Vive Le Vin!

Earlier this week I went to what I am pretty sure was my first real wine tasting in Paris. Though I've tasted (or less tasted more than drank vast amounts of) many wines throughout the city and recently did a vineyard tour in Vienna, I haven't bucked up and gone to a formal tasting in my current place of residence. This has mainly been the result of timing and/or finances. Tastings can be pricey and when one pops up I'm not usually able to attend anyway. So when I received an email from the British meetup group that I went to only once over the summer, I figured well then it's just about damn time. Six wines (it actually ended up being 7-8!), cheese and charcuterie for the grand ole price of €25. I spread the word to two of my good friends here and we agreed to imbibe summer red wines as the weather swiftly turns to fall. It was in fact raining profusely all day, in that way that can only be the result of true autumnal splendour. This also made it perfect to be testing reds. Let be real, I love all wine. But I tend to avoid red in the summer because my palate doesn't prefer the dryness at that time of year. Happily, this was a perfect evening for such varieties. 

I was actually one of the first to arrive, so I met the British guy who was going to be our expert for the evening. He seemed knowledgable enough, pretentious in that perfect way that only wine enthusiasts can be. One of my friends brought two of her friends as well, so we made a merry little group of five at our small table. Two of the girls were French, so at one point I reprimanded my American friend for daring to practice French at a British meetup, though it was clearly mainly my petulance at not wanting to be bothered with using my brain. Besides, the tasting was being conducted in English so it was only appropriate to follow suit (Whine whine... or wine wine?... stomp stomp)... As the night progressed, my notorious ability to become one of the most vocal when injected with any small amount of vino crept into play. I continually sassed the wine man for being a vegetarian, specifically when presenting red wines. I refuse to listen to such nonsensical slander when you tell me to drink red wine with fish. Shut your silly little mouth, monsieur! But other than our group's tendency to lose focus when the presenter was rambling on a bit too long about regions and tannins, it was a right good time. Large trays of cheese and charcuterie were brought out with buckets (actual buckets, yes) of baguette. Tragically, this is when tasting turned tipsy, as I am rather infamous for NEVER eating enough of the nibblies when drinking wine. Not to mention the fact that since I apparently brought the most people with me to the event, the French girl at my table suggested I deserved a discount of some sort. This of course resulted in the host giving us a cheap bottle of our own when the tasting was over. 

I would like to say that the night ended there and that I made my way home like a good girl to sleep in my comfy bed and wake up bright and early the next morning with an added swagger in my step. In reality, I'm pretty sure I texted a yummy Scotsman instead and didn't go home... But this is only hearsay ; ) Vive le vin!!!