What's Going On in the World of French Wines

Bonjour! As I write this, I am sitting on a train traveling from Paris to Bordeaux. In my last blog entry I mentioned that I was heading off to France. Well, I survived the adventure of packing and my flight to arrive in France this past Sunday morning. So far I have visited Alsace and Loire for some vlog filming with the Lost in Francelation team, and today I am making my way to Bordeaux for the Masters of Wine Symposium. Traveling by train through France (even with a bunch of luggage) is definitely something I recommend – the trains are very convenient and super fast. And given they have places aboard to plug in your laptop, they also afford you a great time to blog!

I thought I would catch you all up on what I have been doing here in France so far. My first stop was Alsace, where we did some filming in Colmar, Riquewihr, Katzenthal and Sigolsheim. Alsace is known not only for making great Riesling, but also for its great restaurants. We didn’t have too much time to eat while we were there, but we did manage to get in one nice meal. And what meal wouldn’t be complete without dessert? But you can imagine my surprise when one of the desserts we were served, an assortment of cookies and sweets, included some small yellow marshmallow puffs covered in yellow sugar – I’m pretty sure they were Alsace’s answer to Peeps!

I haven’t been back to Alsace since 1999 and so it was interesting to see what I remembered. Walking through Colmar I had a flashback to the night I had arrived on that first trip when I ate dinner at Hôtel Le Maréchal, which is right on the canal in the part of Colmar aptly named Little Venice. I vaguely recall eating chicken that night, but I specifically remember drinking a lovely light-bodied Pinot Noir with my meal. Many people think that Alsace only produces white wines, but Pinot Noir can also be found there too – and in fact one of the wines on my Top 50 list is a sparkling Rosé Cremant made from, you guessed it – Pinot Noir.

Our next stop for filming was the Loire Valley and so two trains later, we made it to Tours. The Loire is one of France’s most visited regions as it is considered one of the most scenic, with its gorgeous chateaux. The soft limestone rock that can be found in the Loire is not only good for growing grapes, but it is easy to carve, so it was an ideal material to use to build those decorative castles that look like they come straight out of a fairy tale. For someone who studied Medieval and Renaissance history in college, visiting the Loire is like jumping into the pages of a history book. And I don’t want to forget to mention the food – crepes are a real specialty of the region and last night’s meal included a savory crepe for dinner and a sweet crepe for dessert! Talk about delicious.

So now, with 2 vlogs filmed, it is off to Bordeaux for some interesting and thought-provoking seminars. I’ll post again soon about the Symposium and don’t forget, if there’s something you want to know, don’t hesitate to drop me a line in the comment section below. I look forward to hearing from you!