Friday, June 20, 2008

Gout & Plaisir - Club Degustation

Gout & Plaisir means " Taste & Pleasure" in French. Its the name of the Club Degustation - A tasting and Gastronomy club at Alliance Francaise of Madras. We plan to organise tasting sessions of various food and beverages and also lectures and seminars about food and beverages.

The first event will be held on the 1st Nov 2008 with a Fine darjeeling organic tea tasting session sponsored by Avongrove Organic tea estate from Darjeeling.

We plan to have tasting sessions of wine, coffee, french bread and jams, chocolate etc in the future sessions.

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Wine tastings at Chennai

The first ever wine tasting session for the Chennai Public was conducted at the Alliance Francaise of Madras on the 2nd Feb 2008 followed by a second and third session on the 4th of March 2008. The event was organised by the President of Alliance Francaise of Madras - Mr Chinmaya Arjun Raja , a wine enthusiast who was introduced to the world of wines during his first trip to France when he was 25 years old. Since then he has been visiting vineyards all over France and also the Napa valley in the US trying to taste and unravel the mystery associated with wine. The tasting sessions were conducted by Dr Bruno Monange, a wine lover from the Burgundy region of France who also has a small vineyard in his garden in the picturesque village called Remilly sur montagne which is about 20 mts drive from Dijon. Dr Bruno Monange was assisted by Mr Chinmaya Arjun Raja with a basic power point presentation about the wine culture.

It was a basic introduction to the wine making process, the different types of grapes , types of wine, flavours associated with wine, responsible drinking , wine regions of France and the world, how to choose wine, wine culture in France and about the wines from India.
One Indian White wine - Sauvignon Blanc and two types of Indian Red Wine - Cabernet Sauvingnon and Shiraz were tasted during the guided tasting sessions.

Alliance Francaise of Madras supported the event and the response was really good. The second event on the 4th March was conducted in association with Ceebros Raintree Ecotel Hotel which sponsored the wines , the wine glasses and some crunchy eatables.