Now that's pretty cool...I love Texas as well!!! But it's tough to call home a vacation, after all, Texas is where I go when I'm tired of being on vacation...as far as I'm concerned, I've died and gone to heaven...at least when I'm in Texas!!!
I saw a point about Wine country...this trip to Paris, France was also a shot at a wine class. I learned enough to be dangerous and I now understand some of the reasons I enjoy certain French Wines.
No, I'm not saying they are better, just that there are certain ones that I enjoy. It has to do with the regions and what goes into the wine. There is a depth and character to these wines that is unmatched.
While we do have some good wines here in the USA, I find USA Wines to be more of a mass marketed, big business type of wine. I've learned that there are 1200 wineries in the USA and that combined with a few other places provide 17% of the Global wine consumption...meanwhile, France produced 25% of the Global wine consumption with over 150,000 wineries.
With each region of France having some very unique tastes, qualities and characters that have their own governing bodies to ensure the integrity of that region. I also learned why a $4 bottle of wine in France is so much more different than a $4 bottle of wine from the states.
The funny part, is up until about a couple of years ago, I hated wine...now, I have grown to love French Wine...hopefully in due time, we will have some great small local wineries in the USA that develop their own Regional Character and move us away from mass commercialism.
I believe I can put the Wine experience of the France trip on my top 10 list of Vacation experiences...hopefully in the near future, I can experience various wines from the USA so that I can go back to France equipped to challenge the French and their wine!!!
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