Thursday, February 4, 2010

Sancerre


On route to drop P off at school today, we waited behind a classmate of hers at a red light. As we waited, the boy tried to read the sign of the store across the street. For about a minute he struggled to sound out the word phonetically and his mother patiently waited at his each attempt and corrected him, at each sound, when he got it wrong. The two finally worked out the word together, “Sancerre”, but the lesson did not stop there.

The mother immediately started to define Sancerre for her son “…a region in the Loire Valley…” I heard “…a light white wine…” and so her lesson went.

Each time I overhear a discussion between French people, I am amazed at the detail they give in informal conversation when discussing wine. From what part of the mountain the grapes grow on, soil, to personal details about the farmer - how on earth did they come to this topic in a 5min conversion, at a Birthday party pickup? Perhaps it’s a common language they all speak regardless of their backgrounds and interests?

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that a mother is giving her six year old, an introduction to the wines of Sancerre. It’s for his own social survival!

Now I must pause to take a sip of my glass of Chablis, exact location of the grapevine unknown.

1 comment:

D. Gillespie said...

too funny! just finished reading a peter mayle book in preparation for May and was marveling at how much everyone seems to know about wine.

I bet they know nothing about waxing cross country skis though.