Wine for France - Day 1

So I have decided to try writing new posts every day, Monday through Friday, and plan to make each post a bit shorter. I think this will be easier both for me writing them and you reading them. Let me know what you think!

Back to class after the long weekend to rain, rain, and more rain. Driving in the rain can be a drag, mostly because nobody seems to modify their driving at all ("I don't need to slow down, it's just water, man up!"). In fact, commuting in general can be a bit of a snooze, but luckily I have discovered the joy of listening to books on CD. I got three John Grisham books on CD for the low low price of $20. That's hours of listening pleasure! It would be the perfect solution to the grind of commuting if not for the battle that is being waged between my GPS and my John Grisham.

The audio quality of the books is not so hot (this is probably why I could get three books for $20), so I have to bump up the volume quite a bit to hear it. Now my GPS is downright bossy at the best of times ("Turn left ahead", "TURN LEFT", "proceed on route 280 South", "bear right", "speed up" , "slow down", "stop singing!", "those aren't the right words", "good, god, woman, what have you been eating?!"), but when I am listening to my books, she cuts in with directions at a glass-breaking volume that causes me to feel like I am about to be smacked by a ruler-wielding nun. I fear the GPS is going to go HAL on me, and suddenly take complete control of the car, driving me to some unknown destination until I decide to abandon my audio books and agree that she is the only one who is allowed to talk to me.

But I digress. I am back to class, where today we began France. As my teacher himself said "France is a beast". The world of French wines is so detailed and complex that we are spending 42 hours on it. Today we discussed the wines of the Alsace region, which include such delights as Pinot Gris, Riesling, Gewurztraminer, and Muscat. The most unusual wine we tasted today was a Domaine Zind Humbrecht Pinot Gris Clos Jebsal SGN 2003. The SGN label refers to a wine that has been made from grapes that were rotting with a fungus called Botrytis. If you see a bunch of grapes with this fungus on them, you might think they look like something you found when you were younger, say when you opened your lunchbox after a school vacation to find that forgotten baggie of grapes you mom had packed for you two weeks ago. In short, they look like something a haz-mat team should come and remove. The last thing that would have occurred to you would have been "Yum,these will make delicious wine."

But make delicious wine they do. This SGN designation can only be given to Noble Grapes (Pinot Gris, Gewurztraminer, Riesling and Muscat) that have the botrytis rot. This "noble rot" tends to only occur in very small amounts and only in exceptional years. The particular SGN wine we tasted today was a dark almost orange color, with a full mouth feel and a honey, dried apricot flavor, and it was sweet without being cloying. It was definitely unlike anything I have ever tasted. It is definitely worth a try for a special occasion.

Well, so much for a shorter post. I will try again tomorrow!