Sourced And Certified: French Libations

My Wine Trip With French Libations

I’m back in the States after a Wine of A Kind Experience trip to France with Wine Supplier, French Libations. By demanding request, above is a picture of Co-Owner and our hostess with the mostess for the week and Van Driver, Emilie Terrier.

French Libation was born from the merger of The Wine Sailor, a fine wine company created by Emilie Terrier from Grenoble and French Brews & More, a humble craft beer and cider portfolio gathered by Adrien Carrard from Marseille.

They were friends and colleagues and shared the same passion for great products and great people, so naturally decided to work together and create French Libation. Emilie & Adrien both lived and worked in the United States for several years. Chrystele from Lyon (the capital of gastronomy) came on board a little bit later.

They divide their time between traveling in the US and (re)discovering French terroirs. Their wines are in 47 States and they have a New York Office as well. In Florida, ABC Fine Wine & Spirits ,their wines are 100% Sourced And Certified Exclusives.

Don’t Buy Mustard In A Gas Station!

Before you start thinking that I drank way way way too much wine on this trip and lost my mind, let me explain what this means. For those of you who know me personally, you know that my dad lived his entire life, personal and business by his motto that he installed in my brain for years…”Don’t Buy a Hat In A Shoe Store” If he had a sore throat, even an E.N.T Doctor wasn’t specialized enough for him. He had to find a Throat Specialist who ONLY looked at throats. I tried to explain to our French Host ( I Had a lot of explaining to do to Emilie as sometimes even a Knock, Knock Joke got lost in the translation lol) what my father meant by that. I think there is a great analogy to my dad’s motto to what makes French Libations so good at what they do. Their office is based in France not California. They supply only French Wines from many regions in France. They focus on getting those wines to the United States not to Japan. All of their wineries are at the top of their game and most are leaning to or are already organic or sustainable. If you want a wine from Greece don’t contact them. Want South America, call someone else. Want something unique of quality from any region of France…Call French Libations. To me, this defines what Sourced and Certified Wines are all about at ABC. Now, I love Dijon Mustard. Sadly we didn’t have time to stop in Dijon but Emilie found a very well known brand of Dijon Mustard in a Gas Station. I am sure it is great but my dad would hate the fact that they even sell it. He would have went right to the 100% Mustard Store in Dijon, France ONLY. I think Emilie would have liked my dad and his no hats in a shoe store as she is the one that coined the phrase ” Don’t buy Mustard in a Gas Station”. I can go one step further. Don’t buy French Wines from A Supplier That isn’t based in France and or a supplier that offers wines from any other country or wine producing region. Focus on one thing and be the best at it!

Champagne: A Good Place To Start

I have a video montage in this blog as the trip covered so much it would be too much. Starting off in Reims (Pronounced like France without the letter “F”) in the heart of the Champagne region was a darn good idea. The owner of Chateau Trians, Emanuel Delhom and hia lovely wife in Provence have a place in Reims and wanted to take us to lunch and a tour of the region and happy hour. What a welcome!. Later we would be meeting Sebastian Haton the son of Jean-Noel Haton my favorite Sourced and Certified Champagne producer for dinner.

This was the 25 pound 200 page wine list for happy hour and OMG did Emanuel treat us to some amazing Extra Brut Champagnes.

And finally a toast I have been looking forward to for 9 years with Sebastian Haton. Dinner was fantastic as all were but we had a couple of Magnums of Haton Reserve. We got to see the vineyards in the morning, the winery and the state of the art equipment they use to produce these fine bubbles.

And then I found my new love of my life…….

1996!!!!!!!!! I didn’t even care about getting the dust on my lips. This was Good S^&T PARDON MY “FRENCH”

And The ADVENTURE Continues

We were so fortunate to not stay at hotels except in Reims but to stay in the guest homes of the families of all these passionate winemakers (OK NO Air Conditioners which is rough for Floridians but we wanted the authentic French Experience). We headed to Chablis and from the minute we arrived to meet Frederic and Celine from Domaine Gueguen we were welcomed with food and wine and more wine and cheese and beautiful sunsets. On to Beaujolais where we not only tasted some great wines at Bulliat in Morgon but we played Petanque after dinner (They ripped it off from the Italians lol or it is very very similar to Bocce Ball.) So much fun interacting with the family and feeling part of their family. 

Next off to the Rhone. Chateau Gigognan and their great white and red Cotes du Rhone and their awesome Chateauneuf Du Pape. VERY VERY HOT WEATHER in many parts of France. We stayed in their beautiful Chataeau (YAY !AIR CONDITIONER!) and took a dip in their pool.  These Grenache Grapes and Syrah need to come in soon. A very very early harvest in the Rhone.

And last but not least with a Surprise stop on the way in Bouzigues for Oysters, Bordeaux. Chateau Carignan and their 14th Century Chateau is where we stayed for 2 nights. Julien is the MAN!!! What a fun guy and a great host. Guess what?? MORE OYSTERS with Champagnes. These were from Arcachon where all the oysters start off before being sent to farmers around the country. I think I polished off 5 dozen myself for the day !!! Plenty of ZINC for me !! Their main bottling that I love is the PRIMA. It is only made in the finest of vintages and is 100% Merlot. In 2013 for example, they produced ZERO due to a bad vintage. I keep telling American Consumers…. VINTAGE IS EVERYTHING… THE YEAR DOES MATTER!!

It’s Video Time

I am no Francis Ford Coppola. As I mentioned this was such an adventure I just wanted to put a Montage together of our trip with the scenery, the food, the wines, the people and my travel mates Dave and Andrew and of course the TRUCK DRIVER and an amazing host, Emilie Terrier…

Au Revoir France

We visited St Emilion and the city of Bordeaux where we had dinner at Totto Cucina and drank lots of Rose and Champagne and Cognac and Armagnac and Great Pizzas, Burrata Cheese, (You KNOW they stole that from the Italians ) and to keep it french delicious Steak Tartare. What a great last night to end our trip. I wish all of my readers to be able to experience even 1/2 of what our group did and you will look at wine in a whole different light. I am so proud to offer these Sourced And Certified Wines to my guests because they come from great people, great wineries but most important is a Great Supplier who ONLY builds relationships with wineries from all regions and terroirs of France, My father would just love this wine supplier and their business model because they specialize in one area of the world rather than be all over the place. Who wants to buy Mustard in a Gas Station…Right????

Grape-fully yours, Larry