Today was the day for touring the Loire area, specifically Sancere and Pouilly Fume (not Fuisse as I said on my face book page….OOPS!) We also visited a winery at the very top of Burgandy. What a fun…and long…day!
I met Jean Bernard (JB), tour guide, and 4 fellow wine tasters from Boston at the appointed location this morning at 7:15 am. I was up at 5:45 am getting ready for this little venture. Am I on vacation or getting ready for work!? I’m a pretty early riser, but this is early, even for me, particularly when I am on vacation!
I have to say that I had some trepidation about taking this tour. First of all, it was expensive, which goes against the rule of getting the best “deal”. I contemplated this over the last 2 weeks or so and finally decided that I would make the investment. I may never get a chance to do this again…you never know. However, when I got up this morning, I was still deciding. I found this tour on the internet. It got good reviews on Trip Advisor, which is one of my main websites for travel information. But, still….I wondered, who was this Jean Bernard. For all I knew, he was some kind of serial killer. I realize that this is very irrational, but when traveling alone, I become hyper vigilant. Thus, I wondered if this is a good idea….getting into a car with a man that I didn’t know who would take me away from Paris for the day to a place I don’t know. What if something happened to me? How would anyone know where I was? But, I forged ahead and decided that this would either be the worst day or my life of the best. As I climbed into the van, I was relieved that there were 3 other people coming too, and they were all women. I found comfort in that. I’m glad I took that chance. I would count this as one of the highlights of the trip. What a great time! (By the way, as I got to know the women from Boston, one of them pulled me aside and said that she had also given the serial killer issue some thought. This made me feel better about things. I think we all watch too many Law and Order SVU shows!!
JB was a delight. I guess because I was alone, JB asked if I would like to sit in the front of the van with him. This is the best spot, so, of course, I said yes. His warning was that if I was in the front, I would not be able to sleep on the 1+ hour drive out of Paris to the wine area. I would have to talk to him. For those of you that know me, this is the best of all worlds. I love to chat!
I learned about JB’s family, children and wife and how he came to be doing wine tours. I also learned about how difficult it is to run a business such as this one. JB shared some information about his business struggles as well as some personal struggles. It makes you realize that people are the same everywhere. Everyone has ups and downs in life. I was impressed with JB’s resilience and ability to adjust.
JB learned about my interest in wine and my work at Adelaida Cellars in Paso. We talked a lot about wine and how the wine industry differs in France from the United States. The French have a very negative impression of the industry in the United States. There are so many rules in France about how the grapes need to grow, which grapes can be used in wines that are labeled by area, the rules around manipulating the juice to get the desired flavor, and the marketing of wines. There are many differences, which doesn’t make either way bad….just different…in my opinion. Anyway, I found this banter very interesting and entertaining. I also really enjoyed getting to know JB. As you may know, I have a real interest in people and getting to know them. He has a great story.
First, we visited a goat farm in Chavignol where they were actually making cheese in a very small, family run processing area. The cheeses from this area are in the top 3 that are well-known and respected. Here’s a fun fact for you…there are over 400 cheeses in France. I’m amazed that they can get so many different iterations of what is essentially the same process. Remarkable!.
As in the wine industry, the cheese industry in France also has a lot of regulation. In order to say that the cheese is a Chavignol, the people who make it must follow every rule. If they do this, they are given a stamp of approval from the government saying that they can use the name. Otherwise, the cheese is just goat cheese. We spent a lot of time here looking at the small operation and tasting the cheese. We also met the goats that contributed the milk so that we could have the yummy cheese! The cheese tasting was a real hardship for the 4 of us who were tasting. None of us likes cheese. HA HA! We all, of course bought some. I’m hoping I will be able to get it home in my suitcase. We’ll see.
We stopped at 2 wineries and the Sancerre Museum, where we learned about the wine region, the soils, the grapes, etc. About 70% of the wines in the area are Sauvignon Blanc and the rest is Pinot Noir. We tried some of each. At each winery, JB let them know that I work in a tasting room in California. Of course, that garnered some extra attention, which was fun. At the second winery, we did barrel tasting of every 2012 wine they had, which was also a lot of fun. (I say barrel tasting, but most of the wine was in stainless steel. So, we were really tasting from the stainless containers. Still fun!) The wine maker was interested in what kinds of wine were made where I work. We talked about this as we went. This winery was actually, technically, in the Burgandy area, although it right next to Sancerre. We had some very nice Pinots there….light and spicy. We also had a very nice pinot rose. The wine maker wanted to know if we make rose in California. So funny!!
Of course all 4 of us bought wine. I have 2 bottles…the Boston ladies had a lot more. I am hoping to bring at least one of the bottles back in my suitcase. We’ll see on that one, too.
Here’s where the rubber hits the road in terms of connections. As we were driving through Sancerre, JB saw the mayor of the town, whom he knows. He pulled over to introduce me to the mayor, since I have experience in the wine industry. The mayor was happy to meet me. How’s that for meeting and greeting in France?!
Anyway, around 5:00 pm we started to head back. What a fun day! If anyone is in Paris and wants to do some tasting, I would highly recommend this tour. Let me know if you want the contact information.
So, I made it back to my hotel at about 7:30 pm unscathed. In addition to having some yummy cheese and wine to bring home, I now have a new friend in France and 3 new friends in Boston. I love it!
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