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Loading... Champagne Baby: How One Parisian Learned to Love Wine--and Life--the American Wayby Laure Dugas
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. This is a great book and I am inspired to get into French wine. The author's descriptive writing style, her candid adventures, and her journey through what some refer to as the quarter-life crisis period, was refreshing. I recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a cultural journey that opens up the senses. ( ) An excellent memoir of a young French lady, who was raised in a wine oriented family but with no real interest in the business. Almost on a lark, she takes a position in her uncle's business, promoting his wine in America. She discovers that she really does love the business, taking jobs in several different areas. But the book is so much more than just the wine, it's an entertaining look into her growth as a person, and the discovery of her own mind. Interspersed with her story are insights into the wine business, from the growing of the grapes to the different varieties to how to describe your own tastings and feelings of wines. While her story is entertaining, I really enjoyed these insights. I hope she writes another book about the next chapter in her life. no reviews | add a review
Biography & Autobiography.
Cooking & Food.
Travel.
Nonfiction.
Fresh, charming, and wholly irresistible, Champagne Baby turns a familiar tale on its head: instead of yet another American seeking the French secret to good living, a Frenchwoman finds her purposeā??much to her surpriseā??in America. Laure Dugas is a champagne baby, born into a family of winemakers from two storied regions of France: Champagne and the RhĆ“ne Valley. When Laure was an infant, her mother would dip a finger in wine and dab it on Laure's lips to acclimate her to the taste and aroma. But Laure wants little to do with the family business. It is only at age twenty-three, when her uncle offers to send her to New York City to learn English and represent his wines to the American market, that Laure bids adieu to her boyfriend and begins her journey of discovery. The job, it turns out, is both harder and easier than expected. Laure must speak in a new language about a subject in which she has no expertise. But an experienced wine saleswoman shares the secret for faking it: "Always. Be. French." After all, who could claim to know more about wine than a Frenchwoman? With the pedigree of an expert, even as she feels like a fraud, Laure dives into an industry still dominated by men, winning over restaurateurs and sommeliers, diligently developing her palate, and traveling across the vast country that is her new home. For the first time, Laure is able to distinguish among the famous wines of her native land. She learns to greet a wine by the nose and judge a bottle not by its industry rating but by the balance of its flavors. Overcoming homesickness, culture shock, and the trials of a long-distance relationship, Laure manages to settle into her new milieu, her wine-glass-half-full attitude turning an eight-month stint into a three-year adventure. Part coming-of-age memoir, part travelogue, sprinkled throughout with regional maps and wine recommendations, Champagne Baby imparts the critical lessons that pair with both wine and life: "you're better than the cheapest bottle," "there's always occasion for champagne," and "trust your palate." It encourages listeners to view themselves and their surroundings with newfound appreciation, and to raise their glasses with open-mindedness No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)641.2Technology Home and family management Food And Drink DrinksLC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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