L’Oeil du Huit art gallery was welcoming Vicky Wine Tasters for the first time last Thursday. A beautiful place, showing the art works of Sara Danguis, winner of the contest organised every year by the gallery. Sara graduated from some of the best Parisians art schools and now paints as a living. « Sara sans H » at l’œil du Huit is her first exhibition and so was probably the first time that as many people saw her work at once. Poetic and mysterious, her works gave an interesting soft atmosphere to the party. Mix this with a platter of Nippo-Burgund canapés and good Languedoc wines and it becomes all even more classy. I was expecting 70 persons, but about 130 walked in...
Just like it is hard to escape from French wines in NYC, going out in Paris, you can hardly escape the bio trend: “Bio” for organic in French. So, as I am more likely to go out in Paris than in any other city, I may as well try to get used to this whim – One that seems to be a long-term pattern rather than a Parisian caprice. I still have a hard time liking most of the bio wines; the egg nose, scents of volatiles and blurry colour are not my cup of tea. I must also admit a few are done well and lead to pure pleasure. After all, like when to become an adult you had...
Ok this is Christmas and even though I am drinking Californian Chardonnay at this minute, I seem to be Champagne bound anyhow. This strange juice always ends up in my glass and it is too often that I ask for a refill. Not that I am too keen… but should you desire it or not, the Champagne glass is always refilled. So tonight is Christmas, tomorrow is Christmas too, and then comes the New Year Eve. Enough reasons, one will agree, to come back to our dear Champagne, last time for me before a well deserved 2010 break. What this year drinking Champagne at least taught me is that I am not convinced by most of the main brands, I...
Are you sure you’d be able to recognise Champagne amongst other French sparkling wines ? I am doubtful and think this is going to be hard if you are an amateur. Not that I have something against Champagne, but its marketing power too often over estimate its price for quality ratio. And some sparkling wines … often lead you on the wrong track if you didn’t see the bottle before sipping. So Vicky Wine Tasting Came to test you. Last Thursday was held a blind tasting with 5 French sparkling wines from different wine regions, one of them only being a Champagne. Eyebrows up, the 50 guests tried one of each, in the colour order they had chosen: 1- Orange...