I decided on a Côtes-du-Rhône red. CdR is a region along the Rhone river in the Provence area of France, known for its rustic landscapes and slow pace of life, in total contrast from Paris. My friend Dom and I spent 3 days in Avignon back in 2008, and we absolutely loved the region, especially after we took a winery tour in the famous Châteauneuf-du-Pape wine country. We loved it so much that, between the 2 of us, we brought back 12 or 13 bottles of wine :)
So at Specs, I was perusing the Côtes-du-Rhône shelf. I saw 1 particular bottle, and I caught myself from saying out loud "holy shit." It was from Maison Bouachon! That was the first of the 3 wineries where Dom and I were taken on our guided tour! This brought back some good memories of the trip.
The ruins of the eponymous Chateauneuf-du-Pape (new castle of the Pope)
Look at all those vines.
Mont Ventoux (of the Tour de France course) in the background.
With my rusty French, and our bilingual tour guide, Dom and I talked with the winemaker, who was a really nice guy. He wasn't snobby like the next winemaker we visited, and didn't turn his nose up at us for not identifying the aromas in the wine. He disliked people who have to come up with ridiculously flowery language for describing the wine: "an arrogant red," "notes of damp topsoil and granite," and other B.S. He taught us how to really find the aromas and told us to just describe what the wine feels like. We bought a good number of bottles from him. The next winemaker scoffed at us for not identifying notes of the local wildflower, the auberpine. We scoffed back by not buying a damn thing from him.
The bottle I grabbed was just a Côtes-du-Rhône, one of the lower classifications of wines from this region. But at the Maison Bouachon tasting room we were treated to the top dog, the Grand Cru, Châteauneuf-du-Pape (AOC). Dom and I each bought a bottle from what was said to be their best year, the Dedication 2003.
So still in that aisle, I moved to the racks where they sell all the higher classifications. Sure enough, they had Maison Bouachon Châteauneuf-du-Pape! Apparently, MB won winemaker of the year, so Specs was featuring their reds. First thing I did was text Dom with a pic of the bottle, hoping to make him blow his load in pure jealousy. I bought both bottles, planning to enjoy the CDP in place of the Dedication 2003 bottle I've been holding onto since I smuggled imported it back here in 2008.
Oh baby...
I still remember the day of the tour really well, because it was one of the most bizarre days of the trip.
Dom's trip money was nearly completely spent after we had to pay a small fortune for a rental car to get from Nice to Avignon (unannounced rail-worker strike, no bus routes to Avignon, and neither one of us know how to drive manual). But when we found that guided tour, I decided this was a once in a lifetime opportunity, and I covered his admission and some of the bottles he wanted to buy. I realized right then that when I get giddy on vacation, I run up a bit of a bill.
After the tour, we returned to Avignon and went out for lunch. We found a random restaurant in some small square of the city and dined outside. During the meal, Dom was saying something and then he stopped mid-sentence and stared at something behind me. It was some drunk bum across the street who decided to drop his pants on the streetcorner... and he proceeded to urinate all over the sidewalk near our restaurant! A French couple sitting next to us awkwardly laughed with us.
Mr. Bum then took out a hand towel, rubbed it over his crotch, and tossed it into a car passing by (a convertible with the top down). It took him well over a minute to get his pants back up, and then he tried to walk into the restaurant our food was coming from! The waiters yelled at him and turned him away. He then started shouting at the world and stumbled somewhere around the corner. What... The... Hell?
Later that night, we were going to bed and turned on the tv for a minute. Flipping through the channels, we happened to spot what looked like some weird Euro-disco music video with pirates. It was a live performance of a super-corny, pirate-themed Latvian pop group, competing with other European nations. This certainly grabbed our attention. Right then and there, we were introduced to the world of the annual Eurovision song contest. Imagine if every US state came up with a 3 minute pop song and dance number, and competed for the title of Best Song. These are just a few gems from the night:
Latvia: How can you not continue watching the competition after seeing a minute of this?
Azerbaijan: In all seriousness, these guys were robbed of victory.
Spain: Watch the dancer in the pink dress after the 1 minute mark.
Russia: The winners, probably because of the interpretive ice-dancer.
Now, every year in the month of May, Dom and I spam each other's Facebook walls with the newest Eurovision entries. A very special day it was, indeed.
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