Viva la France: Visiting Villefranche-sur-Mer and Organic Wine Tasting in Nice

We only had two days left in Nice and decided to go out of the city to a little town called Villefranche-sur-Mer. It's a sleepy, little town outside of Nice. We slept in a bit after a long day in Monaco, grabbed an Uber (because I was too hungry to wait for a bus) and headed north.  As soon as we got there we had to get lunch because I was really hangry.

We found a cute restaurant right by the marina called, "Newport."  I got a delicious pasta with a spicy marinara sauce, a glass of white wine (because it was SO HOT) and a European Coca-Cola. Rich got a really fancy dish of squid and octopus. Surprisingly, it was actually really good. 

Good thing he enjoyed the meal while we were in France because I doubt that I ever learn how to cook squid or octopus. After a full meal, we walked around the town for a bit to see all of its pretty colors, windows, and small streets. It's exactly what is in your mind when you think of a small French town. 

All of that walking for about 30-minutes made us really thirsty, so it was time for our own happy hour. I mean, we were in France after all... 

We went to a bar called, "Wine Pier" where we could watch boats, people and eat lots of chips. Again, I drank the white wine because it was just way too hot for me to drink red. We had booked a wine class that night so we just hung out for a few hours before heading back to Nice. 

We decided to take the bus from Villefranche-sur-Mer back to Nice and got lost. The only way we could get out of being below the Marina was to walk about 75 steps straight up. My booty was BURNING. It really didn't matter how much pasta or wine I consumed because all of the walking and steps just worked it all off. I actually think I lost a bit of weight once we got back and I de-puffed. 

We had booked a two-hour Organic Wine Tasting in Nice through Tag Tours. The tour was about $40 per person and included 5 wines and a glass of champagne. (There were also free extra glasses if you really liked a bottle...) The Tour de France of Organic wine said it would help you get better knowledge about French wine and it really did. 

Our sommelier was SO knowledgeable. He went through a map of France and showed us where each region of our wine we were drinking was grown and created. I LOVE sauvignon blanc so I knew I would probably love that one (spoiler alert: I did), but I also learned that I like rosè and pinot noir! Rich orders pinot noir a lot when we are having date nights, but I always stuck to a Malbec or cabs, now I'm really into pinot noirs. 

We all started out with a glass of real champagne, from the region of, you guessed it, Champagne, France. After our champagne tour in Paris down the Seine River, I felt like I was already a pro at being able to discuss how it was created with the mixture of grapes, aging and how the bottles were moved to create the fizz.

Here are our first three wines: 

Champagne Carte d'Or Brut NV 

This is a popular champagne from a small producer in France. It's a fresh, apple pie, and honey flavored Champagne that exudes class. 

Les Davantes de la Bonnelière AOC Touraine Blanc 2016 

100% Sauvignon Blanc. This wine is grown in a 3-hectare block of Clay and Limestone soils, this Touraine is macerated for 6 hours before fermentation. A great match to lighter goat cheeses and white fish dishes. 

AOC Côtes de Provence La Cuvée Camille Rosé 2016 

A blend of three types of grapes: Cinsault, Grenache, Syrah. The 'Cuvée Camille' is aged in tanks. The three grapes are fermented separately. Its color is light pink, with fin, delicate aroma of fruits. 

Next, we moved on to the reds: 

Domaine Bersan AOC Côtes d'Auxerre Pinot Noir 2013 

Another lesser known regions, Pinot Noir is the sole variety in this red. Subtle tannins, rich red berry fruits, layers of minerality and a long and complex finish. 

Clos de Caveau AOC Vacqueyras Fruit Sauvage 2015 

You can taste the passion in this fabulously earthy Rhône red. A powerful licorice-scented red. Spicy Syrah delivers abundant fruits and a weight palate that carries the flavor for what seems like an eternity. 

Château Grand Français AOC Bordeaux Superior 2010 

A rich, ruby red color with an intense spice and vanilla nose. In the mouth, we have a smooth rich flavor of red fruits and layers of complexity added by the chalky tannins and spicy vanilla notes from the oak aging. 

My favorites were hands down the champagne, rosé, sauvignon blanc and pinot noir. I have never, ever liked licorice so the Syrah was awful to me, I actually gave my glass away. Bleh. 

The Organic Wine Tasting was SO MUCH FUN. It was nice to just sit for a few hours and learn about one of the best things in the world, wine!  

Once the wine tour was over, we headed to meet our other friends who had done a bike riding wine tour that day. Their wine tour seemed like a lot of fun too - minus the whole bike riding thing. I really wanted to go on that one, but my body just couldn't handle a bike ride after all of the steps and walking. 

We met them at a fun bar-district in Old Town Nice. I was hungry and needed something to soak up all of the wine, so clearly, I found the classiest thing to eat... a good ole' hot dog.

Tell me that's not the best looking hot dog you've ever seen after a day of drinking a lot of wine? Believe me, it was my favorite word, DELICIOUS! 

Missed any of my posts from Viva La France? 
Catch up here: 

Click here for Paris Day 1

Click here for Paris Day 2

Click here for Paris Day 3
Click here for Nice Day 1
Click here for our Day trip to Monaco

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Weekend Wine: Luli Sauvignon Blanc

So another busy week, and another week where my blog was oh so empty. That is going to change this week. I promise. I put it on the bottle of wine that I am about to talk about... So you know I mean serious business.

This Weekend Wine is Luli Sauvignon Blanc. As a lover of almost all wines, my friend Melissa actually got me started on Sauvignon Blanc. Actually, my friend Melissa got me started on drinking wine in general. I think that deserves BFF status for life.

Back to the wine...

Image from http://www.luliwines.com/

From their website... 

The 2012 Luli Sauvignon Blanc emits a lively mix of passionfruit, gooseberry and light grassy notes. The aromatics are fresh and mouthwatering. On the palate comes a broad-textured character from the limited lees contact, which unfolds into a refreshing and bright finish. Serve chilled.

Price range: $15-20. 

I highly suggest you find it in your area and give it a shot. 

Would I ever steer you wrong in the wine department? Never! After all, you and I are besties!

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Wine Weekend: Layer Cake Malbec

It's the weekend! Even though it's Saturday afternoon which means that half of the weekend is technically over, that's no reason not to celebrate with a new bottle of wine. I haven't been drinking wine that long in life, maybe four or five years but lately I have come to really appreciate it and I am trying to learn more about how each variety is made and in what region different types come from. It's a long journey but it's something fun to learn and it is a much better hobby than my current one of grad school. (Only four more months until graduation!!)

This is one of the latest ones that I have been researching and purchased. It's called Layer Cake ... (who doesn't want wine that also has the name cake in it?)

Here is a little 'about' the wine, straight from the website: 


WINEMAKER NOTES

We allow Layer Cake Malbec to ripen thoroughly on the vine. We tend to harvest four to six weeks after all other neighboring vineyards – a crucial element to the wine’s quality. Each cluster, once harvested by hand, is then destemmed and sorted – also by hand. Born at the base of the Andes and fed by the purest spring waters … I love this place.
VINEYARD NOTES

The fruit for Layer Cake Malbec comes from a vineyard that is flanking the Mendoza River in Argentina -a rocky terrain, strikingly similar to that of Chateauneuf du Pape in the Rhône Valley. The once 5-mile- wide Mendoza River is now mostly vineyard, abundant with some of Argentina’s most pristine Malbec vines. A plethora of smooth cobbles on the top bewilders the eye and imagination as to how the vines actually thrive in such a rugged terrain. Silt and gravel make up the subsoil under the larger cobbles. Our vineyard sits at an elevation of about 3,000 feet.

Climate: The climate is arid, with very low rainfall totals. Warm days are followed by cool evenings as the breezes from the Andes Mountain Range flow down to the Mendoza Valley floor.
TASTING NOTES

The 2011 is a classic Malbec, but undoubtedly Layer Cake. Big, brooding, black fruit, then rich earth, truffles and dark cocoa are at the front. The Sea of Stones vineyard is at its core, always evident with the thread of minerality that the deep alluvial cobblestones lend. This wine is so elegant in the mouth with fresh-picked blackberries, simmering chocolate sauce on the stove, and somewhere someone’s cooking bacon … so many layers, so little time. Drinking a bottle of this wine will certainly lead to, well, opening another. So get it fast and get a lot while you can. We can never make enough to satisfy everyone.

Price ranges from $15-20. 

But I only have one request if you drink this wine... that you eat it with cake! 

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