Finally! Since the day I left Bordeaux I've been dying for a glass of French paradise. Yesterday, Mathieu, author of French Wine World, had us invited to Total Wine's Bordeaux Wine Tasting Event at Fontainebleau in Miami Beach. Now if there are two things I love it's a glass of Bordeaux and my toes in the sand.
Over 80 châteaux traveled from the Southwest of France to show their 2012 vintage. The event started at 2 p.m. and ended at 5 p.m., with a turnout of several hundred people. Appellations including Pauillac, Margaux, Graves/Pessac Leognan, Pomerol, St. Emilion, St. Estephe, St. Julien, Sauternes/ Barsac, Haut Medoc, and Medoc flooded the venue.
Liv Nightclub was beautifully set-up for the wine tasting, organizing the châteaux by region, and providing enough space for all of the guests and wine producers. I wish we had been able to spend more time at the end, tasting the white wines, but there was such a great atmosphere that much of the time was spent conversing. Importers, exporters, distributers, and wine-lovers traveled from all over the world to attend the Union de Grand Crus de Bordeaux event. For the first time in Miami, I was speaking more French than anything!
Although the first class grand crus such as Châteaux Margaux and Mouton Rothschild were not present, there were many second class grand crus present. Put more simply, the #1 wines of Bordeaux were not there. This does not degrade the second level what-so-ever as they are still delicious and prestigious wines. My favorite of the day was the 2012 Château Clos Fourtet.

The UCG event did not only take place in Miami this year, but also Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and Denver. All cities that are heavy populated with wine-o's. It was $150/each to attend (thankfully we were invited!), but well worth the price. There was not enough time to taste all of the wines, however, it was bliss in itself to be surrounded by grand crus again! It also was pleasant to be able to take a walk on the beach before it started.
For those who wish to attend the event next year, make sure you do so ahead of time. This was a fully reserved wine-tasting at Fontainebleau. It is a fully english-speaking event, so don't be discouraged by the name! To find information on further wine events held by Total Wine or the UGC, be sure to click the links.

When I tell people I live in Bordeaux Lac I kind of get this sympathetic, concerned look. I might as well tell them I live in a WWII zone swamped with land mines. That trip from Bordeaux Centre to Bordeaux Lac on Tram C might as well lead me to my grave.

I'm your average 20 something on a student budget so any sort of fun that's free is my kind of fun. It's a good idea if your here in France to look out for festivals and tastings because #1 it's a cool cultural experience, and #2 well it's cheap. Bordeaux's Fête le Chocolat in Jardin Botanique is happening this weekend and I was NOT about to miss out on a chocolate tasting.
You get to see a glimpse of the chocolate world. There were workshops for kids, demonstrations, artwork, and degustations all in three small rooms. It was much smaller than I had expected, but it was free chocolate so I wasn't complaining ya know?
The artwork all revolved around aviation. I felt like I was in Charlie in the Chocolate Factory and could take a bite out of everything around me. Unfortunately, that would would be rather frowned upon, eating someone's airplane.
Some of the vendors were extremely creative with their chocolate. This right here is lipstick. I'm not sure if you are really suppose to use it that way, but I know the second that would touch my lips, it would be the end of it.
A children's workshop was available, and it was so adorable. They were taught how to decorate the chocolate, and they got to take home their creation for Easter! I was loving their outfits, and they looked like they had a great time.
The live demonstration was also really interesting. You will be able to see how much effort the chocolatiers put into their work. The man was crafting a chocolate tree, yes, a chocolate tree. Easy eh? He was like the Jackie Chan of chocolate.
Although the whole point of this is for the vendors to sell their products, I didn't end up buying any of it. However, people were leaving with bags full of goodies. You get to vote for the best, all while donating money to charity for handicapped children (Yes of course I donated!)
Overall the Fête le Chocolat in Bordeaux is worth going to. It's yummy, it's free, and it's time to kill on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon.

I know there are some people in the world who say money isn't everything, but I'm almost positive that if you drop a box full of cash on their doorstep they'd gladly accept. I, for one, would like to receive the box that makes me wealthy enough to buy the ever-so-classy Château de la Rivière.

I've become numb to this whole grey sky and rain thing in Bordeaux. Today however, there was sun shining through my window. I practically danced my way out of bed and got ready to meet up with Nicole. A perfect day to channel my inner French girl and expand my waistline at the Bordeaux markets.

Art expositions bore me to tears, but a wine exposition, now that's what I'm talking about. I can stare at a painting for forever and still not understand the meaning, yet I will always understand wine. You know why? Because wine understands me.
The exposition was held at arc en rêve centre d'architecture. As a previous advertising major I thought it was going to be la crème de la crème of wine ads. However, it turned out to be something very different. That's usually how artists work though eh?
It was by far the smallest exposition I've ever witnessed, especially in comparison to the SIGMA expo thats being held there (which by the way is the strangest thing I've seen in my life, but I'll save that for a later date). More than anything this was about making products for wine that are outside the box.

Cue the presentation of my top 7 favorite..in no exact order:
1. Wine boxes used for the back of a bike, nothing out of the ordinary in Bordeaux. However, if you click on the picture you'll see closer that they recycle them into a bookshelf, using corks to hold it together..interesting.
2. I call this one 'over my head.' My only assumption is they're explaining the process of wine through bottles of wine with pictures in them.
3. A modern day wine display, I dig it. When I have my vaulted ceilings in my future home I will highly consider this, as long as it's not me trying to put the bottles in there.
4. Recycling wine boxes into various games. Checkers might be a little hard after downing a bottle.
5. A highly classy take on spitting out your wine...but let's be real, I don't do that.
6. I deem these 'wine sombreros.' This artist really went all out trying to make corks-of-the-future

7. Giving the Pope a little more style, and putting a modern spin on all his religious wine toys.
Et voilà, there you have it. It's a project I would have loved to be assigned to in college. It was a really very small expo, yes, but it still struck a bit of inspiration in me again when it comes to wine.
I may not have gotten a better sense of how they advertise wine from this expo, however I did get the name of a professional label maker! I've already designed a bottle..so stay tuned, because I'm determined to have this one in the works :)

Here's the facebook page for more information. The expo is until March 2, 2014 https://www.facebook.com/events/1411670775746546/

So this weekend I decided to stay in Bordeaux and have some me time. By me time, I generally mean I wander around town on my own with my camera and people watch. Not going to lie I enjoy this quite a lot. Today was the best weather for people watching so I thought I'd head out to Jardin Public and stalk around a bit. No shame right?