24 Days of French Wine: Champagne!

What else for Christmas Eve but Champagne?

Ohh, champagne. The queen of hype. The name immediately conjures thoughts of wealth, luxury, and celebration. So what is it, anyway?

Well, it is a sparkling wine produced in Champagne which is the most northern of France's wine regions. A bottle typically won't have a year on it unless it is a "vintage blend" from that year. This is because most of the time, the wines are blended from not only different vines but different years as well.  Chardonnay grapes are certainly associated with champagne but Pinot Noir and Meunier Noir are used as well. Don't like Chardonnay? Look for a blanc de noirs which will not include Chardonnay. Alternately, if you absolutely love Chardonnay, look for a blanc de blancs which will be all Chardonnay.

"Champagnes are also ranked and promoted by producer, not by any more finely delimited appellation."

Not surprisingly, when you buy a bottle of wine from a big name - Krug, Mumm, Moet & Chandon - a portion of what you're paying is definitely paying for the name on the label, so keep the following in mind: given the choice of a big name brand with no further appellation or an unknown-yet-legitimate champagne with a "premier cru" or "grand cru" label, both for roughly the same price, go for the cru over the name.  Also, most people will find a good french sparkling wine just as nice to drink and substantially cheaper but I have heard it said that the best champagnes are in a league of their own.

~The details~
Name: Quatresols-Gauthier
Year: Unlisted
Region: Champagne
Grape/Cépage: 30% Pinot Noir, 40% Meunier, 30% Chardonnay
Alcohol: 12%
Serving Temp: unlisted
Serving ideas: unlisted
Special notes: Brut. Premier Cru

What we did: Served it at our Christmas Eve Réveillon along with nibbles which included a raw milk Brie de Meaux, a hard cheese laced with truffles, goose rillettes, a paté with foie gras in the centre, my father-in-law's awesome Canadian tourtière, and lots of sweets.

I can't say this one was a surprise. We bought this champagne last autumn during the wine fair at the grocery store under the guidance of a well-informed employee who gave me a good crash course in reading labels and a few samples to taste, so I knew the bottle we bought was going to be good.

I've never been very fond of champagne. I'm not a huge fan of chardonnay either, frankly.  A lot of off-dry sparkling wines are so sweet that they get sickly in combination with the bubbles or so dry that the fizz seems to amplify the harsh sourness of the product. It makes finding a pleasant middle-ground challenging.  I'm sorely tempted to go seek out a case of this stuff, though. This was floral, fragrant, fruity with a bit of grapefruit but still dry and refreshing. Loved it!


1- Source of quote.

24 Days of French Wine: Vouvray

Vouvray is a sparkling wine from the Loire Valley. The wines can be produced in varying levels of sweetness depending on the warmth of the year and the sugar levels in the grapes. Ours was "brut" meaning fizzy and dry. It is produced from Chenin Blanc grapes. "Méthode Traditionelle" means it was produced using the Champagne method. They used to call it "méthode champenoise" but Champagne lobbied to keep that term to their region exclusively. It's the same process.

~The details~
Name: Vouvray/No Name/Store Brand
Year: Unlisted
Region: Loire Valley
Appellation: Appellation Vouvray Contrôlée
Grape/Cépage: Chenin
Alcohol: 12.5%
Serving Temp: Unlisted
Serving ideas: Aperitif, Poissons, Fromages, Desserts
Special notes: Brut, Méthode Traditionnelle

What we did: Fish with beurre blanc sauce, mâche salad, baguette

Oh, this was yummy and a nice change. Lately - and I'm including before the start of this advent calendar - it seems we've mostly been drinking big red wines or sweet whites, or sweet fizzy wines. It was nice to have a dry fizzy wine for a change. The bubbles and acidity of the wine balanced nicely with the creamy beurre blanc sauce. It's a nice wine and I'd be very happy to serve this to friends and family.

24 Days of French Wine: Pineau des Charentes

Pineau des Charentes is a sweet fortified wine from the same area where cognac is made. Not being known for any regular wines, they work with what they've got and have produced this

Legend - gotta love legend - says that back in 1589, a winemaker poured some grape must into a barrel that he thought was empty but actually still held some cognac. When he checked on it a few years later: ta-da!  The process was remembered and repeated but wasn't commercialized until 1921.

It's also, supposedly, a bit out of fashion right now and considered an old guy's drink.

~The details~
Name: Baronne de Fontignac
Year: Unlisted
Region: Charentes
Appellation: Appellation Pineau des Charentes Contrôlée
Grape/Cépage: Unlisted
Alcohol: 17%
Serving Temp: Very cold
Serving ideas: With aperitifs

What we did: A bit of blue cheese after supper

Well thank goodness for ignorance! I had no clue about the social associations of this drink. I just heard it was something from the cognac area and it sounded neat. And it was. 'Twas yummy. Lots of notes of honey and apples. It was sweeter version of calvados but less cloying than mead and reminded me a bit of the brandy fortified ice wine I had in Canada.

An article about Pineau.

24 Days of French Wine: Burgundy

Burgundy is a region very famous for their wines. Appellations - and I'm noticing a trend here - get more specific geographically as the wine gets better and/or more tightly controlled in its grapes and production methods. The bottom is the general Burgundy appellation. Next up come special regions within Burgundy. Above that are the specific villages that get their own appellation. At the top we get the "grand cru" labels usually labelled with the name of the chateau or what-have-you where that wine is produced.

In my research, I'd heard it said that the generic wines tend to be overpriced, leaning more on the history of their name than the quality of the product, so I just got a basic passetoutgrains bottle which mean everything gets used: grapes, pips, skins, even stems, from a mix of permitted grapes.

~The details~
Name: Bourgogne Passe-Tout-Grains (no name)
Year: 2014
Region: Burgundy
Appellation: Bourgogne - Appellation d'Origine Protégée
Grape/Cépage: Pinot Noir, Gamay
Alcohol: 12%
Serving Temp: 10-12C
Serving ideas: Charcuteries, Pot-au-feu, Oeufs en meurette

What we did: Oeufs en meurette. Didn't know what it was, but I was intrigued. It's basically a beef burgundy sauce without the beef - so, onions, garlic, bacon, mushrooms, a bit of sugar and a lot of wine - served with poached eggs and garlic bread.

Drinking this a little after the Brouilly from the Beaujolais region, all I could think was "Nope, still sour."  I was very grateful for the sugar in the sauce recipe. The wine and the meal paired well together, but seriously, I'm not seeing what the hype is about in this region. Maybe I need to try the nicer, older, finer, better, whatever-er wines, but if I can find wines at a similar price point from other regions that I enjoy far, far more... why bother?

24 Days of French Wine: Madiran

Madiran is a dark red wine with lots of tannins. It is produced in the commune of Madiran in southwestern France, near the Pyrenees. It is required to be aged for a minimum of 12 months before selling, with average wait times sitting around 18 to 20 months. It is said to have the highest levels of polyphenols of any wine. Mostly made from the Tannat grape, it was a Madiran producer named Patrick Ducournau, who, in working with the harsh tannins of this grape, developed the technique of micro-oxygenation.

Madiran can be divided into three main types: young, medium, old. Young, which is what we have, pairs well with grilled meats, especially duck breast, or with dishes using confit meats, like cassoulet.

~The details~
Name: Domaine Bernet - Grande Tradition
Year: 2013
Region: Southwest France
Appellation: Appellation Madiran Contrôlée
Grape/Cépage: unknown. Likely at least 40% Tannat.
Alcohol: 13.5%
Serving Temp:  Unlisted, a cool room temperature
Serving ideas: Grilled steak, Duck breast, Duck confit, Cheese
Special notes: Bottled at the estate

What we did: Funny story. There was a possibility of having guests for dinner on Sunday - the day we had the Cahors - but stores close at noon on Sundays, so we bought extra duck breasts just in case. Now - oh tragedy - we had extra duck! So we popped them in the freezer for later and had duck with red berry sauce this time. It's a hardship, I know. Paired with gratin potatoes and sautéed spinach again.

I think this was more what I was expecting when I tasted the Cahors. Very dark, lots of tannins, a bit intimidating.  I'm very glad we paired this with duck and would be happy to try it again with other rich, fatty, meaty, hearty foods like cassoulet. It definitely needs to be paired with something of substance.

24 Days of French Wine: Blanquette de Limoux - Méthode Ancestrale

Where do I begin with this wine so full of history and legend? With the basics, I suppose.

Blanquette de Limoux is a sparkling wine from the Languedoc region. It is said to be the oldest sparkling wine in the world with evidence of it being produced as long ago as 1531. (Production of non-sparkling wines dates back to Roman occupation of the area.) It's name - blanquette - refers to the whitish layer that appears on the plant.

Now, there is regular Blanquette de Limoux and Blanquette de Limoux Méthode Ancestrale, which is what we drank.

Blanquette de Limoux can be produced using at least 90% Mauzac grapes with the remainder of the wine made up of Chardonnay and/or Chenin grapes. The wine is fermented using the traditional (or, shh, champenoise) method and has an alcohol level you'd expect to see from a bottle of wine.

The ancestral method variety must use Mauzac grapes exclusively. The fermentation is entirely naturally occurring. The wine is bottled while still fermenting - yeasts and sugars are still present - and the wine does not get clarified. Bottling traditionally happens on the full moon in march. Alcohol content is below 7%.

Legend - which is retold either as fact or with the disclaimer that it is almost certainly not true - says that it is with this wine that Dom Pérignon learned the technique of producing sparkling wine and that he took what he learned with him to the Champagne region where he helped them transform and develop their rather boring and forgettable wines into the legendary product that so many know and love today.

~The details~
Name: Aimery Méthode Ancestrale
Year: Unlisted
Region: Limoux/Languedoc
Appellation: Appellation Limoux Contrôlée
Grape/Cépage: Mauzac
Alcohol: 6%
Serving Temp: 7C
Serving ideas: Drink on its own or with desserts

What we did: Drank it solo to celebrate finally having champagne flutes!

Ohh, this is like the world's oldest, naturally flavoured, naturally sweetened alcopop! Deceptive, it tasted like fizzy grape and apple juice but with a bit more character. Barely tasted alcoholic. Very fun. Fruity. Fizzy. And very nice to have an evening to not think about pairings! (I didn't notice any sediment in the bottle, though.)

Links
French wiki for Blanquette de Limoux
An article about Dom Pérignon
Good information about Blanquette and its variants

24 Days of French Wine: Cotes de Bergerac

Côtes de Bergerac is a wine from the departement of Dordogne, just east of Bordeaux and along the northern edge of southwestern France. In this region, they produce dry red wines and sweet white wines ranging from Demi-sec to Moelleux to Doux. We had a bottle of white. The grapes used weren't listed but it's probably at least in part made of Sémillon.

Interesting tidbit for my history-loving friends: this is in the ancient region of Périgord. I don't know very much at all about the region, but I do know salade Périgourdine is delicious. Maybe I'll get to post about it someday.

~The details~
Name: Terrasses d'Autan
Year: 2014
Region: Appellation Côtes de Bergerac Contrôlée
Grape/Cépage: unlisted
Alcohol: 11%
Serving Temp: 8-10C
Serving ideas: Aperitif, foie gras, blue cheeses, sorbets, exotic/tropical fruit

What we did:  Aligot de l'Aubrac, Toulouse sausages, and green beans sautéed with shallots.

Ohh, yummy!  I know I'm a sucker for sweet wines and while the week of mostly reds was fun and tasty, it was so nice to have a fun white like this and enjoy the play of sweet and salty. Sadly, the week was quite chaotic shortly before and after this and I don't remember my more detailed impressions of this wine.  I guess I'll just have to get another bottle sometime. Aww, shucks!

24 Days of French wine: Brouilly

I'm time travelling! Woo! (Translation and disclosure: we were tired and wined-out on Tuesday, so we're drinking this bottle a few days late and back-dating the post. I think on Tuesday proper we had leftover baguette and melted Babybel cheese for supper.)

Here we have a red wine from Brouilly. This is another one of those more specific, special-village-within-a-region appellations - the region here being Beaujolais, which is just south of the Burgundy region. Some people lump Beaujolais in with Burgundy, but you're wading into some pretty prickly politics, there.

Back to the wine: this is not a Beaujolais Nouveau.

It is from Brouilly, which is in Beaujolais. And it does use Gamay grapes which are known for not having crazy strong tannins, but I'm emphatically told that it is not the same thing as a Beaujolais Nouveau.

~The details~
Name: Domaine du Côteau Ensoleillé
Year: unlisted
Region: Appellation Brouilly Contrôlée
Grape/Cépage: Gamay
Alcohol: 12.5%
Serving Temp: 15C
Serving ideas: "Salade composée", red meat, charcuterie plate, terrine, paté

What we did: Ham, turkey, and cheese sandwiches. Green salad of baby spinach, beet greens, and arugula/rocket with tomato and jambon cru which is like prosciutto.

Alright, so a "salade composée" is basically like a meal type salad. Meat, fruit, veg, cheese, nuts - stuff like that, usually on a bed of greens. Think things like chicken caesar salad, pasta salad with shrimp and pine nuts, leafy greens with tuna, tomatoes, boiled egg, and blanched green beans. That sort of thing.  That all seems fairly close to our meal choice.

Now, from what I've read about these wines, they're very accessible and pretty good at going with lots of foods because the tannins are so mellow. And they were. The tannins were there, but not very strong at all. Unfortunately, I can't say that I liked the wine itself.

There was nothing else there to balance that pinch of dryness beyond sourness!  Not even "oh, refreshing acidity." Just sour. And I can't say "well, maybe it should have been against something stronger" because I played with some pairings. Still just... sour. And a little bit dry. Sour red wine.

I'm glad we only had a half bottle.

24 Days of French Wine: Languedoc-Roussillon

Today we have a Languedoc-Roussillon. This means that it's also from the Languedoc region, like the Corbières we had earlier, but from a different area with its own appellation. It's still a Mediterranean wine coming from a warm, sunny area that tends to produce rich, full bodied wines with higher alcohol. Often recommended for pairing with pizza or bolognese.

~The details~
Name: Chateau de Sau
Year: 2012
Region: Thuir, in the foothills of the Pyrenees
Appellation: Côtes du Roussillon Appellation d'Origine Protegée
Grape/Cépage: Syrah, Grenache Noir
Alcohol: 13.5%
Serving Temp: unlisted. Default to a cool room temperature.
Serving ideas: Grilled red meat, poultry/guinea fowl in sauce, mature cheeses
Special notes: Bottled at the chateau.

What we did: Spaghetti bolognese.

Ok, we eat spaghetti bolognese a lot in this family. It's one of the few meals we all enjoy. And whenever I'm searching "what to drink with spaghetti" I keep seeing Roussillon. Roussillon. Roussillon! So it seemed natural to set this wine aside for a spaghetti night.

Notice that "pizza" is not one of the suggested serving ideas! I'm wishing I'd followed the bottle's recommendation here.

I really think this 2012 bottle would have been better with something richer. With the bolognese, this wine sometimes reminded me of latex paint. I had some Ossau-iraty cheese with the wine afterwards and it paired much better.  In the future I think I'll look for a younger Roussillon for our bolognese dinners.

24 Days of French Wine: Cahors

Cahors is a dark, full, red wine from southwestern France.  The region is known for using Malbec in its blend.

~The details~
Name: Chateau La Poujade
Year: 2014
Region: Cahors Appellation d'Origine Protegée
Grape/Cépage: L'auxerrois, Merlot
Alcohol: 13%
Serving Temp: 17C
Serving ideas: Duck breast, grilled foods, cheeses
Special notes: Bottled on the property. Produced using traditional methods.

What we did:  Duck breast/magret de canard with orange sauce, spinach sauteed with garlic and shallots, and fresh baguette.

When I was researching, I was a bit intimidated by this wine and didn't think I'd like it all that much. I expected some scary, dark, puckeringly dry thing but I was very pleasantly surprised to find it was really, really yummy! We've had a couple fruity, acidic reds and we've had some more tannic, oaky wines as well. Both nice in their own ways, but each very different. This was everything turned up full blast! Dark, plummy, fruity, and velvety all at the same time. One of my favourite reds so far!

We were lucky enough to have friends over - who are better versed in wine than me - when we opened the bottle. It was so neat that they guessed it was a Chilean wine.  That would be the Malbec coming through.

Speaking of Malbec, this tripped me up and took a few searches to sort out. Nowhere on the bottle is Malbec listed! It says Merlot and Auxerrois. So what's going on?
Well it turns out, Auxerrois is the name of a white grape except in this little area of Cahors where it is a name for Malbec (a.k.a. Côt). Mystery solved. Cheers!

24 Days of French Wine: Côtes du Rhône

Today's wine comes from the Côtes du Rhône region. It's a region some say is famous more due to scale than to quality.  The area covers 200km from Lyons down to the Camargue region, with little pockets of more specialized appellations scattered throughout.  A basic Côtes du Rhône wine tends to be fairly inexpensive.

~The details~ 

Name: Les Combes de Saint-Sauveur
Year: 2014
Region: Appellation Côtes du Rhône Contrôlée
Grape/Cépage: unlisted (probably Grenache?)
Alcohol: 12.5%
Serving Temp: unlisted (room temperature? 18-ish?)
Serving Ideas: Meats in sauce, roasted meat, poultry, cheeses
Special Notes: none

What we did: Picked a wine to fit our usual Saturday meal. A rotisserie chicken and potatoes from the morning market.  So good.

My first impression was that the wine smelled like alcohol. To drink, I got a lot of fruit and some mineral notes. Not a lot of tannins. When enjoyed with the chicken, it felt hearty and satisfying and it had enough acid to cut through all the fatty, delicious, roasted chicken skin.  Not a revelation but definitely better than a "meh" wine. It was great for a casual, sit-down, feel-good meal.

24 Days of French Wine: Pouilly-Fumé

Time to change it up with a white wine. This is the fairly well known - as in something I'd actually heard of before - Pouilly Fumé. This does not mean it's a smoked wine. The "fumé" refers to the smoky grey bloom that happens on the grapes when they get ripe.

Note: there is also "Pouilly Fuissé" which is a totally different wine from a different region with a different grape. This is not that.

~The details~ 

Name: Le Chasnoy
Year: 2013
Region: Loire Valley
Appellation: Appellation Pouilly-Fumé Contrôlée
Grape/Cépage: Sauvignon (blanc)
Alcohol: 12.5%
Serving Temp: 9-11ºC
Serving ideas: Fish and poultry in sauce
Special notes: Bottled on the property

What we did:  I've been roaming a bunch of wine-pairing-recommendation sites lately instead of just going by the bottle. Finally we decided on a mâche salad with corn, raw beets, smoked trout, and aged chèvre on baguette slices, all drizzled with hazelnut oil and a bit of salt. Then lemon meringue tartlets for dessert.

Now, I'll admit that until now I've pretty much been an off-dry-white-wine girl. I've been all about the Rieslings and Gewürztraminers and found most other whites just taste like sour, watery, boozy grapes. So the best I can describe this Pouilly-Fumé is that it tastes like a more sour Riesling. It has all this lovely sweet/fruity flavour mixed with a lot of acidity so without the right dish it's very sweet-and-sour but I bet it would be really special if paired just right.
Our pairing was okay, but I think next time I'd match this wine against something more substantial - or at least risk putting some vinegar into the dressing instead of a simple drizzle of oil.

1- An article about pairing wines with salads.
2- Pouilly-Fumé wiki French / English

24 Days of French Wine: Languedoc-Corbières

Day 3 we have a wine from the Languedoc region. The climate here is Mediterranean with lots of sun and really ripe grapes, so you get a nice round grape, fruity when young, with a high alcohol content.

~The details~ 

Name: Les Pluviers
Year: 2014
Region/Appellation: Corbières AOC
Grape/Cépage:  unlisted (most likely grenache and syrah. Maybe some carignan.)
Alcohol: 12.5% vol.
Serving Temp: 16-18C
Serving ideas: grilled foods, meat in sauce, strong cheeses, aged cheeses

What we did: Steak dinner! We started with some leftover tapenade on baguette slices and then had steak with a super simple sauce of pan drippings deglazed with wine and served with a nice crusty baguette and bacon-fried Brussels sprouts.

For starters, I preferred the tapenade with yesterday's vin primeur, personally. There was nothing really wrong with this wine - it was fruity, a bit mineral, with some mild tannins. Hubby preferred this wine to yesterday's. I preferred yesterday's wine. There was something about this Corbières that just fell flat to me. Maybe it was the meal choice. Maybe we should have let it breathe more. Maybe the temperature wasn't quite right. Maybe I was distracted by my twisted ankle. Who knows? Not bad. Not magical. I'd give it another shot, though.

24 Days of French Wine: Vin Primeur

Today's selection is a vin primeur.

These are wines that are sold very young, being given only enough time to ferment and meant to be enjoyed right away. The best known of these is Beaujolais Nouveau, though several regions have their own vin primeur. We chose a bottle from a local producer.

~The details~
Name: Domaine La Blaque - Vin Primeur 2015
Year: 2015!
Region: Pierrevert, Provence
Appellation: Alpes de Haute Provence Indication Géographique Protegée
Grape/Cépage: unlisted (but their website says they grow Syrah, Grenache noir, Carignan, and Cinsault)
Alcohol: 12.5%
Serving Temp: unlisted (shop lady advised room temperature)
Serving ideas: unlisted
Special notes: Bottled at the domaine. Organic.

What we did: As recommended by the shop lady (who is awesome, by the way) we did an apéro-diner with local olives, tapenade, raw sheep's milk cheese, crudités, baguette, and cooked white boudin sausages (it was on sale).

I honestly didn't know what to expect from this. I'd heard vin primeur described as fresh, fruity, barely tannic but also as harsh and over-hyped. I sampled it a few weeks ago when it was first released and was pretty neutral about it. Sometimes wine is just wine.

Tonight, though, paired with lots of highly salted nibbles, I found it a bit sweet, very fruity, and highly quaffable - dangerously easy to drink.  The saltiness mellowed the harsher notes of the wine, letting the sweet fruit shine and the wine tempered the bitterness of the olives and the "goatier" aspects of the sheep's cheese.

Just out of curiosity, I tried a sip after a bite of the chocolate cake we were having for dessert and it lost all its magic. We were right back to a slightly harsh "enh, it's wine" experience. The salty nibbles were key. Final verdict: a great party wine and finally a reason to look forward to Novembers! I'd drink it again.

24 Days of French Wine: Medoc AOC Bordeaux

First up, a wine from the Médoc area of the Bordeaux region.

Oh my goodness, I could probably do an Advent Calendar from Bordeaux wines alone! The area is large - around 100km north to south and east to west. It covers two rivers (Dordogne and Garonne) which feed into an estuary (Gironde) which meets up with the Atlantic Ocean.

As I understand it - thanks to a brief study at the University-O-Wikipedia - the better the wine, the more specific they are about where it came from. Starting with the great big region of Bordeaux, you get to smaller areas, such as Médoc, and whittle right down to the few premier cru wines proudly bearing the names of exactly whence they came, with all sorts of other labels in between.

Medoc itself is the northwest-most area of Bordeaux, near the edge of the estuary, almost next to the Atlantic.

~The details~
Name: L'Allée du Roy
Year: 2014
Grape/Cépage: Unlisted
Region: Médoc - North-west end of the Bordeaux region, near the Atlantic
Label: Grand Vin de Bordeaux; Appellation Médoc Contrôlée
Alcohol: 12.5% vol.
Serving Temp: 15-16C; 59-61F
Serving Ideas: Cheeses or grilled meats

What we did: Burgers, medium-rare! Cheeseburgers and fries from the place next door.

I'll admit, we only had this with supper on the 5th because nobody was feeling well on the 1st, but I'm glad it worked out this way. We got to experience this Médoc after the Vin Primeur and after the Côtes du Rhône. What a difference! Where the others wines were sweet, sharp, fruity, and zingy, this was deep with oak and just... velvety. Hello, tannins. I can't even compare the two. They're like apples and oranges: sure, they're both fruit and both great but they're just not the same!
Burgers probably weren't the best or most sophisticated pairing but we enjoyed ourselves and our meal and comparing the two wines (Médoc and leftover Côtes du Rhône from lunch) made for a very fun experience.


1- Link to map of Bordeaux sub-regions.
2- More about Bordeaux. (Wiki)

24 Days of French Wine: Index

It's Advent Calendar time! I'm living in the land of Bordeaux, Burgundy, and Champagne, so why not do a calendar that will let us get acquainted with some of the lovely wines from across this country? From the South-Western pockets near Spain to the Alsacian wines near Germany. Luscious Loire valley whites and rich Rhone reds. I've got the bottles lined up and waiting to be enjoyed with a meal or maybe just a nice chunk of cheese and now I'll document it as best as I can on here for you lovely people! Cheers et à votre santé!

1. Médoc AOC
2. Vin Primeur
3. Languedoc - Corbières
4. Pouilly-Fumé
5. Côtes du Rhône
6. Cahors
7. Languedoc-Roussillon
8. Brouilly
9. Côtes de Bergerac
10. Delayed
11. Delayed
12. Blanquette de Limoux Méthode Ancestrale
13. Madiran
14. Burgundy
15. Pineau des Charentes
16. Delayed
17. Delayed
18. Vouvray
19. -
20. -
21. -
22. -
23. -
24. Champagne

Simple Joy Sundays: Le Petit Déjeuner

Coffee, orange juice, and a viennoiserie.  As long as everything is quality and fresh, I don't think I'll ever tire of this.

Main course: Culture Shock with a side of personal challenges

You'll notice I haven't been posting on schedule. Quite frankly, I just couldn't. I couldn't find the words or the energy. I want this blog to focus rather on the positive awesomeness of this experience and not fall into the habit of a long series of rants and whines. But I'll level with you, so if you don't want to read the serious stuff, skip this post now.

While the past few months have been filled with lots of very cool things, there have been also lots of very not-so-cool things that drove me to the point of exhaustion and led to the critical flaw:

I lost my sense of humour in this.

There were the bigger things...

• The frequent goose eggs that come with two little boys - one who was learning to walk - and an absence of softer surfaces. (Seriously, I've lost count.)
• The trying to make sure every restaurant and food provider is actually providing safe food and not just saying it's safe because they don't understand allergies.
• The mysterious incident where my baby ate something that should have been safe and developed rapid waves of hives only to run to the doctor - at cost - and be told "It can't be an allergy. His throat's not red. Those aren't hives. Maybe he's starting chicken pox." (The hives were gone by the next day. It wasn't chicken pox.)
• The calling an ambulance because my older boy suddenly started a seal-bark/whooping type cough that wouldn't quit in the middle of the night and there were no taxis available.
• The seeing this same, vibrant, social, amazing older boy get sadder and sadder and lonelier and lonelier because he doesn't speak the language and I can't find a playground and it's too hot and sunny to play outside anyway and there's no air-conditioned mall I can go stroll in for a couple hours and the only places that are safe and child-friendly cost money and take an erratically scheduled bus ride that I am just too exhausted to navigate. (And those places all sell peanut candy, too!)

Those things wore me down to the point that the medium things stopped being bearable...

• The being too tired to play with my boys because I've used up all my energy to just make sure meals are sorted and there's some basic food in the house so that we don't bankrupt ourselves on restaurant meals.
• The hornet nest in the roof above the unscreened windows that prevented us airing out the apartment. (Which has since been removed.)
• The beautiful, flowery ornamental shrubs EVERYWHERE that are in fact poisonous oleander had me terrified every time my big boy picked up a stick to play as little boys should be able to do.
• The misunderstanding with the paperwork which means I *still* haven't sorted out my "titre de sejour" and my visa runs out in roughly 3 weeks. (Update: Between drafting and posting this has since been sorted out. There was yet another misunderstanding in the process and we were each waiting for the other to make contact. Yeesh.)
• The we-forgot-to-get-travel-insurance and don't understand how ANY of this works so nobody better get sick/hurt/food-poisoned/allergic.

...and the little things just stopped being funny.

• Constantly dodging dog crap to the point I couldn't even look around me because I had to focus on the sidewalk.
• Not knowing if a place would have a toilet AND if that toilet would have a seat or just the cold porcelain bowl with what one would hope is condensation.
• Hardly ever being able to find somewhere to change a diaper.
• Going to the store and starting from zero. Not knowing any brands - and more importantly, needing to focus enough to check Every. Single. Label. for allergens with bored, sad little voices whining or screaming in my ear.
• Seemingly not being able to leave the house without making some stupid little intangible mistake somewhere along the way that sets me apart as a foreigner. An outsider.
• Stupid rules about taking photos getting in the way of photos I want!

Even getting compliments on my "beautiful foreign/Canadian accent" got grating because I didn't care about sounding nice. I just wanted to understand and be understood the first time I heard or said something.

At one point, I was sitting in a restaurant having a coffee to stay awake and letting my big boy have soda and sharing a pizza even though I had already eaten and wasn't hungry but didn't know where else I could go because I just needed to sit and the baby had fallen asleep in the stroller so I couldn't go home without waking him (stairs) and hell if I was doing that.
And I had a sudden vivid memory of a family vacation about ten years ago when I was splashing in the ocean and turned toward shore to say something and a stray wave washed over my head and knocked me under. And another. And another. And I remembered that feeling of I-just-need-to-keep-going-or-I'll-be-in-big-trouble-soon. I-just-need-to-take-one-breath. I-just-need-to-keep-moving. Just-one-solid-breath. Just-don't-stop-moving.
It's something I hadn't thought about in ages, but it came back out of nowhere and hit me full force because in that moment I felt the exact same way.

I felt like I was about to drown.

And I needed to cry but I was so tired that I couldn't even do that.

And when a person gets that run down, the brain can start playing dirty tricks and running a *very* unhealthy narrative. Saying that some people are strong enough to do this and you're just not one of them. Some people are smart enough to adapt to a new situation and you're not. You were a fool to think you could do this. You're weak. You're dumb. You can't cut it. Go home. Give up. Learn your place and your limits. You. Are. Not. Good. Enough.

And then it gets really cruel.

This is when we have to remember that the brain isn't always rational or even smart. It can be downright stupid, frankly.

This is when you admit that you need to be more gentle with yourself and build supports around you.

Easier said than done.

That's what I'm in the process of doing now - or trying to - and I think I'm starting to come out the other side. To continue the drowning metaphor, the waves are still washing over regularly, but not as constantly and they're not typically as high.

So I'll post when I can - even if it's just interesting links or pictures of yet more windows and old alleyways I found pretty - because this place is fantastic and having a picture postcard for a view doesn't get old and the food is delicious and the potential experiences here are amazing if I can just set them up.

Ooh. Pretty windows.

And I can do this.

... I hope.

Simple Joy Sundays: Provençal Dress

We'll see these groups out at fair and special events (this was from La fète des calissons - the annual blessing of the calissons in Aix-en-Provence) As I understand it, the costumes are handmade and they play Provençal music and do dances. Often you'll see children in dress, too, and even little babes-in-arms all in white with old-fashioned strollers. It's fabulous! If we were here longer, you can bet I'd be joining them!

Simple Joy Sundays: Windows with Real Shutters

Walking down the narrow, winding roads and looking up at these beautiful old buildings with their large, deep windows and multicoloured shutters helps me breathe and stay sane.

Simple Joy Sundays: Market Raclette-wiches

A charcuterie and cheese vendor had this set up one day. Slice half a baguette, add in the customer's choice of jambon cru, jambon cuit, or cured sausages and scrape off a healthy helping of melty cheese. Voilà! Lunch on the go!

Simple Joy Sundays: Interesting Translating

I'll admit I giggled. 

TripAdvisor says it's a good café, though.

Mmmm, nougat.

Nougat doesn't seem that popular back home. It's occasionally an object of derision or the butt of a joke about lost fillings. It's the plain, not-quite-marshmallowy stuff in a Mars bar. It's something I'd heard about in passing, but never really thought about. 

But almost anything can be bad if you don't take the time and effort to make it good. And over here, there are some shops who know perfectly well how to make it very, very good.

In preparing this post, I happened across this video of Maison du Nougat in Aix. Just try to watch it without being hungry after.

Simple Joy Sundays: Sunbeams

No words

Simple Joy Sundays: Going Whole Hog

Swung by a food fair that was happening in a nearby park. The place was loaded with stalls selling amazing things like these charcuterie products along with other locally produced items like cheeses veined with truffles, wines, cannelés, saffron infused honey, and so much more!

Pudding Cups, Eat Your Heart Out: Ile Flottante

These have very quickly become a near addiction.  All the ease of a pudding cup but a billion times better!

If anyone doesn't know what ile flottante - floating island in english - is, I'll happily tell you.

A sweet poached vanilla meringue swimming in rich, silky custard sauce that is crème anglaise, and served with a packet of caramel to drizzle over top before digging in. It's both classic and intimidating to many for a reason. Simple, mostly inexpensive ingredients - eggs, sugar, milk, vanilla - combine in a way that relies almost solely on technique to become one of those things that are greater than the sum of its parts. Easy to get wrong. Sublime to get right.

Or, if you're in France, nip down to the grocery store and pick it up ready made.

I love it!

Italian Salad

When I think of Italian Salad, I think of lettuce - usually iceberg - with some tomatoes, red onion, maybe olives, a dusting of powdered parmesan and dried herbs. And Italian dressing. Always that bottled, yellowish, generic Italian dressing.

It's not something I get excited about.

Here? Ohhh, no. An Italian salad is a revelation. Something delicious, multidimensional, and worthy of a meal time salad. Fruity, juicy, salty, meaty, tangy. This is wonderful, super easy, and a great meal for hot summer days when melons and tomatoes are at their peak and the stove is the last place you want to be.

No cook.
No quantities.
Put things on a plate and eat them.

It's my kind of cooking.  Splurge on good, fresh produce for this one.

The following recipe quantities are really truly suggestions. If you, like me, don't like canteloupe, try it anyway! The salt from the prosciutto and the sweet acidic tang from the balsamic help mellow that musky quality.

Italian Salad (Serves 2-3 as a meal with crusty bread)
Lettuce greens - 1 head.  Try leaf lettuce, romaine, or rocket/arugula.
Tomatoes - 3 medium
Small canteloupe - 1
Fresh Basil - a few leaves per person
Mozzarella - 2 balls
Parmesan - a smattering of petals peeled off a wedge
Prosciutto - 8-12 very thin slices
Olives - a few

Balsamic Vinegar
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt - something with some texture if you can. We had fine sel de Guérande.

1. Wash/Chop up the salad greens and divvy them our onto plates.
2. Wash and cut the tomatoes into wedges. Portion onto plates.
3. Split the melon. Scoop out the slimy, seedy innards. Cut into wedges. Carefully trim off rind. Portion melon wedges onto places.
4. Cut mozzarella however your heart desires. Slices, wedges, cookie-cutter shapes, whatever! Divvy out.
5. Loosely roll up slices of prosciutto and portion out onto plates.
6. Take the wedge of parmesan and a vegetable peeler and make some petals or "copeaux" - which literally means "shavings" but sounds so much classier - then scatter on each plate. Maybe 5-8 petals per plate?
7. Wash and roll up basil leaves. Chop into chiffonade strips.
8. Top with a token olive, or more if you really like olives. We used black garlicky ones.
9. Sprinkle balsamic vinegar over the salads.
10; Drizzle EVOO over salads.
11. Sprinkle a little bit of nice salt over all.

Serve with crusty bread and a nice rosé or white.