Not since the days of Trader Joe’s 2-Buck-Chuck have I seen anything like what I experienced upon my arrival in Paris. Once settled in at my apartment, a trip to purchase miscellaneous supplies at the Monoprix led me to a display of Bordeaux wine bottles on sale if you bought two or more. I could only carry so much, so I bought one bottle at full price: 2 euro. My goal was to unpack my bags until I found the corkscrew I had packed. By the third bag, I had found it and called it a night. I opened that bottle and poured my first glass into a drinking glass, as there were no wine glasses in the apartment (there is one now). This Vin de Bordeaux proved young, but grape-forward delicious. 

It did not have the intense complexity of a 2011 Louis M. Martini cabernet I enjoyed in the U.S. before I left for Paris, but it was definitely worth sipping. I can’t wait to try out more wines that aren’t available in the U.S., including some of the Brancaia wines I tasted in Tuscany a few years ago, as well as variations of LaMarca Prosecco. I did manage to get a bottle of 2011 Brancaia TRE, IGT Rosso Toscano while in the U.S., which brought me back to the hills of Chianti, where I once enjoyed a surreal experience dining on the Brancai Estate, hosted by the uber talented winemaker, Barbara Widmer.

Wines certainly break the barrier of communication throughout the world, but for now, I’m concentrating on Bordeaux, a destination I will surely visit soon.