Phew! I'm back, finally!

The last few weeks have been a bit of a whirl wind. It's very interesting, I spent a good part of my trip meeting people that I had "met" solely thanks to the internet and the " blogosphere"  as they say!

 It all started out in Paris for the Grand Tasting and "À l'Eure d'être Bû" another tasting put on by Laurent Baraou, a retailer just outside of Paris.  It was great to be in Paris for a few days and see my colleagues from the Bettane&Desseauve team.  I met Laurent Baraou by email after we had both done similar posts about "off"  tastings during VinExpo last summer in Bordeaux.  It turned out that we had tasted a bunch of wines side by side, but didn't know it!  After that Laurent came down to visit and taste our wine, he was pleased and decided to take us on as a new producer, which is great since we haven't taken the time to get distribution in Paris.  Laurent's tasting was organized in his new warehouse in Bû, a small town about an hour west of Paris.  There were a dozen or so other winemakers present, so it was great fun to meet some new people and taste their wines. 

Then it was off to New York, or Brooklyn to be exact, where I got to finally meet Michael and Emilia

 from Thirst Wine Merchants.  We've known each other for over 2 years now, but only through my blog and email. I spent a few hours in the store the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, pouring the 2006 and greeting customers. Their tiny shop was amazingly busy, with a non-stop stream of clients coming in to pick up a bottle or 6 or 12.  After they closed up the shop we went to a wonderful restaurant just down the street called Bonito.  It was kind of like Chez Panisse does Mexican, and I wish it was just down the street from my house.  If you're ever in Brooklyn, don't miss it.  There are two locations, the one we were at in Fort Greene, and the other in Williamsburg.

Next I got to have lunch with Terry Hughes of the blog Mondosapore, who is just starting an import/distributor business bringing in some great Italian wines.  It was fun to chat with Terry and to hear all about the challenges of starting up his own company.  He's a very courageous man and I know he'll do well with his small, high-quality selection of wines.

Finally on my last night there I met up with Alice Feiring to have dinner at the Blue Ribbon wine bar. For those of you who don't know Alice, she is a novelist and free-lance journalist who is very interested in natural wines and natural wine-making.  She just completed a wonderful blog-series on the New York Times about her first experience making wine.  We sat at the bar and drank a yummy bottle of low-sulfur wine from the Loire Valley. I have to admit that I didn't write down the name and I don't recall the name of it.  Maybe it's because we drank the whole thing, then I insisted on trying a beer on the list, needless to say, I was a bit tipsy!  I wonder if Alice noticed!!!??  Oops!  Oh well, it happens to most people on occasion.  

Next stop Colorado, I'll tell you more when I get some photos, I accidentally left my camera at my friend Dawn's house in Brooklyn, that's why you aren't getting any fun pictures here!  Speaking of my friend Dawn Brighid, she works for a non-profit called the Sustainable Table which is an organization the promotes awareness about the origins of our food.  Dawn writes their blog which is full of lots of interesting tips and articles about what we eat and where it comes from, check it out here: http://www.sustainabletable.org/blog/

Comments

[Iris]

Nice to read you back home! I'm also reading Alice Feirings book (The battle for wine and love or how I saved the world from parkerization) these days - looking forward to your photos!

[Baraou]

Paris, New-York, Colorado and Bû !!! What a trip.

[Strappo, mondosapore.com]

Hi, Amy, welcome home. It was so good to meet you finally -- and I will be tasting your wine over the Christmas holiday. I want to give it plenty of time to rest, settle and be its best!

Joyeux Noel!