Wine of the Day July 31, 2011

Today's wine was enjoyed by the pool at our villa.  It was a 2007 Savigny des Beaune white wine.  Beaune is in central France, about half way between Paris and Lyon.  It was one of the more pricey wines at the supermarket (see yesterday's WOTD post) at 18 Euros.  It was nice and dry, but I only enjoy white wines when they are really cold, and since it was 29 degrees outside tonight (not that I am complaining), it warmed up pretty quickly.   We ended up doing something that would probably get us kicked out of France - we put a few ice cubes in the glass to keep the wine cold.  Nice wine - but I am not a huge white fan.  I am looking forward to tomorrow's visit to Chateauneuf du Pape.  Tomorrow is the beginning of a wine festival in the village...good timing, eh?

Wine of the Day July 30, 2011

We finally arrived in Avignon on Saturday July 30.  It was late in the day by the time we ventured out into the town of Les Angles, and all of the wine shops were closed....not to worry - we are in France, so even the Supermarkets carry excellent wines.  We picked up a red and a white to tide us over until Monday (most shops including the supermarkets are closed on Sunday).  Today's wine is a Gigondas, which is a local wine just to the north of the famous Chateauneuf du Pape region.  Some wine aficionados claim that Gigondas is a much better value than Chateauneuf because it is a very similar wine, but is not as well known.  We had tried a Gigondas back home from our favorite wine store, Everything Wine, in Surrey BC, and we liked it a lot.  This Gigondas was a 2009 Club des Sommeliers, which likely means that it was a blend of several wineries, and not from a single estate.  It was also only about 12 Euros, so it was very reasonably priced.  It was very good, and we enjoyed it as we finally relaxed in our rented villa after 3 long days of running around in Paris.

Wine of the Day July 29, 2011

What I love about France is that no matter where you go to eat, you can usually have great wine.  Many of the Bistros, Cafes and Brasseries we visited in Paris did not even have a generic "house wine".  Most places offer at least six or seven red and white wine selections.  On July 29, we went out in search of a good cafe, and came across a neat little place that was on a street that any city in north america would call an alley.  Kaitlin tried escargots for the first time and loved them (much to our....and her...surprise).  We ordered this nice bottle of 2009 Marquis de Sainville, which was another Bordeaux from the Graves region.  It was nice, but not nearly as good as the 2005 from the previous day.  

Wine of the Day July 28, 2011

OK - so after getting a good sleep last night, it was time to get serious.  No more half bottles!  Today's wine was procured at a cool little wine shop a block away from our hotel:

It is a beautiful Bordeaux - a 2005 Chateau de Cruzeau from Pessac-Leognan.  It is full bodied and very smooth.  Probably best enjoyed with beef or game, but we enjoyed it all on its own and drank it out of the cheep glass tumblers that we found in our hotel room.    

Wine of the Day July 27, 2011

As promised, here is my first "wine of the day" blog post:

We went out for dinner at a nice bistro right next to the Seine last night after we all had a nap.  You know you are in France when the "house wine" is not only a Bordeaux, it is a vintage Mis en Bouteille au Chateau.  Anyways, despite being up for 30+ hours, the wine tasted great.

Bonjour from Paris

The flight from toronto to Paris was a long one. The kids did not sleep a wink on the plane so they were very tired when we landed at 8:30am. They were even more tired when we had to wait two hours in the hotel lobby for our room to be available.

The taxi ride from the airport was a rush. I think i hit the imaginary brake pedal on the passenger floor about a hundred times as our driver weaved in and out of traffic on the highway. Once he got into the city, i thought we were going to have about 5 or 6 collisions. Am i ever glad we do not have to rent a car until we get to the country.

Wendy and the girls are finally sleeping a bit. It is 5:30 pm here now so i am going to have to wake them up to go eat. Wish me luck!

Strugnells invade France 2011

Q: "how many French soldiers does it take to defend Paris from an invading army?"
A: "no one knows - it's never been tried"

We are leaving on july 26 for an 18 day trip to France. We are staying in Paris for 4 days, then taking the TGV to Avignon for the remaining two weeks. It is going to be a blast. I plan to come back very fat from eating croissants, baguettes, chevre, escargots, and of course foie gras. I will also likely need to go to rehab from drinking wine all day...every day!