Boulevard de la Madeleine... Nancy in Paris

On my recent trip to Paris and London (first REAL vacation in 8 years!) I was eager to visit the Boulevard de la Madeleine, the scene of the famous "Caves de la Madeleine", which was owned by Steven Spurrier, who attended the famous Judgment of Paris in 1976; a blind tasting where French judges shocked the industry by choosing unknown California wines over France's best.

The book "Judgement of Paris" by George M. Taber is a great read and says this: "At 3-5 Boulevard de la Madeleine in the heart of the right bank in Paris, and only a few hundred yards from where Steven Spurrier's Caves de la Madeleine used to be located, is Lavinia. In the jargon of the American retail trade, it is a category-killer store like Home Depot or Toys R Us, a place that stocks an exhaustive offering of products in the store's particular field and thus dominates that market niche. Lavinia has everything to do with wine."

There are 15 sommeliers on staff. The tiny North American section included a wine from Patrick McManis. I brought a bottle of our 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon with me specifically to stand in front of this address, and invite the staff to taste the wine. Only one of the sommeliers spoke English, and despite that and my fairly good French, the lack of interest was stunning. They had no knowledge of this famous event, and absolutely no curiosity about a wine from America, and a Cabernet from Ohio! We took it back to London and enjoyed it in our rented flat!

In the vineyard, pruning is finished, and Gretchen and Judy are pulling the brush and beginning to train the two bearing canes onto the trellis.

Your friendly blog queen,
Nancy Bentley