne-tourisme.com)

A wonderful Deaf couple, Christian and Veronique Deck welcomed me and Seth at their home only 10 minutes from the old town. I could see the valley from their backyard.

Christian displayed a Jai Alai, a well known sport in Basque county that shares with Spanish Basque culture. You can check Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jai_alai to learn more about the sport that originated in Basque culture.

They were so surprised that Seth and I gave them 5 bottles from the Deaf family’s vineyard.

They had heard about them but never had a chance to stop by. Veronique told Christian that “we must go there” after I explained them about my experience with Castaing family.

Au Revoir!