Sunday at the Salon des Vins.

If the theme of Friday night is always purchasing restraint, Sunday's theme can only be described as "well, then we have it." 

Sunday was the final day of the Thoiry Salon des Vins 2014, and as per usual, it was a bit of a free for all for us. We started out at the market, picked up some food, picked up some blooms, and then headed over to the Salle de Fetes. It was warm, and we were fast approaching a missed nap time, but being the last day, we made a quick stop to round out our Salon des Vins weekend. 

We started out at a new stand, one that was not only new to us, but also new to the Salon des Vins. Le Pere Jules came down to the salon from Normandy, and specializes in Calvados, Ciders, other apple based liqueurs, and the one that grabbed our attention, a Pear Cider. It's funny how you end up at the stands that you do, as the only reason we actually stopped there was because we saw some friends the night before with a case from this stand, and I trust their wine tastes. We were not left disappointed, nor did we leave empty handed. A case now sits in our cave, waiting for the right time to indulge in this pear effervescent beverage. 

We made a short stop at a beer stand, one that we've had in the past, but never at the salon. Brasserie Gessienne is a brewery not far from here, just a town over from where we used to live in Ferney-Voltaire, called Ornex. They only had one beer available to taste, their Blanche, but we were told that they would be celebrating their two year anniversary this coming weekend, and won't we be so kind as to attend the party? Yes, yes I believe we will see you this weekend Brasserie Gessienne. 

Our final stop for this salon des vins, was Chateauneuf du Pape. Never one to disappoint, we spent a good 45 minutes at their stand. We talked to the vintners for awhile about their trip to the US to see the Grand Canyon, about the speeding ticket they received while there, and the big hat the State-y who pulled them over was wearing. The two people who run the stand are always so nice, even when we only buy a bottle, and not a case. It's been a tradition of ours to always get a bottle of 2010 something or other from them, as that's the year we were married. We typically have to wait to drink them until they're ready, but we're excited that we can open one of our bottles this January to celebrate our 5 year wedding anniversary. Sunday's purchase will go away for a year or two, but it's always so nice to have a really good bottle of red to celebrate with on a cold January night. 

So the total damage for this weekend:

Friday night: 7 bottles

Saturday night: 8 bottles

Sunday afternoon: 7 bottles 

Stands visited in total: 7 out of 48

You can see why people get super serious about Salon des Vins, right? Unless you stick to a very specific schedule, and dump a lot of the wine you're tasting, there's no way you can get through all of the vendors. Long gone are the days of spending 5 hours at a time at the salon, but with quick one hour to one and a half hour visits, Oswin proved to be a most worthy Salon des Vins buddy. Efficiency is key when Salon des Vin-ing with a wee one, that's for sure. 

I like that we have certain vendors that we go to year after year, and make sure to get our orders in for them before trying new ones. It's a balance. Get your standbys and still expand your repertoire. A difference this year however, and one that I was disappointed about, was that there were no Cerdon sellers. Bummer. Looks like we might have to make the drive to Cerdon to stock up. Who's in for a little fall roadtrip?

Au revoir Salon des Vins 2014. You were good to us. Until next time...

A la prochaine friends...

Honey