Wine and Chocolate Tastings in the French Countryside

Look at the chocolate, note the colors and consistency within it then take it up to your ear and break it in half. The higher the percentage of cacao the more prominent the snap should be. Next put it down one half of the chocolate and bring the one still in your hand up to your nose. Take a small whiff and identify the flavors present; cherry perhaps? A tinge of vanilla and almonds? Now take a small bite from that same piece, let it rest on your tongue for a slight melt then bite and swallow. Where in your tongue do you taste it? On the sides of it and a tinge on your jaw for more sour hints and the tip for bitter notes. A similar sensory filled set of instructions were presented to us upon our trip to the Valle du Rhone, a wine region where some of the best French wine can be found. This act of putting so much thought and importance into the experience of tasting a food or beverage is something that feels very absent and even mocked in American Culture but for the people who presented the experience to us, it is their life.

“if you go into the wine industry here in France, it becomes your life”, the middle-aged sommelier told us during our tour of the vineyard. She said this not with sadness or regret but acknowledging her passion and love for her craft. The people at both places took some visitors but spent most of their day working at some stage of the preparation process, it ranging from the manual collection of the grapes to quality color control of the ground of cacao beans used to make one type of chocolate or another. They answered all questions that we sent their way because they knew their craft better than the back of their hand. There were those on the dialogue who drank wine and some who didn’t – but took part in the tasting, some who didn’t like chocolate but tasted it nonetheless. To honor their trade, we all respectfully and seriously did as we were told and attempted to catch that which they described. The experience was like no other, whether a placebo effect or not, an appreciation towards the process and final process was learned and the explosion of flavors that each variation presented gave rise to excitement and conversation among everyone on the dialogue.

There is a calmness to everyday life in Lyon – an awareness of the need to slow down and leave stress and work behind to enjoy time with friends and family out in outdoor cafes and parks while the weather permits. This idea rises from even those who devote their life to their jobs like those whom we met at both tastings. Wine in particular became our sommelier’s life, but nonetheless she took time off from her production to teach her passion and train younger generations. She spoke of taking days out from the vineyard to spend time with her grape farmers and to get to know the land from which she lived. She spoke of balance.

There is a current idea among college students and young adults that rest is for later and that success can only be achieved by grinding all day and every day. With an ideology that in most cases leads to burnout, all of us could benefit from slowing down to catch a drink or two while thinking of nothing but the current – and ideally peaceful – moment.