Lunches at Le Bistrot du Sommelier in Paris and at the Trianon Palace in Versailles weren’t only occasions to eat and drink well but also opportunities to meet historical wine producer Isabelle Orliac, gold-medalist sommelier Philippe Faur-Brac, and gastronomic chef Simone Zanoni.
Montmartre celebrated its annual Grape Harvest Festival (Fête des Vendanges) in early October with a series of joyful community events including lectures, concerts, tasting events, a parade, and more in a local celebration of an [...]
A man with a passion will view the entire world though the optic of that passion. Whatever it may be—wine, women, motorcycles, baseball, Egyptology, fishing, or chess—he is capable of seeing in his passion every [...]
Travelers naturally associate France with vineyards and wine but Normandy, one of the rare French regions whose climate has inspired no vineyards, offers not the fruit of the vine but that of the apple tree. [...]
In the gastronomic jigsaw of Gascony, travel writer John M. Edwards goes prospecting for the amber eau-de-vie Armagnac while housesitting a 15th-century farmhouse. * * * To be initiated as a real Gascon by my [...]
This article provides an overview of the Champagne region for travelers looking to visit its winegrowing zones over the course of a day or two or three. It partially echoes another article on this site, [...]
As cellar master at the Benedictine Abbey of Hautvillers, Dom Pérignon (1639-1715) was instrumental in development of the clear, bubbly, cork-popping Champagne as we know it today.
“Drink the wine, not the label” is both a lofty and a homey approach to wine, and nowhere is that more important than with Champagne, the sparkling wine that we so readily identify with brands, [...]
There are wine bars of atmosphere where you go to be a part of a crowd and there are wine bars of knowledge where you go to do some tasting in good company. Les Fines [...]
