Day 5

Firstly, I'm back at the internet cafe and I've changed a setting on the computer so that the keyboard is ENGLISH despite not being a QUERTY board. So...I'm going by feel for the most part - but it seems to be working out much better than previous evenings spent typing on keys placed in foreign places.

I just had dinner at an Asian restaurant and really enjoyed it. Most restaurants here seem to offer a three course fixed price menu. Tonight I started with some fried items: spring rolls, a tempura battered shrimp and a piece of fish wrapped in a paper of sorts and - you guessed it - deep fried. All very yummy. My main course involved a curry of sorts with shrimp and basil with a side of seasoned rice (and peas, pork, etc.). Very good! I finished my meal with some (I know, I know...) deep fried bananas. Wow!

My day involved dealing with congested traffic heading to (and from) Vinisud. I'm finding that I'm much more comfortable driving in what seems like controlled (most of the time) chaos. It has taken a couple of days to achieve this level of comfort. No close calls (phew). It is the strangest thing, however, to be sitting in gridlocked traffic and have a scooter/motorcycle whiz by me between my car and the next row of traffic. They seem to do this with reckless abandon (and manage to survive).

I tasted what seemed like an endless stream of wine today involving whites, rosés & reds. I started my morning off with Tunesian wines. Most of them were good and I think there's an opportunity to offer one of their higher end products (roughly $20CDN) as a private import for restaurants. I then moved onto French wines due to the product call coming up on March 3 involving the South of France. I had to approach the booths and ask firstly if they have representation in Ontario and secondly whether or not they'd won any medals or awards or if they'd been given any Wine Spectator reviews or Robert Parker points. I'd then try some wine, talk about price points (we need product under 4€). An intriguing process to say the least.

I pulled out my Wine Spectator issue that has the Top 100 Wines (thanks to my dear wife Sabrina - whom I dearly miss!!) and went to the section describing wines from the Languedoc (in this case it ended up being an AOC Coteaux du Languedoc Pic Saint Loup). It's a domain called Chateau La Roque and the woman representing the booth is originally from Quebec. She's been trying to break into the Ontario market for just over a year and was very pleased to have me taste their (highly rated 89 pts. Wine Spectator) wines. I'll submit the wines and see what happens. Here's their website: http://www.chateau-laroque.eu/ 

After having tasted lots and lots of wine, I decided to finish at about 5:30pm with some P.X. This is a sweet, fortified wine from Spain. Remarkable product in three different tiers. The colours range from golden honey to motor oil. It is a syrupy, mouth coating wine.

One more full day left in Montpellier and at Vinisud. Thursday I'm heading back to Paris by TGV and staying in the same hotel I was at upon my arrival in this fantastic country. Friday I fly home and can't wait to see Sab.

That's all for now, I guess.