The end-of-summer harvest

Le vendange - the grape harvest- has started in the south of France. The villages and roadways are busy this time of year, buzzing with the many people and the various pieces of agricultural machinery needed to pick the grapes and transport them to the wine cave.
The status of the grape in the French economy and in French cuisine is all-important. The culture of the grape is reflected in textiles as discussed in a previous post.  Here is a notice that is posted annually at the entrances to the village of Puisserguier. Similar signs are found across the country.

Lovely medieval town of Puisserguier, France

In 2002, when a local businessman in Puisserguier started to build a car wash on the edge of the village, the backhoe uncovered an Iron Age cemetery. The archaeologists heralded it as one of the most important Iron Age sites in France. Under French law, the government was able to claim the land temporarily so they could devote many months to completing an archaeological dig. Finally all specimens were removed to Paris for study and local construction resumed.
Puisserguier is a charming village with more than a thousand years of written history. With the archaeological discovery, the villagers can now claim an even more ancient ancestry than they'd previously bragged about.  
Here are a few photos. 
Below is a photo of the medieval chateau that dominates the hill on which the town was built, taken last July in the early morning.

The village seen from the nearby bluff that harbors the church of St-Christophe, the patron saint of Puisserguier.  The patchwork of fields are vineyards:

And here is the church of St-Christophe, sheltered in tall pine trees. St-Christophe is the saint that protects the vineyards and the residents of Puisserguier and this is his local home. Every June, ceremonies are held at the St-Christophe church to ensure another good year of vines and wine.