A Touch of Spring

I must have told Emily how beautiful it was outside a dozen times today like I'd never felt sunlight in my life. I've now been in Paris almost a month and it's been gray most days, so walking around in a sleeveless shift dress was wonderful. Post lunch, we just sat by the Seine for awhile and people watched. There were tons of people on the river boat cruises and on bus tours. In the late afternoon we went to a wine tasting at Spring Restaurant. I read great reviews of the restaurant and wine shop on some blogs so I thought it would be worth a visit. The Spring Boutique is just down the street from the restaurant in the 1st arrondissement near the Louvre. There were six other people in the group. While we were waiting for the tasting to begin Emily heard one of the women say "y'all." We immediately asked where she and her husband were from..Texas! The couple now lives in Huntsville, but used to live blocks from my house in Houston. Small world. Another one of the women is in Paris for business. She works in the textile industry buying fabric for Gap. It sounded like a very neat job. She travels to Paris often for trade shows and trend forecasting, then goes to Asia where Gap's mills are located. She said the price of cotton has quadrupled and we will be seeing more synthetics. The last woman to arrive, Meg Zimbeck, turned out to be the editor of a blog called Paris By Mouth. http://parisbymouth.com/ I've been reading it here so it was neat to meet her. She brought her American intern who is completing her masters in Gastronomic Sciences. Très cool. 

Spring's owners discovered three floors below the main restaurant while doing renovations. In Paris the law requires you to preserve historic architecture. So, the wine tasting was in Spring's 16th century cellar. In an hour and a half span we tried seven different wines; two blanc, three rouge, and two dessert wines. All of the wines came from small artisanal producers in France. One point the Spring wine expert stressed is the importance of the producer rather than the production year. He said many people are caught up with vintages, but you should really look for passionate wine makers who pay great attention to each step in the winemaking process. I'm certainly not a wino, but I enjoy learning about wine. We started with a 2008 Sauvignon Blanc from Menetou-Salon, Loire. The producer is Philippe Gilbert. I actually bought this bottle afterwards. I learned to describe it as a dry, balanced, acidic white wine. It's fragrant and fresh. I liked it better than the Chardonnay that had more of an oaky taste. I also liked the Pinot Noir - Volnay Brouillards Premier Cru. Emily bought the Malbec from Cahors made by Jeremie Illouz. The man that taught us is originally from San Francisco. He was extremely knowledgeable and entertaining as well. We're going back for a meal in March.

Pictures from the day: