Juniper, not sloe. You fond fool.
Sloes are what you add to gin to make sloe gin. I once had some sloe gin that had been made with the young leaves of the blackthorn tree. That was in France, a country with which you are familiar.

Ah, yes, juniper. Sorry, but I'm sloe.

Is France near Texas?

Yes, it's right next door.

Rubbish, seen bigger mice Now this is a bear http://britishexpats.com/forum/showthread.php?t=533250

Sulphur is used lots in wine, particularly French wine. As a student, I did a six-month stint in a wine shop in Reims. The boss was an oenologue (sp?) and he taught me lots. We mainly sold bulk wine, from 600-litre wooden barrels. Empty barrels, after washing, would be fumigated by burning sulphur sticks in them. After the wine was put in, a litre of sulphur solution would be poured straight into it. It stops oxidisation, IIRC. I think vineyards in Bordeaux also burn sulphur.

Most Bordeaux vines around today come from Californian stock, BTW. The original vines got wiped out by disease yonks ago.

I think French wine doesn't have a limit on how much they can use. Other wines have to have whether or not they contain sulfites marked on them, and sometimes they are ok, sometimes not ."Oaked" wine can be a problem too, especially when it's flavoured with oak "teabags" rather than oak casks.

Serious thread drift me thinks

There's no discipline, no self restraint. I blame the parents.

Just bear with it and it'll all work out.

I had my first sighting of a cougar passing along the path at the back of our tiny yard on Saturday night. It was about 11.30pm and I only saw it because the neighbours left their spotlights on. It could have been wandering around here for ages! Huge adult too...I was really scared but felt so excited afterwards.

When I rang the Conservation Officer the next day he said that my city has them, as do any areas near mountainous forests, which have racoons, deer and small animals - in other words, they will be around anywhere near a mountainous forest.