Tag Archives: Paris

EVERYDAY WINES AND EVERYDAY LIFE IN LYON – BOTH ARE EXTRAORDINARY

France, Lyon, wine, Wine Opinion, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Since moving to Lyon, France this past summer (LINK to Post About Moving to France), much of our time has been spent attempting to learn French (definitely a work in progress), finding our way around town (easy as Lyon is a very walkable city with great public transportation), and traveling back and forth to the US (which will become increasingly less frequent).

Lyon - Saone
View toward Vieux (Old) Lyon across the Saône River.

I will do another post as a sequel to the one about moving to France soon. For now, let’s talk wine.

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Auvergene-Rhône-Alps Department in Red

Lyon is located in the Rhône-Alps Department (there are 100 departments, or states in France), in the upper part of southeastern France. We are just north of the Rhône Valley at the confluence of the Rhône and the Saône Rivers. A few kilometers to the north, Burgundy begins with the Mâcon region; to the west, Beaujolais is a few kilometers outside the city; to the east, the underappreciated Jura region is a short drive away. Wines from all these regions and more pour into Lyon, a city of about 500K with 2.2 million in the metropolitan area.

There are only two large supermarkets in the city limits, both at malls. Big box stores are restricted to outlying areas, meaning that mom & pop businesses thrive. Every neighborhood has multiple small boulangeries, boucheries, fromageries, green grocers, and wine caves. Small grocery stores have wine departments featuring representative wines from the surrounding regions, mostly from larger producers. The caves (wine shops) have more wines from smaller producers and a few higher-end bottles, but almost all the wines are reasonably priced and would qualify as “everyday wines.” (LINK to @EricAsimov column on Everyday Wines from the NYTimes). We are drinking these wines for the most part with our lunches and dinners at home – spending an average of 10 to 12€ per bottle (top shelf at these stores) – sometimes much less – and enjoying most of them very much. This is why I have not been blogging and Tweeting as much about the wines I am drinking – they are, for the most part, not stand-out wines, but they are good!

Wine - Lyon Everyday
Some of My Everyday Wines in Lyon

My admittedly limited personal research thus far has revealed an interesting fact: THE FRENCH DON’T LIKE TO SPEND A LOT OF MONEY ON WINE.

I don’t know why this surprised me – but I just have not encountered the kind of wine conversations that I had with friends in California. It is more likely to encounter a boxed wine at a dinner party than a higher-end Burgundy or Châteauneuf du Pape. And, by the way, I have had some very drinkable boxed wines here. But I was a bit surprised that the Mecca of fine wine is largely populated with folks who prefer to spend under 10€ a bottle (and 3€ can get you a very nice rosè from Provence). Even when higher-end wines are served at dinner, the conversation is not about the wine. Perhaps a quick recognition of whoever provided it (usually the host), but that’s about it.

Dorianne and I eat at restaurants once or twice a week. Lyon is a gastronomique capital – many of the great Parisian (and New York) chefs train in the many cooking schools here. Lyon has more Michelin Star restaurants per capita than any other city, so food is a big thing here. And this extends downward from the Michelin restaurants all the way to the Bouchons (think bistro but serving Lyonnaise cuisine) and comptoirs. It is difficult to find a bad meal here, and some very nondescript looking places are working magic in their tiny kitchens. And as for wine, once you get out of the Michelin range, the wine lists tend to be fairly modest, featuring value-priced bottles and vins de la maison, usually from a tap or box. The wine list prices are usually at regular retail or just a bit above.

So, my everyday wine experience here in Lyon has been mostly with everyday wines from the wine regions surrounding the city. I will say that French wine producers seem to understand that the French don’t like to pay a lot for wine. The 13€ Burgundy Pinot Noir I get at the local wine cave tastes equivalent to a $30 or $40 bottle of Burgundy purchased in the US. We are enjoying very good wines for very reasonable prices – and feeling very grateful in the process!

Don’t believe me? Come visit and see!

As always, your comments are appreciated.

 

Copyright 2018 – Jim Lockard

SO, YOU WANT TO MOVE TO FRANCE?

France, wine, Wine Travel, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

My wife, Dorianne, and I decided to move to France about 9 months ago. We have been “on the road” since early 2015, when we sold our home in southern California. Since then, we have spent about half of our time in Europe and the other half in North and Central America. We have visited 23 countries and 16 states. I have blogged about some of our wine-related adventures.

After thinking that we would probably settle in Spain, we chose France for two main reasons: first, we feel more at home in France, second, we like the hours that the French keep – not quite so late as in Spain. Both countries have great food and wine, and both have a “work to live, not live to work” lifestyle, so it was a close call for us, especially since Dorianne is conversational in Spanish and neither of us are in French. But France called us, no matter where else we traveled.

We have been to France about 8 times since 2005, staying from a few days to several months, in places such as Paris, Avignon, Nice, Bordeaux, Lourdes, Aix-en-Provence, Burgundy, the Loire Valley, and Lyon.

We decided on Lyon for a few reasons:

  1. It’s a city, but smaller, less expensive, and less congested than Paris.
  2. It has a well-preserved historic section (Vieux Lyon, where we are currently staying), and beautiful architecture throughout the city.
  3. It has a great culinary tradition.
  4. There are four wine regions nearby (Burgundy, Beaujolais, Jura, and Côte du Rhône).
  5. An international airport and access to high-speed rail (Paris in 2 hrs.).
  6. A good chamber music community (Dorianne plays the violin).

So, we began our research – after a brief visit in November, we began to do online research, looking at expat sites and chat rooms, travel blogs, French sites (including government sites on how to get visas, etc.), and real estate sites. We decided to rent for a year or so to get a feel for in which area of the city we wanted to settle.

What we discovered is that it is very difficult to get a work visa for France unless you are hired by a French company or working for a foreign company and will have a temporary assignment in France. The law says that to qualify for a job, there must be no French citizen who can fill that job, and then, no EU citizen who can fill it. Unless you meet those criteria or are going to invest and start a business and hire ten French citizens, you can forget a work visa. There are no investment visas in France, such as the Golden Visa for real estate purchases in Portugal, Spain, Greece, or Malta.

We applied for a long-stay visitor visa (there are time constraints) (LINK) (LINK). Essentially, we had to show that we could afford to live in France for a year, had health insurance that covered us there, and were not wanted by the law. We submitted a stack of papers and had a short interview at the French Consulate in Los Angeles (you must apply in person at the embassy or consulate nearest to your US residence).

Once approved, you get a visa in your passport, which they hold for a few weeks, so plan accordingly. You must enter France within 3 months of receiving the visa. We got our Visa in May and had it dated July 12, 2017 to July 12, 2018. You must enter France within seven days of the first date. The visa is good for the entire EU.

We arrived in Lyon on July 13th, my birthday, and celebrated with a dinner at the Institut Paul Bocuse (LINK) – the restaurant of the famed culinary school operated by France’s greatest chef. It is run by students, and you get a Michelin-quality meal for a great price. They have a small but nicely selected wine list as well – and the wine prices are about the same as regular retail. I blogged about an earlier visit (LINK).

We initially stayed at a friend’s apartment, but moved to an AirBnb for, we thought, a month or two, while we looked for a long-term rental apartment. That’s when we found out how difficult it is to rent an apartment in France if you are not a citizen or permanent resident (it’s also difficult if you are a citizen). It is illegal to rent to someone who has anything less than a work visa. And short-term rentals are limited to 3 months. We found that there are landlords who are willing to overlook the requirements, but they demand multiple French co-signers for your lease. It is also illegal to pay rent in advance (say pay 6 months or a year). The French laws are very much in favor of tenants, so the landlords take every advantage they can. We are still in an AirBnB.

We are still open to a long-term rental, but we will be away for December and January at least, so we will wait until we return to look further. Actually, it is easier to buy here than to rent – the limitations on visas, etc. do not apply to real estate purchases. So, we may end up buying sooner than we expected. Prices in the Lyon area are cheaper than Paris, but there are not many bargains in the categories that we are looking for.

Another important tip: if you want to do things like get a French cell phone or a transit card (TCL Carte in Lyon), you must have a French bank account. French banks do not operate like US banks in at least one sense – they don’t seem to particularly want new customers. We entered a branch bank to ask to open a checking account and were told that they next appointment to do so was two weeks away. At a different (downtown) branch, we got accounts right away, but we must do everything via that branch. You can do some things online and at ATM machines, but the system is very parochial.

Once we had the account, and got some funds into it (another issue), we got cell phones and transit cards. You also need a French bank account to rent an apartment long-term, by the way. Once you have a French bank credit card (which work sort of like a combination of credit and debit cards in the US – you need to have funds in your account and can only get credit for up to 500€), you will find it easier to use than US cards in restaurants and shops.

As for our first two months in Lyon – life is grand! We are eating very healthy, fresh food from the thrice per week farmers’ markets (marchés) in our Croix-Rousse (4th Arrondisement) neighborhood. Also, there are plenty of bakeries (boulangeries), butchers (boucheries), prepared food shops (epicères & traiteurs), and fresh fruit & vegetable shops as well. Oh, and every neighborhood has several wine shops (caves).

There are also plenty of restaurants, brasseries, bouchons (Lyonnaise version of a bistro), comptoirs (counters), and coffee shops. And wine bars, too. The food is amazing in just about every place you eat (we avoid the chain restaurants other than some of the local chains which have two or three locations in Lyon).

During August, just about everything that is locally owned and not a national or international chain closes for vacation for anywhere from two to five weeks. So, we drank a lot of supermarket wines during the month, which in France, is not a bad thing. There are very cheap to lower-mid-range (1.8€ to 18€ per bottle) wines from all over France, including Burgundy and Bordeaux in every supermarket. The wines are mostly from larger producers, of course, and you don’t see the premier cru labels there, however, the overall quality is very good. We were drinking wines from Tavel, Gigondas, Châteauneuf du Pape, Moulin a Vent, Burgundy, and others from the supermarket (supermarché) shelves. I was also introduced to boxed wine at a local party, and was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the Luberon Valley Syrah sold in a 5-liter box for 25€.

THE FRENCH EFFECT

I’ll close with this interesting tidbit. Despite eating and drinking a large variety of foods and wines, I have actually lost a few pounds since arriving in Lyon. My best guess is that there are a few factors in this welcome phenomenon:

  1. The lifestyle here is to walk. I probably average 2 – 3 miles per day at least.
  2. We are mostly preparing our own meals, and eating lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. And there is wine and bread every day, too.
  3. I think that when you shop daily and eat fresh foods (even from the supermarket – avoid those center aisles with the processed foods), and those foods are grown on smaller farms (very little industrial farming in France), your body reacts differently to the foods you eat.

I’ll be posting more wine-centric posts as time goes on. We are itching to explore the wine regions in the area in person and to delve more deeply into the Lyon wine scene. So, stay tuned.

I would be very interested in your comments about being an expat or about your experiences with visiting France and other wine capitals in the comments section below.

Au revoir!

Copyright 2017 – Jim Lockard

WINDING THROUGH FRANCE – BITS AND PIECES – AND AMAZING WINES

France, wine, Wine Review, , , , , , , , , , , ,

As I write this, I am aboard Celebrity’s Silhouette cruise ship heading toward Athens. We embarked at Rome’s Civitavecchia Port a couple of days ago. I blogged about the cruise ship wine experience (LINK) a while back while on the Silhouette’s sister ship, the Equinox. It’s pretty much the same experience as then.

So, let’s look at my recent all-too-brief trip through France. Ten days, split between Paris, Mâcon, and Lyon. The purpose of the trip was to look at a property near Mâcon, which we did; deciding to focus on Lyon instead. But more about that later.

We took the train from London to Paris via the Chunnel – a very nice experience. First class tickets were about 80 euros each. It was a smooth and comfortable ride.

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A Paris Morning – Looking toward the Eiffel Tower through Place de la Concorde.

Our first night in Paris, we went to the legendary Willi’s Wine Bar (LINK), where we had a very good dinner and some very nice wine. We opted for a 2014 Domaine Mee Godard Morgan Grand Cras, which was very nice and on the less expensive side of the wine list. Our young waiter recommended it after I told him what I liked and my price range. Morgan means the Gamay varietal, which is the backbone of all of the Beaujolais reds. This wine won’t amaze you, but it delivered what I wanted to go along with my duck at Willi’s.

Our second evening was a dinner at a friend’s apartment in St. Germain-des-Prés. We took along two bottles of 2012 Jean-Luc & Eric Burguet Gevery-Chambertin Symophonie Pinot Noir, from a favorite Burgundian tthat accompanied the beautiful French roasted chicken and vegetables perfectly. This is a very nice mid-range Burgundian red.

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I should mention that it is considered improper in some places in France to bring wine as a dinner guest – the sense being that no French household would be without so essential an item. However, we checked with our hosts first to get their okay. One of them, John Baxter (LINK), is the author of several excellent books about Paris, including his new one about St. Germain-des-Prés, the first in a series about Paris neighborhoods. His Book An Immoveable Feast, a Paris Christmas is a particular favorite of mine.

The next morning, it was off to Mâcon by TGV High Speed Rail. Another smooth and quick ride. While staying with friends in Mâcon, we ate in most days, so the wine story here is about a small wine shop that I found in Cluny, a monastery town northwest of Mâcon. We had a very nice lunch at L’Halte de l’Abbey Café with a nice house wine. Then, at the wine shop, we realized that the shop owner, Bruno Berthelin, had been at the café, and discovered that he had sold them the house wine. Small towns. Au Plaisir Dit Vin stocks over 350 fine wines, champagne and accessories. Twenty years as a passionate Wine Merchant, a profession that he prefers to describe as acting as a sense awakener, Bruno  like to share the delights of wine with customers.

We purchased six bottles that he recommended, all local Mâconnaise and Beaujolais wines, that proved excellent over the next couple of dinners and lunches.

Then it was onto Lyon, the second largest city in France, which feels much smaller than Paris. We fell in love with Lyon. It is very much like Paris in the downtown and old city, but without the iconic tourist sites that make the city so crowded. And, Lyon is the culinary capital of France, the place where most Parisian chefs are trained. In three nights, we had excellent meals for lunch and dinner. I will highlight one.

Our highlight was a dinner at ‘l’Institut’ Paul Bocuse Restaurant-école at Bellecour Lyon-Centre (LINK), where students of the Paul Bocuse Culinary Institute run a restaurant as part of their training. It is a relatively reasonably priced way to experience a Bocuse restaurant – and it was excellent. Here are some photos.

Surprisingly, the wine list is very reasonably priced – with only a few bottles topping 80 euros. Most are in the 40 to 55 euro range. There is a tasting menu of 8 courses including wine or you can order ala carte. We chose the latter. The service was very good (a little nervousness here and there), and the food was beautifully prepared. We felt that we got a real bargain at about 220 euros with gratuity (and we had an 80 euro wine).

Ah, that wine. They were out of our first choice, another Gevery-Chambertin Pinot Noir. A 2013 Jean Fery & Fils Nuits-Saint-Georges Les Damodes Pinot Noir, was substituted (at a lower price to match the Gevery) it was the essence of Burgundy. Great from nose to finish, it was an impressively well-crafted wine. Simply beautiful. It made the evening even more perfect.

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We plan to return to Lyon early in 2017 to explore the possibilities of living there. First, the rest of this cruise, a week in Rome, and three months in Miami. Stay tuned!

 

Copyright 2016 – Jim Lockard

LUXURY WINE TOURS TO FRANCE – BORDEAUX – PARIS – CHAMPAGNE

Foodie, France, Wine Travel, , , , , , ,

A very special experience awaits you. If you are a wine lover and are eager to experience some of the greatest wine regions in the world, we have a journey for you. Seven nights in France, with time on the left and right banks of the Gironde River to explore the tastes of Bordeaux wines, followed by time in Paris, the City of Light, and a day in the Champagne Region to savor the famous wines of that historic area. This intimate, small group tour features lodging in fine hotels, meals in châteaus, visits to the legendary vineyards, and tastings of some of the great wines of the world.

Journey to French Wine Country 3

In Paris, we will pair wine and food at specially selected restaurants, have a literary walking tour with a local author, and even have some free time to explore on your own or just relax and sit in a sidewalk cafè. All the while, you will learn more about wine in the vineyard and at the château. All tours will be in English, but there will be interactions with French people.

Bordeaux Treasures

Led by American wine blogger Jim Lockard (JimLockardOnWine.com), who has traveled extensively in France and who will be joined by local experts, you will get the inside story of some of the great wines of Bordeaux and Champagne and have access to places not generally available to the traveling public. This small group experience will give you the opportunity to interact with the guides and the winemakers and sommeliers. You will be joined by a few other wine lovers and share gourmet meals and luxury transportation.

St Emilion Image

“The Bordeaux/Paris/Champagne Tour is unlike anything offered in the travel industry today. I looked for the trip I wanted to take and could not find it – so I created it, in partnership with travel expert Steve Hooks of Journey Different.” ~ Jim Lockard

Now you have the opportunity to join them for the wine experience of a lifetime.

For more information and to register visit  DeluxeWineTours.com (LINK)

BORDEAUX – PARIS – CHAMPAGNE – JOIN ME IN MARCH 2016

France, wine, Wine Travel, , , , , ,

I am very pleased of officially announce the launch of DELUXEWINETOURS.COM (LINK), my new venture with Journey Different, Inc. to provide unique wine tours in France. Our focus is on bringing wine lovers into contact with wine makers and others in the industry in the great wine regions of France.

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Chateau Guibeau and its Organic Vineyards in St. Emilion are on our Itinerary!

Why France? Because France is the modern-day cradle of all things wine. Wine may not have originated there, but modern wine culture is centered there. And, it is a truly beautiful country, offering great cities such as Paris and Lyon that can be added to itineraries and provide a much richer experience.

You are invited to join us for this unique and exciting inaugural tour!

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Le Wine Bar, the top-rated wine bar in Bordeaux is on our itinerary!

Our first small group tour, scheduled for March 15-22, 2016, is to include Bordeaux, Paris, and Champagne.

We will combine visits to châteaus with great meals (some of them IN the châteaus) and fine wine tastings, wine seminars, luxury accommodations, local guides and experts, time in the vineyards, opportunities to purchase fine wines to ship home, a literary walking tour, TGV train travel, and more!

Did I mention that there would be great food? 

Visit our website (LINK) for all of the information and to register at a limited time discounted price.

Tell your wine-loving friends about this great opportunity to experience the best of French wine culture with me!

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Large Format Bottles in a Paris Wine Shop Window.

THE PLEASURES OF WINE – EVERYONE CAN ENJOY IT

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As a new year begins, I have been browsing Twitter and some wine blogs and seeing, for the most part, the results of New Years Eve celebrations – pictures of very nice labels, people having fun, even features about opulent wine cellars. Wine is definitely a catalyst for good time and a good lifestyle, isn’t it?

That being said, I have to admit that I am somewhat put off by the displays of opulence. I guess I fall somewhere between those drinking old Chateau Margeaux  and those drinking Yellow Tail. (Full disclosure – I stayed in and did not imbibe last night – a case of food poisoning.) I disparage neither end of the spectrum, for they represent parts of a very wide spectrum of wine enjoyment. Now, I have had both Chateau Margeaux and Yellow Tail, and I hope to have the former again; and I am pretty sure that I will have the latter again. This is more about what wine enjoyment can be and how it is often portrayed in the wine media.

Wine - Bottles Dusty

The emphasis of much of the wine media, including the Twitterverse, is that true wine enjoyment only happens at the high end – by those with better palates, more money, and greater access than most of us will ever enjoy. I know that this is true of many aspects of life – cars, houses, etc. – but with wine, it is, I think, a bit more universal. This deprives many of the true enjoyment that a more modest degree of the three items mentioned above – quality of palate, financial assets, and access to great wines and the places where they are made and consumed – can bring.

I do not wish to disparage the high end of the wine world, but I do want to celebrate the other aspects more than we do. I want to let people, especially young people new to wine, know that a visit to the tasting rooms of Paso Robles or Santa Ynez can be as much or more fun than a visit to the Chateaus of Bordeaux. For one example, you will likely taste wines that are ready to drink in Paso or Santa Ynez, whereas the Bordeauxs that you will taste in Chateaus will mostly be years away from their peak. Also, the people pouring your wines in Paso will be much more accessible and patient with the newcomer than most of the equivalent people in Bordeaux, or in many of the other “premium” places.

I want people new to wine to know that there are many, many AMAZING wines that cost less than $25, and that most of the wines that cost under $50 are really good. That there is a significant drop off in quality to value ratios when you get above $50 per bottle. I want them to know that pairing a wine with a pizza can bring as much pleasure as pairing one with caviar; that screw caps are a better sealing device than corks for wines not meant to age for a long time (and even that is debatable).

Personally, I want everyone who is interested in wine to enjoy their interest without feeling that they are “missing something” due to some lack of knowledge or money or access. I realize that this is probably an impossible desire, but that doesn’t mean that I won’t pursue it. I want this blog and my wine-related activities to speak to people who love wines in all kinds of ways.

During 2015, I will be traveling to Europe and to South America and will blog about wine experiences at all levels. I will be starting to offer wine travel experiences, first in France – Bordeaux and Paris – in two formats – for those who know wine well and for those who want to learn about wine. Later, tours to Burgundy and Lyon and possibly to other world locations will be initiated. The idea is to enjoy travel and to experience the joy of a wine related lifestyle at whatever level works for you.

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Wine is for anyone who wants to enjoy it and we need to keep a broad perspective for the industry, and it’s customers, to thrive. I look forward to exploring more of the world of wine and to sharing it with as many people as want to partake of its many great experiences.

MY PHILOSOPHY OF WINE

I really enjoy wine.

Wine - Paris Wine Shop Display
Paris Wine Shop Display

I enjoy shopping for wine, drinking wine, talking and writing about wine, reading about wine, making wine (I’m part of a wine co-op that produces 250 cases per year), traveling to wine regions, tasting wine, and so forth. I do not (so far anyway) collect wine as an investment or purchase wine futures.

I have wine nearly every day, mostly with dinner. I enjoy many kinds of wine and enjoy exploring everything from wine shops to wine regions to find new wines to enjoy. There are more important things to do with your life, and I do some of those things, too, but wine is a nice part of my life.

My philosophy of wine, which will largely inform this blog, is that wine is to be appreciated and enjoyed. By appreciated, I mean that it is important to recognize the amazing thing that wine is – a beverage that has been crafted for over 6,500 years by nearly every culture on the planet (even if you limit this statement to grapes only). Fine wine is crafted by amazing people who grow grapes and make wine using a wide variety of techniques, practices, and equipment. Wine is a living thing – it is never exactly the same at any level, whether from bottle to bottle or vineyard to vineyard. In fact, wine changes appreciably about every ten minutes that it is in the glass!

By enjoyed, I mean that wine is to be savored on its own AND it brings entirely new dimensions to many kinds of foods. Enjoyment also includes the wonderful social aspects of enjoying wine with friends, or with people you just met. And you can enjoy wine right away – you don’t need years of experience and wine education to enjoy wine. Appreciation of wine does increase with experience and education, but it is available to everyone.

So I encourage you to find the wines that YOU like and to enjoy them the way that YOU like to enjoy them. If that means white wine with a steak, so be it. If it means that you disagree with Robert Parker or another wine critic over how good a wine is, so be it. If it means that you prefer Charles Shaw Cabernet to Plumpjack Cabernet – well, we have to draw the line somewhere!

In short – this blog is about appreciating and enjoying wine. Not from the standpoint of the experts and the high-profile critics, but from the perspective of finding your own way in the world of wine. I will share my (and my wife, Dorianne’s) explorations and adventures with you and perhaps you will find some value in that. The goal is for you to find your own way. So, get ready to pop a cork or unscrew a cap, and let’s begin!