Beaujolais usually is not my favorite wine but it is associated with the "Beaujolais Nouveau" days in autumn and there is something festive in it . That was a good idea anyway to stage a Beaujolais tasting day in june, 
far from the Beaujolais Nouveau craze , and with selected producers like the ones they invited today .
As usual , the tasting takes place on the sidewalk along the store , between 11 am and 7 pm (lasted a little more ) . Each producer stays behind an empty cask with bottles and glasses , answers questions while pouring his wine .
Attentive Caves Auge staff takes away emptied glasses and brings clean ones . While the tasting takes place, it does'nt interfere with the store where customers still come and go , some foreign buyers join in the melee . As I arrive, someone from Caves Augé directs me on a producer , difficult sometimes to make your choice ...
I will taste and look and listen . B. soon arrives . Many people here know each other . There are producers happening to be in Paris , professionals of the dining & drinking industry , oenophiles , and simple amateurs like me .
This part of the Boulevard Haussmann is not the hustle bustle area with thousands of shoppers going to Galeries Lafayette and other stores . More quiet here and tasters who come here are people who know about wine , or Caves Auge customers , or other wine culture afficionados happy to get together and enjoy the thing .
Some are getting accustomed to the spitting bucket . Not me . Not that I drink all the wine I have in my glass , but I prefer to drop the extra wine in the bucket than spit . That is less sacrilege , or a more natural thing to do , it seems to me . That's probably the line between amateurs and professionals , I concede .
, I do begin to have a collection of pictures of spitting buckets. State-of-the-art ones
, or improvised ones, and I plan to share them in a dedicated photo album later in the year .
So we make our way between the casks , sampling Beaujolais , Morgon , Brouilly , exchanging opinions and impressions with the attendees or the wine maker . 2003 , 2001 , 2000 , sometimes from a container filled directly from a cask , if the wine was not bottled yet .
Discussed with japanese acquaintances , made their picture [ See above ]. Time with a producer , time with another . During the two hours or so spent there , it became quite a crowd on the sidewalk . A producer told us he was happy as all day had been busy and new faces kept appearing .
I was in Paris recently and was lucky enough to visit Caves Augé with a friend. we met with Marc Sibard, the manager who invited us to join him sitting out on the pavement. Here we discussed the world of wine whilst he enticed us with a superb champagne from a little known house followed by a fine Burgundian Pinot Noir from Vosne Romanee in the Cote de Nuits area. it was a 'fresh', unfiltered wine that he allowed to breath in a very interesting teapot shaped decanter that apparently aids agitation and speeds up the oxygination like no other decanter. The result was a marvellous mouthfilling wine that was remarkably complex for it's age. After a delightful and informative hour on the sidewalk, Marc selected several bottles of wine for me to take back to Hong Kong. I have only had the time to drink one since returning. It was a chardonnay from Auxey-Duresses, a tiny appelation in the Cote de Beaune area of Burgundy. This wine was absolutely delicious and every bit as good as any of the superb wines from neighbouring Meursalt. I look forward to savouring the other exciting wines Marc has selected for me, all from small wine makers that you will most probably not find anywhere else outside of their own domain other than at Augé. Marc also has an amazing selection of Brandies, Armagnacs and Calvados. Visit Augé and you will come away informed, inspired and the happy new owner of some of the most exciting wines from France and beyond. enjoy!
Posted by: tim evill | June 26, 2007 at 07:03 AM