Thomas and I are by no means oenophiles, but we do like discovering new wines. And France is a great place to do a lot of discovering (and learning).
This weekend there was a salon for independent wine makers in Paris. Over a thousand oenologues presented their wines under one roof. We tasted wines from Bordeaux, Avignon, Lirac, and Champagne. The best part of today was speaking with the wine makers themselves. Who better to tell you about the wine than those who had a hand in its production. It was wonderful to speak with people who were proud of their work. We even met one of the founders of the salon at one of the stations selling his wines. He was a remarkable teacher (Thomas and I still have a lot to learn), which in my opinion made him a good salesman. We almost bought a case from him. Thomas and I had to hesitate a bit with the wine purchases. Many of the wines we purchased were not quite ready to drink. Before buying more of these types of wine, we would need to figure out where we would store them. Perhaps building a wine cave is a project for another weekend.
We came home with (literally) a backpack full of wine. Since we took the train, we needed a way to bring the wine home. We thought leaving the grocery chariot at home would help keep our purchases in check. Others brought their suitcases on rollers. There was some serious wine purchases going on at this event. People were stowing away wooden cases of wine in their Samsonite rolling bag.
These salons (wine and food) are definitely one thing the French know how to do well.
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| My favorite wine of the day. |
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| Salon du vigneron independant. |
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| Bordeux, Syrah, Chateau-neuf-du-pape, Sauternes, and cognac. A fruitful Sunday. |