Le cabanon

You've seen this one before. It's the stone storage shed in the vineyard behind our house. It's one of what I imagine are hundreds sprinkled throughout our region. They were once used for tool storage and as a refuge for vineyard workers in the days before it was easy to hop in the car and go home for lunch.

This old shed is made with a mix of stones and concrete blocks and has been patched and shored up over the years.

Most of the cabanons du vigneron that I see around here are more or less abandoned and not used for much anymore. This one is closed and locked up; others are left open to the elements and wildlife. Those are grape vines planted around the shed. They produce grapes (but they're not harvested for wine), and the growers prune the vines back every year.