Monthly Archives: September 2013

Entrée Paris 3: Père Lachaise Cemetery and Domaine de Rotisson, “Les Dalines”, Pinot Noir, Burgundy 2010: EU Austerity Drinking Tour #42

Day 76 of our EU Austerity Drinking Tour. We have to slow down. Versailles had exhausted us (last week’s post). To avoid (most of the) tourist hordes, we hike to Père Lachaise Cemetery.

Once in this grid of the famous and dead, we unleash our inner Art Historians, and hunt for our heroes of the humanities. Continue reading

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ENTRÉE PARIS 2: Versailles, Birthday, and a Bordeaux: EU Austerity Drinking Tour #41

My wife and I wake to Paris at 7am, ready for her 31st birthday. I had planned everything, from the metro to a secret tour of Versailles: nothing less for a queen.

She whips up a glorious, casual breakfast of the frenchest of French Toasts (of course).

She then notices that my ipod still ticks in Ireland time: 45 minutes late. Last night’s shattered ceramic cat gets its revenge. Continue reading

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DEPOSSESSED DRINK: WINE ON LOAN #MWWC3

“Possession” provides the theme for September’s Monthly Wine Writing Challenge begun by The Drunken Cyclist.

Already, possession has revealed many astounding collections online: from old bottles, to 173 glasses, to German vineyard land laws.

For as many reasons as people, wine often leads to obsessive hoarding. We wine geeks splurge on rare, interesting, and expensive bottles. But when to open them? When will the window of drinkability close? Should we keep the experience to ourselves or share (and show off) to friends? Does one even “own”, let alone remember, a wine after drinking it? Continue reading

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CARLTON CRUSH: WINE HARVEST FESTIVAL

With Summer burning records (and ripening grapes) throughout the North West, we drive to 2013’s grape harvest festival of Yamhill-Carlton AVA: The Carlton Crush.

The endless auburn fields and early harvests remind of California or Tuscany, not the great, green Northwest. Continue reading

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ENTRÉE PARIS 1: Mondeuse, Jean Perrier Et Fils Cuvée Prestige, Savoie, France 2011: EU Austerity Drinking Tour #40

74 days deep into our EU Austerity Drinking Tour, we leave Cork, Ireland for Paris, France. Au revoir beer and whisk(e)y. Bonjour France: glorious crucible of wine: where most grape varieties and wine styles took root.

An airport bus takes us from Cork at 9:50 am. Landed at Charles de Gaule airport, we starve our way to our home-stay near Place des Fêtes in the 19th Arrondissement. Continue reading

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