Sitting at the last presentation before lunch with my attention drifting, my fingers involuntarily type 'wine shop
La Maison de Millesimes at 137 Boulevard St Germain, was offering "un service charmant et de bons conseils" as, indeed, it turned out to do.
The conference chairman then makes one of those wonderful pronouncements which you only hear in
The girl at the hotel reception says it's 40 minutes by taxi and will cost a fortune, and 40 minutes by Metro and will cost euros 1.60. She shows me the Metro route and I set off feeling as blithe as a schoolboy on a skive.
Onto the Metro's Line 3 at Galieni, and it's nine stops to Reaumur Sebastopol where a change to Line 4 brings me, seven stops later, to St Germain des Pres emerging from which I find myself almost at the door of La Maison de Millesimes.
Inside it's an Aladdin's
Aladdin is a young Bordeaux-phile, we chat, and in that super-polite way of the more charming French, he indicates that it could possibly be more productive if we continue in English.
We exchange a few ideas. He knows 1,000 times more about
I leave as mellow and content as it is possible to feel. Six bottles of
Very jealous.
So what did you buy? Don't leave us in suspense!
Pichon Longueville Baron 1992
Rauzan Segla 1994
Leoville Poyferre 1993
Grand Puy Lacoste 1993
Pouget 1995
Pontet Canet 1993
And did you go back to the afternoon session?
I have to confess I rather let the side down. Instead of spending the afternoon necking the whole lot on a park bench, I tamely went back and listened to the after lunch session. Now, if you'd been there, things might have turned out differently.
David, you'll never change ! But the message is loud and clear. I didn't know this Aladdin's Cave, what a shame, but that's about to change, quite soon I hope ... By the way, how did you go back to the conference ? by metro or taxi ?
Elisabeth, lovely to hear from you.
I went back by Metro.
I have aleady drunk the Rauzan Segla it was sublime
Hope to see you soon
David