and hopefully with a high grade ;)
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Ugh, so00 exhausted!! I was up at random hours of the night studying for the crazy wine exam I had for my Masters in Wine Business Program. Like I said in my previous post, it wasn’t necessarily that the format was difficult, it was more the content we could possibly be tested on that was overwhelming … which was essentially the entire wine making world. The nights before the exams went something like this:
Dinner, Study France, 30 min Nap, Study Italy, 30 min Nap, Study Spain, 30 min nap, Study Germany, 30 min Nap, Study US, 30 min Nap, Study Australia, 30 min Nap…..AHHHHH!!!!
Cramming wine knowledge into my head like crazy was obviously the theme!
The day of the exam I spent my time reviewing all countries and boy am I glad I did, because a lot of the ones I reviewed turned out to be options we could choose from to write about on our test.
I then was lucky enough to have an amazing french boyfriend who whisked me away to the beaches of Erquy, France (English Channel side of Brittany) for a relaxing couple of days to catch up on all the missed sleep and get myself rejuvenated for the London Wine Fair. Now I am back, taking a break from packing to post for you real quick before hopping on a train to the Mother Land. I did promise you wonderful Vinous Readers photos from 2 weekend’s ago wine tasting festival I went to in a wine village here in Burgundy called Savigny-les-Beaune. (Saw-Veh-Nee–Leh–Bone). This was the second year in a row I went with Frenchie les Boyfriend =) Here is a link to a post on another blog I used to have that details lasts years visit to this wine festival.
I hope you enjoy this years photos too!
And away we go!
Welcome to Savigny!!
A small village …. Population: 1,429 Vines
I was so happy to see the Romanian Children’s carnival back this year, what’s a wine festival without one?
Mmmm French Cheese!
Heading down to the cellar for some wine tasting =)
St. Vincent, the patron saint of winemakers.
Me and Frenchie le Boyfriend … Ooo La La!
Back out of the cellar and on to the next one.
Looking back onto the cellar…
The Mayor’s Office …. fancy huh?
Don’t know, but my guess is it has something to do with wine….
Next cellar …. move out of the way little girl, this big girl has some wine tasting to do =P
Nothing like a good Jazzy band to pair with the wine =)
And another cellar … and more wine tasting =)
The old method for turning sparkling wine bottles to get the lees to the neck of the bottle in a process called riddling (remuage in french).
Some awesome old machines used to make Cremant de Bourgogne (Cremant from Burgundy), sparkling wine made in the same method as Champagne, just not from the Champagne region, thus cannot be called Champagne but rather Cremant from Burgundy.
Do I look like a wine bar owner =)
Frenchie’s turn =)
What the vines look like so far …
And another cellar …. and yes, more wine!!
The glass stopper for the hole in the barrel. Did you know the name for said hole in the barrel is the ‘bunghole’ …. teehee teehee, snicker, snicker….yes, I know I am 8 yrs old for laughing at that, hahahahahah!
A close up of the bunghole
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hahahahaha
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Stop number ….. ?? ….. lost count =) So many wonderful wines to taste.
The Chateau of Savigny les Beaune
Another wine tasting!! I was in heaven!!
I want this door!!
My favorite wine tasting stop….they had a basketball hoop with TONY PARKER!! GO SPURS GO!!
See the resemblance?
Sorry for the short post, but have to finish packing so I can make my train!
Off to London for the London International Wine Fair …. See you there!!!!
Vinously Speaking & Vinously Yours,
The Ceci Sipper!