Farewell Rhône Canuck

10 years ago I said to myself, Jacky if you are already this bored at work at 25 years old, the road ahead is going to be very long…and depressing. So I did what any dispirited web marketing project coordinator would do, I moved to Burgundy to study wine. The idea was to go for 9 months, learn the trade and then come back to take over the SAQ. Yeah, I thought that 9 months would pretty much do it. So when I realized that I had barely skimmed the surface of Burgundy wines, let alone the rest of France, I figured I should maybe stay a while longer. My decision may have also been based on époisse, jambon persillé, boeuf bourguignon, gougères, flirty Frenchmen (not necessarily in that order)….

Fast forward to now (with a South African winemaking stint in the middle) and I am living a contented, country life near Avignon, selling the fine wines of the Rhône valley. I have successfully ensnared a handsome French oenologist and even have a French dog. We live in a charming old stone house by the river and while our days away drinking apéros and shopping in little village markets. The almond and cherry trees blossom in February and “winter” starts mid-December. Je vois la vie en rose.

It is clearly time, methinks, to pull up stakes and drag French husband (and dog) back to -30°c Montréal. What can I say? I love bagels. So here we are, waiting for the snow to melt. And what better way for a certified wine dork to pass the time than embarking on Master of Wine degree? I think the Institute may make me erase that last sentence so they can deny all knowledge of me when I am still making feeble attempts to get my MW 20 years from now! And just to ramp up the fun of an overseas move while working and studying, we decided that now would be the perfect time to have a baby. From what I have heard newborns just sleep all the time, leaving you vast amounts of free time to gallivant around town tasting wines and writing scientific essays. Truly a fool-proof plan in every respect.

So my adventures in blogging begin! I will do my humble best to entertain you, while offering wine reviews, coverage of local wine events, information on wine trends and regions and many other things that I haven’t thought of yet. I apologize in advance for any babbling or ranting in future posts….it is sometimes my way.