In the vine country

Mistresses of ironic wit and precise observation, Somerville and Ross are at their most genial in this account of a tour through the Medoc county at the end of the 19th century.

A tour of Medoc country at the time of the vine harvest. During their stay, the authors dance with the harvesters, drink mout (freshly trodden), stay in a barn with dubious bedlinen and visit a grand chateau.

It was our first day's cub-hunting, and things had been going against us from the outset. To begin with, we had started rather late, -it is noticeable that the minutes between five and six A. M. are fewer and closer together than they are at any other period of the day, -and, when half way to the meet we found that Betty had given way to her sporting proclivities, and had surreptitiously followed us. When it is explained that Betty is a St. Bernard puppy of cart-horse dimensions, whose expression of smiling imbecility only cloaks a will of iron, it will be understood that there was trouble before us.

Edith Somerville and Martin Ross were two extraordinary Irish female writers. They produced one of the most popular and best-selling series of comic Irish short stories of its time - The Irish R. M. tales (1899-1914).