Follow the adventures of an inexperienced but opinionated oenophile-in-the-making, as she happily samples good, bad and indifferent wines -- and lives to tell the tasting tales.

Day Eight: A Day in Epernay

Posted 06/10/2008 at 07:21 PM by Carolyn

After leaving Paris on day seven, Vivian and I were staying in the heart of the Champagne region. Reims is major city center of the area, and there's lots of great wine to be had there. We spent day seven exploring the town and tasting champagne from some of the biggest producers: Veuve Cliquot and Pommery. Of course we had a marvelous time, but these cookie-cutter tours and tastings couldn't even come close to the experience we had on day eight.  
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Day Six

Posted 05/31/2008 at 09:06 PM by Carolyn

On day six of my trip, I was joined by yet another traveler. Lil Viv is friends with a girl who teaches English at a middle school in Brittany, and she just happened to be on her spring break while we were in France. So, Kyra joined us for a few days in Paris. Her adventurous spirit, curious palette, and fluency in French made her a great addition to our journey. Our penultimate day in Paris was a wonderful, memorable day.  
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Day Four in Paris

Posted 05/21/2008 at 07:32 PM by Carolyn

Today, my good friend Lil Viv arrived to join me on my fabulous journey. Lil Viv and I went to culinary school together. She's a pretty big pastry nerd like me, she's an adventurous eater, a novice wine lover, and she doesn't speak a word of French. A perfect traveling companion. When Lil Viv arrived, she was hungry and ready to hit the town. We grabbed a sandwich from a bakery on our street. Only in France would I even consider eating a meal of nothing but ham and butter on a baguette, but it sure is satisfying to walk around Paris with a stomach full of all that salty, fatty, bready goodness. But there was so much more heart-clogging deliciousness to come!  
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Day Two in Paris

Posted 05/14/2008 at 05:51 AM by Carolyn

Day two in Paris. Well, day one was spent re-normalizing my sleeping and eating, and familiarizing myself with my surroundings. So, now that I've sort of got my bearings, this was my first real day in Paris. Yay!  
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Back in Business

Posted 05/13/2008 at 07:45 AM by Carolyn

Oh yes, my dears, I'm back from my marvelous trip to France. You never even knew I was gone, did you? But, here I am again. I've enjoyed two weeks of questionable accommodations, horrendous navigational and language skills, and fantastic food and wine. A very good vacation indeed.  
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By The Way

Posted 03/10/2008 at 12:45 PM by Carolyn

Oh yeah, by the way: I'm planning a two week trip to France in the end of April. It's all work related, of course. I'm spending a week in Paris to "study" the cuisine, and a week in wine country. In that week, I'm going to try to hit up Alsace (Mr. Chicken says I'm "All sass," which I think is a pretty clever pun), Champagne, and Burgundy. I'm super excited, and I'd love to hear some suggestions or stories about successful trips to these regions. Hurray for two weeks of reckless abandon!  
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What I did with my 2005 Bordeaux

Posted 03/07/2008 at 12:30 PM by Carolyn

I bought a case of wine a few months ago, back when I had money. The only bottle from that case left in my little wine fridge is a 2005 Bordeaux from Chateau Marot. I had tried it at a tasting, and found it to be a very agreeable and affordable "beginner Bordeaux."  
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D.C. International Food and Wine Festival: Part 1

Posted 03/03/2008 at 12:22 PM by Carolyn

Two miraculous things happened to me this week: first, my dear Mr. Chicken stumbled on a pair of tickets to the second day of D.C. International Food and Wine Festival, which he then gave to me; second, my boss scored a ticket to the super fancy VIP opening night tasting, which he then gave to me. Yay!  
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Oh my Grenache!

Posted 02/01/2008 at 10:35 AM by Carolyn

Last night, my roommate decided to run by the wine store on her way home for a little Sunday night vino. Picking out a bottle of Cotes du Rhone, JPee was suddenly seized by a bout of digestive distress, and grabbed the first two bottles that she saw. When she arrived home, she literally dropped her purchases on the carpet and went running for the restroom. I was left to inspect her purchases.  
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Giving California a Chance

Posted 01/29/2008 at 10:32 AM by Carolyn

California is a beautiful place. In fact, San Francisco is the place on this earth where I feel most at home, so I've really got a thing for California. And, they make some great wines in their gorgeous wine country. But, for my price range, I find I have better luck in Australia (duh) and even France (now that I know how to read the labels!) than in California.  
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Nothing Could Be Finer

Posted 01/20/2008 at 10:25 AM by Carolyn

When I lived in California, the room that I rented was right around the corner from one of the most famous cheese shops in the world. At the time, I was an unpaid intern at one of the most famous restaurants in the world, so I didn't exactly have a huge budget for luxuries like cheese. I was never really a big cheese fan anyway, so this didn't faze me much.  
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Flight of Fancy

Posted 01/17/2008 at 10:23 AM by Carolyn

My older sister, El Gato, is going to Chicago for the weekend, coming home for 20 hours, and then going to London for about a month. The last time El Gato was in Europe, she had platinum blond hair and was therefore a prime target for would-be muggers. She evaded these thugs completely unscathed on more than one occasion, thus earning the somewhat nonsensical nickname El Gato. Now you know that story, and none of us has to worry about El Gato traveling alone in Europe. Besides, her hair is much less blond now.  
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The Trouble With Champagne

Posted 01/16/2008 at 10:19 AM by Carolyn

As part of my recent efforts to expand my wine enjoyment (i.e., not just sparkling wine and Burgundy), I decided last night to attend a wine tasting at a great restaurant downtown. Apparently they do these little free tastings every night, and you never know what it's going to be until you show up! I recruited El Gato to join me and we headed out.  
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Plain Dumb or Playing Dumb?

Posted 01/14/2008 at 12:54 PM by Carolyn

I don't pretend to be a genius when it comes to wine, but occasionally I am really astounded at the apparent stupidity of some people when it comes to wine. I guess I run into this problem most frequently when I'm out to eat. I know it's terribly unoriginal to complain about poor service in the D.C. area, but I've run into a couple of really unbelievable problems with uneducated servers. It's almost forgivable when it happens at the more casual joints, but shouldn't there be some aspects of wine culture that should be a "No duh" by now?  
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Twice Thwarted

Posted 01/13/2008 at 12:32 PM by Carolyn

So, I have this new gig writing for this wine site, which is a really excellent excuse for me to drink more. And, of course I'll be learning more, too, which is lovely. But, everyone knows that to learn about wine, you've got to taste wine, which is what I intend to do. Oh yes, I'm full of good intentions.  
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