(In finish line in front of the Hotel de Ville)
In Villefranche, they hold a marathon every year to celebrate the new Beaujolais and block off the Rue Nationale to allow the wine makers in the area set up tents and tables to display their wines. At each table, the wine makers pass out information on their wines and where their vineyards are located. Most importantly, they let everyone sample their wines…for FREE! I managed to collect some pamphlets so that I can order some before I go home. Or order some from home, if possible.
The streets were packed! I had never seen so many people out in Villefranche like this before. It was fun to walk from table to table and chitchat with the winemakers and the people tasting the wine. Some of the winemakers would ask me about the California wines, but I couldn’t really tell them anything since I know nothing about them. Guess I should start tasting some California wines!!! They are starting to become popular in France. I remember when I was living with my host family in Bordeaux that we started to talk about California wines during dinner and they mentioned how sometimes California wines would be a lot more expensive to buy and drink than the local Bordeaux in restaurants despite Bordeaux’s reputation!
I spent almost 4 hours just walking around the Rue Nationale checking out the wines, listening to the drums of the ‘bands’, laughing at French people singing karaoke songs, and just soaking in the tradition. I hope that there are things like this more often that I can go to. It definitely made the weekend go by a lot faster because it gave me something to do. Now all I have to look forward to is planning for Monday’s lessons with the students.
Yay for the Beaujolais Nouveau!
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