One way or another

Hello friends from everywhere !

Today's lesson will be a little bit informal and innapropriate for the wine addicts you are. Maybe you'll think I'm crazy, I'm not very gracefull. But believe me friends, things happen, and YOU have to be prepared. In France we say : "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure". So today's lesson could be the just in case advice you should keep in your mind and maybe one day you will thank me.

Imagine this day, this terrible day, however it started in a good way : you are with your friends, wanted to share a bottle of our favourite nectar. Not a Grand Cru, not a THRBBGSGW (Terrible High Ruining Bottle But God it's Such a Good Wine). Just a bottle of wine, bought to spend a good moment. But as you want to open it, TRAGEDY, DISASTER, MISADVENTURE !!! Nobody has a bottle-opener (it's time to think about changing your friends, they are baaaad, you can't trust them !). If this day comes, now you will be prepared, because it's possible to open a bottle of wine without a bottle-opener, true story ! You just have to implement the lesson of the day.

1) Take your shoe off

2) Put the bottom of the bottle inside your shoe

3) Hit a (not white) wall with the sole of your shoe

With the pression, the cork will automatically get out of the bottle, after it, you will be able to pull it away and open the bottle !

Good luck friends, and if you experience this kind of opening, please share your videos with us !

Marie-Lou

Initials B.B

Initials B.B

All the way up to its cork

It is fizzy

And it’s like a Chalice

Holds its beauty

It’s caring nothing else

Than one species

The essence of Chardonnay

Running into B.B

“Pop” rocks baby! Gainsbourg got it, so did Champagne five centuries before him. This region was the first to introduce to the world the lovely sound of a nice and traditional POP. The POP we like to ear, totally wasted at the marriage of some random people.

Blanc de Blanc is one of the most famous champagne on earth. So let me take you in my sparkling-wine strip, let’s talk bubbles, let’s go POP, BLOP… WIIIIZ!

French people are said to be classy, haughty and sexy. The person who said that probably never put one foot in this country. The very first thing you are going to ear in France after “Passport please” is gonna be “APEROOO!!!!”.

Yeah foreigners! That’s what I call a big turn off. Thanks god, our culture is watching our back and here comes Blanc de Blanc. This champagne is perfect as a pre-dinner drink and it’s going to bring you and our bad habits back together.

“Eating is cheating”…. TRUE! But you will be starving at some point, so feed yourself baby, I’m coming with the perfect match for you. This champagne happens to be great with sea food, especially in foil parcels.

Slow down kids! Before you start cooking, you may like to put your nose in this glass. You will smell flavours of vanilla, coffee and toasted bread. 

If you don’t, try to focus and stop listening to the person next to you, trying to make you feel bad about it. There is nothing to be ashamed of. Those things come with time and experience. You will be able to smell it soon or later. Just keep doing it when you have the chance to.

Before, I let you go. You may like to know B.B has a fency Baby sister : Blanc de Bleu. Made in California, 100% Chardonnay, this sparkling wine is… Drum roll please…. BLUE. 

With an added hint of blueberries, this sexy liquid is going to drive crazy. Really expensive, you better have some cash if you want to impress the next person you’re taking on a date!

Here’s the link : http://www.blancdebleu.com. 

Marie. 

How I met your bloggers

HOW I MET

YOUR BLOGGERS

Kids, I’m going to tell you an incredible story, the story of how I met your bloggers.

Let’s go back two months ago. I just arrived in Bordeaux, trying to make it as a new student in the city of wine. Life was pretty damn good… until I met your bloggers.

As all good stories, this one begins at a reception. Being a student in France requires one only thing: being fairly smart to know where it’s possible to get food and alcohol for free. If you’re wily enough to find those spots, you will graduate in this country. That’s the beauty of French paradox: we do the same as many as other people around the world but the consequences are exponentially cooler.

Anyway, the main goal of this party was to meet other students from Bordeaux. Direct translation: You’re alone and desperate; we’ve got some wine and pizzas, come and try to get laid. 

The party started at 5pm. Thirty-five minutes and six glasses later, I was a super wine heroin, ambassador of a really bad Chardonnay. At this precise moment, your aunt Marie-Lou showed up. Apparently, she just lost a Shi-Fu-Mi game. As a punishment, her coworkers made her refill all wine glasses. She asked for help and we started talking.


While we were exchanging some thoughts and bitching about the system, we heard from nowhere: “HAHA! It’s scandalous!”… Kids! That’s the very first thing you need to know about your grand-pa Pierre-Adrien, he loves to say it’s scandalous. Most of the time, it’s totally inappropriate but he was born this way baby.

A nice blond girl – who happens to be your godmother, Adeline - was right next to us. Pierre-Adrien’ scandalous story seemed to crack her up. She went like “Seriously dude? 

This is just some cheese in your pizza”. We decided to celebrate this literary event and Kids… THAT’S HOW WE MET.


This story has no sense of right or wrong but it will teach you the first and most important thing you have to know about wine: few glasses and everything 

Marie. 

Marie-Lou 

Pierre-Adrien

Adeline

Marie

Chateau Franc Mayne, a great place for wine tourism!

Welcome to the famous vineyard of Saint-Emilion, France, my friends!

Looking for a château to visit any day of the week, for an untypical place to spend the night? Château Franc Mayne, a Grand Cru Classé, opens you its doors…

THE VISITS

Don’t miss the Château Franc Mayne tour! You will be presented the brand new vats and barrels rooms. We are sure that you will be very surprised to see how the owners, Griet and Hervé Laviale Van Maldeeren, have linked the traditional activity of the viticulture with the modernity (especially in the cellar with the impressive lights!). Then you will be guided in the spectacular 2 hectares underground limestone caves where the wine is ageing in barrels. Our guide said that they are creating a sound and light effects show in them, dealing about the history of Saint-Emilion, the vines… What a great idea to make the most of their huge underground space! We would have to come back next year to see that! At the end you taste the 2 wines they produce on the property: The Château Franc Mayne, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru Classé, and Les Cèdres de Franc Mayne, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru. Yummy!

THE BOUTIQUE HOTEL: LE RELAIS DE FRANC MAYNE

If you want to spend a night (or more) in the middle of the vines, the hotel at château Franc Mayne, le Relais de Franc Mayne, is fantastic. There are 11 rooms, and each of them has its own decoration style. You can ask for the “British Landscape” room, the “Indian Fusion” one, the “Out Of Africa” one… We got the “Asian Mood” room. The room is big, very well decorated in the Asian theme, and has a breathtaking view on the vineyard. Wawoo! What can we see as well? A natural swimming pool in the garden! Don’t miss your swimsuit!

There is no restaurant at the château, but you can order a plate of bread and cheese if you get a bit hungry. There are lots of restaurant in Saint-Emilion anyway, and the staff is at your disposal to help you finding one. If you don’t have a car, or if it is sunny, we suggest you to take the footpath that goes from château Franc Mayne into town. You reach Saint-Emilion in 20 minutes.

Breakfast is simple (a continental buffet) but the quality is excellent. Commuting the dining room may afraid few of you, but we found that great to meet the other guests.

Perfect weekend!

Adeline

 

Château Franc Mayne

Phone: 0033 (0) 557.246.261

Email: welcome@relaisfrancmayne.com

http://www.relaisfrancmayne.com/

Open 7 days a week.

7 euros for the winery tour (free for hotel guests).

Double rooms started from 170 euros.

Le Tastemonde

Discovering the wines

Le Tastemonde is a wine restaurant where you can experience wines from all around the world in a comfortable atmosphere. With no prejudice, the owner, Sylvain Albert, selected for our fortunate taste buds nectars from USA, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Europe and South America. Last time I went there y friend said “Oh my God! I hadn’t got a clue that inhabitants of Luxemburg produce wine!”  Yes they are!

The meals are varied and tasty, and you can choose a horizontal agreement, a glass of wine by dish; ore vertical: the sommelier tries to satisfy all the guests. It’s up to you, but remember:  you have to be confident, because he always chooses the perfect wine to your meal!

Icing on the cake: the dessert wine, served with an assortment of chocolate. You have to take down to the cellar through the stone stairs, and the sommelier makes you sample this wine, directly from the barrel to your glass.

A great moment in your gourmet life!

8, rue de Surène, 75008 PARIS
(+33)1 42 66 19 89

Marie-Lou

THE CLOS MONTMARTRE

A vineyard inside Paris !

Everybody knows Montmartre hill, the typical Place du Tertre and the majestic Sacré Coeur, the nicest outlook of the French capital city. But if you visit the district, you can also discover a curiosity: the Clos Montmartre, a vineyard between the buildings, which history started in 1932. It is planted of 2000 vine of 27 grape varieties, essentially Gamay and Pinot Noir and oriented due north, which is not pretty strategic for the growth of the grape maturity. That's why the harvest happen late : the wine is produced in very small quantities, and happy few can buy it during the auction of the Fête des Vendanges in October. All profits made from the sale of 1000 bottles per year of Clos Montmartre are for social works of the 18th district of Paris.

The specialists agreed that it’s not a Grand Cru, but it might be entertaining to drink a wine from Paris! If you are fortunate and you tried wine from Clos Montmartre, please let us know how the moment was!

ML

Visit the vineyard is possible on demand