Wine Not?

Today, I went with my famille d'acceuille to visit a French winery. We also went with another family and their Canadian student, who is from my group. I have never been to a winery before, so I was pretty excited. And I was not disappointed... it was beautiful! The French countryside is absolutely gorgeous. Everything is still very green and we lucked out and had a warm and sunny day, therefore everything was just picture perfect.
The winery was very small, but really nice. We got to try some wines that hadn't been fermented yet. I definitely preferred one that was going to be a rosé when it was done (which was good, because that was the one that we tried at the end of our tour). I got to see the big vats that they keep the wine in, the machine that squishes the grapes, and learn a bit about wine tasting.
I am definitely a fan of wine, but I don't know proper wine etiquette. Well, I didn't. Now I do! I always wondered what the purpose was of the little taste of wine before the bottle was poured. Over here, you open a bottle of wine and one person puts a bit in their glass, then smells and tastes it before serving it to others. I learned that they do this in case the wine isn't any good, then they can throw it out.

Me trying out the wine.

  Afterwards, we went to Michel's mother's house. She wasn't there, but we walked around the garden... which was gorgeous! There were lots of beautiful flowers, but also vegetables and fruits! We all ate some grapes straight off of the vine, and they also gave me some fresh carrots. I also got pretty excited by a radio that they had in the cellar. It was from WWII, and they would use it to listen secretly to radio broadcasts. Of course, I took a picture of it... I mean, it was amazing!

Kind of a big deal.
We then went into the pantry and the French poured us a random beverage and asked us to guess what it was. I took one sip and was almost knocked off my feet. I learned that it was wine made from cherries, but it was very old and very strong. I couldn't finish it, unfortunately!
We then journeyed back to the other family's house for lunch. I looked at the recipe and saw that we were having some sort of seafood lasagne, which I was quite skeptical about. And of course, when I offered to help out, I got the job of cutting up the raw fish. Tasty.
But, when in France, you just go with the flow and try everything. So I tried the lasagne... and oh my gosh, it was delicious! I even had a second helping. I can't even describe how tasty it was. It was marvelous. We also had bread and wine with our meal, and grapes for dessert.
Overall, I have had a great day so far. I do believe that I need a nap though, before commencing some dinner prep (mac and cheese!).