The story goes that in the 16th century a wine maker poured —by accident— grape juice into a barrel that already contained Cognac. Few years later he needed the barrel and was agreeably surprised by the concoction et voilà! Pineau was born. There is Pineau rouge and Pineau blanc, I prefer Pineau blanc. It is a wonderful aperitif, though I didn’t spent enough time in the Charentes region to find out how popular it still is today.
Neither we got enough time to taste the escargots à la Charentaise. What we got to taste were delicious local oysters: the oysters Papin-Poget. These oysters are exactly the way I like them meaty but not too “fatty” —pas trop grasse— rich in liquid and a balanced taste.
I am quickly transiting through Paris before I head South to my homeland. I had very good Egg Benedict & salmon for lunch at the Tourville and tonight it was molto fun to watch the Rugby game on T.V — even though the French team got crushed by the All Blacks (NZ). Below a few pictures of Angoulême, the French capitol of Comic Books and the epitome of “Douce France” or Sweet France!
On the second floor Tottori products were displayed for sampling. Tottori’s water is renown throughout Japan for its purity and richness, thus the quality of the local rice, sake, tofu and other products. I tasted delicious sakes from different grades of polished rice, though I need a few more tastings before I can really appreciate the sake subtleties. I was introduced to 20th century pear liquor and vinegar. They didn’t come from the same company but they were both interesting and I will certainly buy them when readily available. The 20th century pear grown in Tottori is the Nijisseiki variety; in Japanese Nijisseiki means “20th century”. I would assume that the link between the name and the date comes from the fact that the cultivar was created in Japan in1898.
