How to Taste French Wine
The Vin Jaune, or "yellow wine", of eastern France's Jura region is not just yellow but the brightest yellow, like pure honey. The strange 62-oz. bottles in which they are sold are half-covered with dirt when photographed for supermarket glossies to show that their nectar, properly served chilled, is of the earth, of good, French earth. Plucked en masse from the sleepy fields of Chateau-Chalon, Arbois, or another smallish vineyard village of the like, Savagnin grapes are harvested late, almost in November, then squeezed, fermented, and sealed and aged in oak caskets for a period of exactly six years and three months. In these caskets, in dark and humid cellars, a layer of yeast forms upon the liquid's surface, protecting the young wine from the spoiling effects of oxygen and thus allowing for its unique yellowness to blossom from within. On the first morning after the last day of the third month of the seventh year, la Percée, or "the piercing", of the caskets begins. Locals flock to a tiny, unknown village for the annual mass, ceremony, and piercing itself. There, 25 wine "houses" are set up, each offering only the most refined and choice flavors from the year's harvest. It was amongst these houses, each within a barn, or tent, or some other makeshift location, that I was introduced to proper wine etiquette, and how, in turn, to appreciate wine itself. It was also here where I learned how to go to a wine tasting with friends who buy bottles for in-between-tasting "tastings" and who drink on buses and trains. In other words, this is where I learned how not to go to a wine-tasting.
The unknown village that would host the festivities this year was Cramans, indicated my yellow train ticket, printed especially for the event. It would be a formal affair, I decided, and I would wear a tie of red. Arriving at the town's train station around noon with my German friend Thomas, we stepped out into the soggiest, most bitterly cold February Sunday and continued down to a path of hay laid out like a red carpet that continued, little did we know, for about a half-hour until we reached the village "proper" (one main street, lined with ancient brick houses and barns, constitutes the "downtown"). We complained shamelessly and annoyingly about the weather amongst the large group with whom we were making our pilgrimage, but neither of us would have really turned back, not with the irreplaceable lesson in being cultured that lie ahead.
The Roman writer and naturalist Pliny the Elder, in his treatise Naturalis Historia states “there is nothing more useful than wine for strengthening the body, while, at the same time, there is nothing more pernicious as a luxury, if we are not on our guard against excess.” Years before he wrote those words, wine had in fact come from humble origins outside Italy itself. Furthermore, the process of fermenting grapes goes back thousands of years, and its beginning can be traced to where the wild grown grape-vine, vitis vinifera, flourished and was actively utilized for this reason.
In the short story "The Cask of Amontillado" a man that could possibly be insane seeks revenge on another man after being insulted. Montresor, being the one that was insulted conjures up a plan to get vengeance on Fortunato the man that insulted him so terribly. Montresor runs into Fortunato at a carnival purposely, he then mentions a unique rare wine named Amontillado. This rare wine attracts Fortunatos attention immediately and he becomes interested in this wines authenticity. Montresor teases Fortunato by mentioning Luchresi,implying that he didn't think of Fortunato first and was going to see Luchresi about the Amontillado. Fortunato insists that that he must try this wine and while doing so insults Luchresis' skills in wine judging. Montresor then invites Fortunato to try the wine in his "vaults" where the wine is kep...
Characteristics of agoraphobia are a marked fear or anxiety about two or more of the following: "using public transportation" like cars, planes, trains, and buses; "being in open spaces" like a market, a parking lot, a bridge, or ship; "being in enclosed places" like a store, a theater, or an elevator; "standing in line or being in a crowd"; or "being outside of the home alone." (APA, 2013, pg 217) This fear differs from other phobias in that the fear is not the specific place or thing, but the person is afraid that they might not be able to leave or get help if they panic or are incapacitated or have embarrassing symptoms or situations. This might be because of other medical conditions such as vomiting or inflammatory bowel symptoms. Older adults might fear falling. Children might fe...
The Pilgrims found themselves in a harsh new environment. In the middle of winter, they slowly built a settlement at the site of an abandoned Pawtuxet Indian village. Not used to hunting or fishing, they struggled to find food. Many were starving. The future looked bleak.
He then starts going into detail about the two mortal cities. The first city opens with a description of a wedding and a wedding feast. Sharing details such as the glowing torches, the choirs singing, the young men dancing with flutes and harps, and the women who rushed to the doors, were moved with wonder. Then it goes into a mass of people streaming into the marketplace where a quarrel had broken out and two men struggled over the blood-price for a kinsman just murdered. Their quarreling is settled when they call for a ...
The next theme used by the author to inspire a feeling of despair in this story is the randomness of persecution. By making the villagers draw these slips of paper once a year would provoke a feeling of hopelessness. Because they know that no matter what they do one day they may be subjected to this brutal death. And it woul...
Powell, Kathryn. "Stressed and Obsessed Part 5: The Effects of Stress on Student Life | Online Gargoyle." Gargoyle RSS. 3 May 2013. Web. 11 May 2014.
4 Giancola, J.K., Grawitch, M.J., and Borchert, D. (2009). Dealing with the stress of college: A
Zuckerman, Michael “Pilgrims in the Wilderness: Community, Modernity, and the Maypole at Merry Mount”, The New England Quarterly, Vol. 50, No. 2 (Jun., 1977), pp. 255-277. The New England Quarterly, Inc.
Students in the United States reported that stress was their greatest obstacle during the first year of their college
Counseling Center for Human Development. Coping with Stress in College. U of South Florida. 3 Dec. 2000. http://usfweb.usf.edu/counsel/self-hlp/stress.htm
Furthermore, understanding the fact of how the villagers in that village practiced and participated in such a barbaric ritual and archaic event were not accepted by people. In addition, people who read the story commented that the modest people of the Midwest are superstitious and backward. Here, Jackson conveyed successfully with her subtle writing style that something is about to happen. She also used a third person point of view when writing this short story. The third person point of view permitted the author to keep the outcome of the story an exposure. This therefore led to the reader to consider everything is well but actually there is something wrong somewhere. Furthermore, what could be seen from the story is people were different compared to present, there is a huge difference in cultural practices. Therefore the actions of the story go in the opposite direction of people’s opinion in the present in terms of value of life, violence and the development of respect in a family.
Driscoll, Emily. “Stress in College: What Causes it and How to Combat it.” Online posting. 31
Generally speaking, other alcoholic beverages can be viewed as being a substitute for wine. However, specific substitution of wine in the New World is low because most individuals prefer to purchase wine from a retail facility instead of producing their own. Where as in the Old World the option of producing wine...
Education was not common in this village and most of its citizens, adult and children the same, were illiterate. Although it was difficult to get educated while in his vil...