In the beautiful countryside of France is a place called the Loire Valley, home to my brother in law’s family and some amazing wine. Whoever said the French were not friendly has definitely never been to this place. We were welcomed with open arms and lots of cheek kissing.

On our first night there we had a dinner party that lasted until two in the morning, I knew I loved this place immediately. Upon waking up the next morning Mickael’s (my brother in law) father had setup a local wine tasting. We all piled into the mini cars and went to the vineyard of Domaine Grosset. It honestly felt like your next door neighbors, but with lots of wine. We heard all about what years were good, what the difference of aging in oak barrels and so on. The sampling was amazing, comparing each other through the stages of each grape.

I also learned how to tell a wine from the Loire Valley from sight by the crest that adorns each bottle or label. As you can imagine each region is very proud of their wine as if it were their own children. It makes you appreciate good wine even more, when you hear them talk about it from their heart.

So take a trip out to the country  and meet the neighbors, they are bound to pull out a wonderful bottle and share.