We’ve been in Paris for 10 days; 10 days stuffed with Paris stuff: restaurants, museums, the l’Arc de Triomphe draped á la Christo (and Jean-Claude), photo exhibits, wine and friends. After weeks of fretting, getting here was easy. The border… Read More ›
Exploring France
Day trips, weekends, hikes (mainly to wine).
Walking Champagne, part 2
(Walking champagne part 1) Nearly 400 years ago, in the village of Hautvillers, the Benedictine monk, Dom Pérignon, was tinkering with the wine. During his tenure as abbey cellar master, he advanced the extensive blending used in champagne, devised pressing… Read More ›
Walking the Champagne Region: Part One
Champagne. To me the word evoked little beyond locker room celebrations and wedding toasts, so when I concocted a goal to walk all the wine regions of France, Champagne was a long shot for the inaugural trek. The Philadelphia wine… Read More ›
Beaujolais Nouveau Day
Nestled between the southern border of Burgundy and the city of Lyon is the French wine region of Beaujolais. This is an area of predominately red wine which, by AOC proclamation, must be made from handpicked gamay grapes. The wine… Read More ›
Adventures in the Loire Valley
The bus flew past, and for a moment I was too stunned to react. Then I yelled, but if anything, the driver accelerated. “I can’t believe it,” I told Pat, “We’re not going.” Six months of anticipation. For naught. Pat… Read More ›