Christmas in Paris
Christmas day itself was interesting for us.
We headed off to the Théâtre du Chatelet to see a concert with Woody Allen playing with a New Orleans style jazz band.
We took a walk around Paris before hand. Many people were congregating on Notre Dame:
Paris has a different feel than Sydney at Christmas. Those with parents and family, often living outside Paris, will have headed off to celebrate Christmas with them. Those that remain are able to take advantage of some amusements for children that the Mairie de Paris organises:
I stopped by a bar for a coupe de Champagne, Mumm Cordon Rouge NV. A nice aperitif wine, some older material in there but refreshing. Nice balance if a little high on the dosage.
The theatre was quite spectacular inside:
The concert was excellent. They played for two hours straight with Woody Allen speaking once, saying that he hoped the audience wouldn’t hate the music.
On the way home, we saw some humourous vandalism of an advertisement for Disneyland Paris at Christmas:
On the left it says vers là mort de l’imagination (that way, death of the imagination), above mickey mouse, dictature culturelle, (cultural dictatorship) and on the right pourquoi regardez-vous cette affiche (why are you looking at this sign?). You’ve got to love the French….
When we got home, I put on a pintarde (fowl) stuffed with offal, chestnuts and truffles. I also pushed some truffles under the skin. I prepared a truffled sauce to go with it.
With this, we drank a Jacques Selosse Substance, disg. 13 November 2002. This wine challenges everything you think you know about Champagne. It is made using the solera system of Sherry. The nose explodes out of the glass with aromas never or at least rarely seen on champagne: coconut, violets, almond meal, barbecued grapefruit, vanilla. It felt like a wine 20 years age. The mousse was soft, the bubble very fine. The colour was golden. A wine for people who think they’ve seen everything. The remarkable thing is, it isn’t a silly, abused wine. It is, however, very philosophical. It reminds me (here’s one for BCP) of the films of Antonioni: you think it is going one way, then it takes you in a different direction entirely, when it is finished, you don’t know how you got to where you are; although it appears simple on the surface you have the sense of something quite philosophical underneath which you can’t get a handle on.
Definitely a wine to work up to. A fun way to spend Christmas.
