Apéritif dînatoire

Our final lecture with Andre, a week ago Thursday, was devoted to the art and vocabulary of wine-tasting. Initially the plan had been to visit the Wine Museum and hold the class there, but the school wasn't keen on the idea (unclear why, because everyone in the class was well above the minimum drinking age). So instead, we decided to hold the practical part of the class here in my apartment on the following Saturday evening.

It was a great success. Nine people squeezed into my little apartment, where we tasted a total of four wines, each paired with an appropriate dish. Here are the wines we tasted, in order from left to right:

By popular acclaim, the wine on the left, a "Floc de Gascogne", was the hit of the evening, possibly because of its fortified nature (17% alcohol). We enjoyed it with some delicious foie gras, with truffle salt or cherry jam. The next wine was a "mature" white, a 2008 Meursault (premier cru), excellent with the shellfish dish that Andre had prepared. I'd give more detail on aforementioned shellfish dish, except that my allergy prevented me from examining it up close. Myself, I had a nice slice of smoked salmon on toast for this second course. The third course was a variety of stinky cheeses, brought by Ben (the Chinese philosophy student in our class), enjoyed with the 2010 Petit Chablis. In conclusion, we enjoyed the fine bottle of champagne that Ben brought, with strawberries and fresh whipped cream.

Oh, and I think there may have been a lemon tart and some fine Swiss chocolates to go with the coffee afterwards.

One of the early thoughts for the evening had been that we might do the wine-tasting first in my apartment, then eat at one of the restaurants down the street later on. As it turned out, there was clearly no need to eat anywhere later on.

A great time was had by all.