Beaujolais

This past Saturday all 40+ students in my program went to a winery in Beaujolais, France, just 45 minutes from Lyon. Beaujolais is one of the many famous regions in France known for it's wine. I had heard of it before coming here, but only because my mother, a culinary enthusiast, bought a bottle of Beaujolais wine for me and told me about it. Needless to say, it was nice to get out of Lyon for the day and get a little taste of the French countryside.

After the brief bus ride there, we all made our way into a rustic looking building where the owners of the small winery told us about the kinds of wine they make. We then tasted three wines, accompanied by some delicious hors d'oeuvres fresh out of the oven. The owner gave an explanation of the vineyards and what we were drinking, all in French. By the way, besides when I hang out with all Americans, most of my interactions are in French, unless I say otherwise. I'd like to think I understood everything he said but I kind of zoned out halfway through and ended up having a mini photo-shoot with Ana and Katie. Oops.

After we tasted wine we all headed hungrily towards a giant wine cellar-turned-banquet hall where tables were set in a classic, country-French manner. Each table had a blue and yellow flower-patterned table cloth. So French. It reminded me of the curtains in my sister's room haha. We all sat down for two hours and were treated to a series of typically French food, including pâté (which I personally despise but I tried it anyway just to be polite), salad, beef (perhaps bourguignon? not sure but if my mother were there she would have been able to tell me), potatoes, cheese, three kinds of sweet treats, and of course, bread. Lots and lots of bread. Oh, and since we were at a winery, our meal was accompanied by plenty of wine. It was very lovely and nice of this couple to open their winery/vineyard/home to us and treat us so nicely. I know part of our program dues went towards this excursion, but it was nice nonetheless to have what felt like such an authentic experience.

After stuffing ourselves silly we went out into the vineyard and had a photo shoot. Below are some pictures from this part of the day.

My roommate Ana and I

At this point in the day, we were all sleepy and ready to go into a food coma but our program director kept reminding us that the day was not over. We were led to a traditional brick oven where, to our delight, fresh bread was being made. A couple of people got to take the giant wood spatula and take bread out of the oven. I wasn't one of the lucky ones, but we did however, get to all take home a mini-loaf of bread. It was delicious and warm and an awesome way to end the day. The couple who hosted us and made all this delicious food was adorable and we were all appreciative of their graciousness. I bought a jar of homemade apricot jam and ate it with my warm bread when I got home.

The bread baking process.

Overall, it was a lovely day out with the kids from my program and I'm glad I got to experience the delight of a French winery!