Saturday, July 30, 2011

Wine tasting - by the bucket


Red strappy sandals from Högl. A brand for old ladies focusing on comfortable shoes. I will be there in a couple of years anyway, so I figured I might just as well get used to it. Souvenirs from that shoe-purchasing-bonanza in Kiel.

My dad got MIA* at our local hypermarket in Grasse on Thursday. I found him frozen on the spot in front of a shelf full of ordinary** sparkling French wines. Looked a bit like a hunting dog that has found its prey and is waiting for the hunter to come pick it up. I do not think he was drooling, though. Or maybe he was.

The "prey" was a whole shelf of sparkling French wines in the price range of 99 euro-cents to 2 euros. One of them allegedly cost 15 euros at the government owned (crikey!) wine store in Norway. Living under such harsh conditions up in the cold north with only over-priced wine and booze to comfort us through the long and dark winter evenings has of course made some serious damage to our souls. We just cannot resist cheap alcohol when we see it. There. I said it.

Friday night we decided to give our wine bargains a try. I mean, how bad could it be, even at less than one euro? What would we really prefer? Twentyfive bottles of this crappy bubbly, or - one delicious bottle of the staple every day champagne from Möet et Chandon?

Actually, I would say it is hard to come to a true conclusion here, as nobody I know would really be able to test the twentyfive bottles and live to tell the story. But, if the effect of the four bottles we tried between us is anything to go by, my hunch is that I would rather go with the one bottle of real champagne over the two cases of the cheap stuff. I just think it will be better for your health. At least judging by how I felt the morning after this rather small sample.

Poor Monsieur Incroyable. Returning to France today to find his Madame in such a state. Can somebody get me a bucket, please?!

* Missing In Action.
** Not from the Champagne district.

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