No rants here: July 2011

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Beaune, France. Blog lost! I am lost!

There are tears in my eyes, because the best blog post every made was accidentally lost.

I am lost! I want to eat, so I can drink this premier cru from Burgundy, I want to write so I don't forget what I wrote, I want to drink, write and eat!!!!!!!!!!!!! then sleep! Which will I do!

More Bordeaux, France on GIVE ME MORE WINE....

The rain stopped from the previous day and blog and the streets were packed with people!!! Bordeaux the sixth largest city in France has about 300,000 city inhabitants and 600,000 in the surrounding area.

Total Wine Immersion are the terms that could apply to wine education but in this case it means me jumping to a vat of grape juice before it is wine.

I feel the need to make that jump after all the many layers of details, information, marketing, and knowledge involved in wine. Sometimes I need to find that big VAT and hope it is fermented grape juice to relieve the ringing in my head. I like the history of wine development more than the current information on the wine. My palette too brutish for the wine tasting process. Plus, I don't even know what a black currant really tastes like. Still in Bordeaux, I went for the 2 tours with wine tastings and one oenology course on Bordeaux terroir. All were quite interesting. The first tour and pictures are at appellation and village of St. Emillion in the Bordeaux area. The Chateau is Haut-Veyrac 5th generation vineyard and one of only 5 (I think) Grand Cru Chateau in St. Emilion village. It grows Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc (I think) Château Haut Veyrac 1 Haut Veyrac, 33330 Saint-Étienne-de-Lisse, France. We had two tastings from 2001 and 2002 vintages which were very different indeed. So it was nice learning experience.

Grapes are changing color and will harvest in the September

That's me with the city of St.Emilion in the background. It is ALL about wine here.

St. Emilion, France with vineyards in the far background.

Now apply that to buying a good valued wine form the 800 or so different labels Or different Chateaux OR was it different wine merchants. Give me a whisky or better yet which is more my norm, give me this find dessert below, which is based on caneles which is a caramel filled and crusted cake and put that with coffee ice cream and whipped cream too.

BUT

we are NOT done with the wine yet. Tour number 2 goes to MEDOC region.

Here is tour number 2 which was to one chateau and one cooperative that made wine under 2 chateau names. The first chateau was a huge operation and was a second classe chateau which is one of only 14 or so in Medoc and the village of St. Julien (I think). Details Details Details.I will only show you the Chateau Gruaurd Larose

I think this is Merlot, just look at the terroir

I think this is Cabernet Sauvignon. Observe the terroir.

Wooden vats for fermenting

The best wine is here. Looks old but cellar is newer.

Thursday, July 28, 2011

The towel took a hit but it is never out till the fat guy sings like a bird...I ain't singing like a bird yet

Bordeaux, France is a great place. To get here it was 4:30 am wake-up in Bilbao, Spain, a tab of immodium as a back-up {literally}, a cab to the bus station, arrived at 6:20 am in Irun, Spain on the border, cab across the border (2km) to Hendaye, France, and arrive for my 10:22 am train at 7AM.. DAMN it. Why did I get up at 4:30 am.

Anyways changed the train ticket to 8 am and off to Bordeaux with the train ride full of head-banging on the faux leather seats and nod-offs for 2 hours. I then awoke at 10:15 am just in-time wake-up for my 10:22 am arrival. Get off the train and I have no idea what the hell is going on and look for my trusty sign in the RR station for the tourism office. I NEED A MAP. Shoot the office is outside in that Rain again. I have no umbrella and no jacket and presently I am the only person in shorts except for the Scandinavian soccer team from above the Artic circle.

Retreat to the cafe, sit-down and read the guidebook, Buy a tram tcket from the computerized machine at the stop, Take tram C and validate the ticket on-board. One girl is smashing the ticket machine with her purse which does not look promising. She moves away and to my grand relief in this pouring rain it says ENGLISH. YEAH! Quickly go through the process get a one ticket and the girl is really trying to get all her change from the bottom of her purse and she tries again while I leave. Step on the tram, knock a few folks off with my backpack, get a few merdis and off we go. I wonder if I am going the right way. Yes, it is the correct way!!!

I see a tourist office sign, missed the stop...get off at the next one with a few, excuse moi and merci, and damn it THIS is the CORRECT stop and just 10 meters away is the tourism office. Give me wine tour, give me wine tour, give me wine tour is my chant and some reason the lemmings part in front of me. Get to a information counter and book two tours to St. emillion and Medoc and then go to another line and pay but the girl asks me about the all-day tour...sure I will take that too.

Out the door, my backpack beheads a few more kid-like tourists and walk through the ugly rain which I have not really seen in 30 days. I am soaked, my glasses are slimed and I walk to the main street and GREAT BALLS OF FIRE... there is a sign for my hotel, FOLLOW it, arrive within 10 mintues after the tourist office. The hotel quickly finds me a clean room since I wasn't looking to stylish for the French but the pack was getting cleaner from the rain:) Carey would be happy.

Once settled in Bordeaux, all the tours have been great with wine everywhere, plus I did a 2 hour wine course on the Bordeaux terroir. Ask Greg what that is. The all-day tour was great fun with folks from Hong Kong and NYC sharing bottles of wine at the lunch. Very interesting tour on the Trade and merchants of Bordeaux.

The Towel is BACK!! Feeling pretty chipper after the 5 hour nap in my new Room in Bordeaux. Yes, this is the wallpaper in my 9 ft by 4 foot room. The towel is sitting on the headboard of my bed and there is an orange lamp which is my nightstand in the very center which is a right angle meeting of 2 walls in the wallpaper.

Bilbao, Spain and Guggenheim Museum...The Terrible towl took a mild rest for 1-2 days.

Bilbao sister city to Pittsburgh because of its one-time industrial base, location on a river and hilly terrain. Loved the museum and its architecture. The building always looked different in the various lights of the day and night. Food was fabulous at the museum for lunch too. Hard to adjust to people wearing long pants and dark clothes, but it was a bit dreary and a little rainy too. Bilbao tried to use architecture and the museum which you will see in the following pictures to create a buzz for the city and promote Basque culture and leisure tourism to the area.

Gotta move on to Salamanca and back to Spain

Beautfiul town with the grandest square in Spain. Music starts to play among the many folks dinning and this music time started at 10:30 pm. It was right in front of me too! The square is much more crowded after 10 pm!!!!!!

Lisbon, Portugal, The day the winds died down in Lisbon....

This morning Carey and Greg left and now there is a change the process in this time of transition. Below was the meeting bench outside my hotel as seen AFTER Carey and Greg left.Where are they...I wonder?

Departure can be a sad time. Winds of Lisbon blew no more after their departure.