After this last trip to France (I’m writing this on the
plane), I thought it would be nice to start to start something new on my blog:
a travel log.
Not only it will be good for helping me keep a good record
of all my travels and activities (my accountant will be really happy about it),
but it will also add some structure to what, at times, seems to be an infinite
journey through different wine regions of the world. Pictures help to give people
a better understanding of what is going on, so I’ll be including a few here. If
you like pictures and have enough time for the entire album, you can always
check our Facebook page.
The names of the people who I met and/or visited during my
travels are also going to be mentioned (many of them with links to their
Facebook pages). They are either good friends or simply people who share the
same passion: wine. These
#WINELOVER-s from so many different places are probably
the reason why I still find a great deal of pleasure in doing what I do. Their
twitter handle is included on a
list at the end. You can start following them as soon as you are done with
this…
I’ll also post articles about the most interesting things
that I did (visits, tastings, etc) during these trips (time permitting). So…
stay tuned!
A quick disclaimer: A few times I use “we” (or "us") in this article
referring to
Andre Ribeirinho (
Adegga,
AVIN) and I during something together.
Otherwise, I have included the names.
Cheers,
LA
TRAVEL LOG #WINELOVER: South of France (February 19-26, 2012) - Part 1
02/20 10:00am - Arrival in Barcelona (Spain). There I met my
good friend
Andre Ribeirinho and we picked up the car for our
3-1/2 hour to Montpellier (France).
02/20 4:00pm – Meeting with Brigitte Lurton at the “South
Entrance”. We had the opportunity to discuss the possibility of having her wines
available for American tourists who come to visit wineries in Bordeaux. I
explained that my business model of importing wines would only work if a
significant number of Americans have the opportunity to taste her wines while
in France. She seemed pretty sure that it could be done... I love optimism!
02/20 5:00pm – Presentation by
Audrey Domenach,
Vincent Pétré on Social Media. They mentioned my group (“
My Wine Studies”) on Facebook
as an example of how people can interact with a very focused audience using
social media. Pretty cool!
We had a great time as we loved our dishes ("entrecôte" for me)
and enjoyed a few bottles of the Mas de L’Oncle Pic St. Loup. We all agreed that it was
pretty amazing, with a good structure and a delicious finish (not to mention it
was a real bargain at only 31 Euros at the restaurant).
Did anybody say cowwwwwwwwww? :)
02/21 10:00am – Meeting with
Ryan Anderson Opaz (
Vrazon). We discussed
a couple of things, but the most important issues were Facebook (closed groups
versus fan pages being the “hot topic”) and the next EWBC in Turkey. I’m not
sure if I can help much with this challenge of making our “class of EWBC 2011”
reach a larger audience, but I’m positive that EWBC 2012 will rock! I’ll be t
there and I hope you can find some time to join us in Izmir…
02/21 11:00am – Meeting with
Gilles Dumangin (
ChampagneDumangin). I know that the #WINELOVER t-shirt is pretty cool… but getting a
bottle of his Rose Champagne in exchange for it was sweeeeeet! Thanks Gilles
for the wonderful treat!!
02/21 1:00pm – Tasting of “natural enough” wines. An “off
Vinisud” event where the wines were not necessarily produced without SO2, but the
producers have in mind the idea using as little as possible. I’m a huge fan of
this pragmatic approach. Some one once said: “The first obligation of a wine is
to be good”.
02/21 5:00pm – Tasting at “Pavillion 2.0”.
02/28 7:00pm – “
Côtes du Rhône evening” at
Chez Boris. Yes, we
were there again for the second night in a row. This
time it was not by choice… but by coincidence… The “
Côtes du Rhône” evening
organized by
Inter Rhone took place there, so we had another opportunity to eat
and drink very well; meet some producers and other #WINELOVER-s (special note:
Christophe Macra MW was there… what a wonderful surprise - he is a
guarantee of some good laughs!); and hear to delightful music. The Inter Rhone
is one of the best in France and they proved again that they can put
together a nice event. Thanks to Matilde Richel for the invitation!
02/21 11:30pm – Late evening tasting with “Port Ambassador”
Andre Ribeirinho at “Circus” bar (many thanks to them for not charging us any corkage!).
The tradition of bringing bottles of Port wines every time Andre flies out of
Portugal continued. This time he shared a bottle of the
Niepoort Colheita 1995
with us. Needless to say that we all enjoyed every sip of the precious liquid…
02/22 11:00am – Visit to
Mas Belles Eaux. This is the AXA Millésimes*
property on the Languedoc. We had the opportunity to tour their vineyards and
winery with their technical director Cédric Loiseau. We finished the visit with a tasting of
their entire range of wines followed by a nice lunch at a local restaurant. I
cannot thank
Marie-Louise Schyler enough. She was so kind that she flew from
Bordeaux exclusively to be with us during the visit.
I’ll be writing a full article about this visit, but the professionalism of
this adorable woman must be mentioned. Thank you so much Marie-Louise!!!
*AXA Millésimes: Today the French insurance company AXA owns several wineries which
produce the world’s most exquisite wine, such as Chateau Pichon
Longueville, Chateau Suduiraut, Chateau Petit-Village, Chateau Belles
Eaux, and two other properties outside France, Disznoko in Tokai and
Quinta do Noval in Portugal.
02/22 5:00pm – Vinisud. Back to the show to taste some wines
that were on my list and to say “au revoir” to some fellow #WINELOVER-s.
02/22 7:00pm – Dinner at
Chez Boris. Yes, you guessed it
right… there’s no other restaurant in Montpellier! We (Audrey,
Ward de Muynck,
Magdalene Beverari, and
Andre Ribeirinho) had to go back there… Being so predictable, we had to
drink the same wine – our well known (and delicious) Mas de L’Oncle.
Our taste is very similar when it comes to food. We
(Magdalene being the exception, as she seems to be a… you know, the “V word”)
had "andouillette" as an appetizer and steak tartare as the main dish. It was
exactly what my doctor order to keep the cholesterol level under control! J
Then Andre - Mr. “Port Ambassador” - strikes
again. This time with the bottle of Quinta do Noval Colheita 1995 that
Marie-Louise had given to us (we got one bottle each, but I said I was
keeping mine. You know, he lives in Portugal and I don’t!). This
Noval was liquid heaven. Precious times!
Second part of this travel log will be posted tomorrow...
List (in alphabetical order) of #WINELOVER-s I know that attended
Vinisud. You should definitely follow them!
Domaine de Mourchon @MourchonWine
Marlene Angeloz @Grenache_Global
Olivier Legrand @O_Legrand_IR
I’m
Luiz Alberto - @thewinehub – and I use the #WINELOVER
hashtag when I tweet.
Our new t-shirt layout is just out... have you seen it?
