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Beatrice Cointreau – our new president of the Order “The Great Ladies of Wine and the Table”

Led by our new President, Beatrice Cointreau, the Order today continues the work of the founders of the first women’s network in the world of wine, valuing the talent and the role of women in production, culture, celebration and influence of wine around the world. During the winter our chapter met in the prestigious setting of the grand salon at Fouquet’s on the Champs Elysees in Paris. By inducting the young winemaker, Beatrice’s participation paves the way for younger women in wine to get involved in the Order.

Created in August 1983, l’ Ordre des Dames du Vin et de la Table (ODVT) is the first French female bacchanalian Order with an international dimension. It brings together hundreds of women at the head of the most prestigious chateaux or whose activities are related to the art of wine, tableware and art de vivre. A pioneering organization, the Association des Dames du Vin de Table continues to stand today: it is the only network that allows a unique representation for exchanging oenology experiences in France and abroad . www.odvt.org

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The chic trend: some wine with your bucket of fried chicken?

Savvy Californians cut the mustard with the “Burgers and Burgundy” movement of northern California’s Taylor’s Automatic Refresher. Taking advantage of the crisis, U.S. fast food restaurants want to compete in mid-range choices, offering a taste of sophistication with their selections. This means, they recently are offering quality wine on their menus. Starbucks gave the starting signal with their new store in Seattle. Burgerville (39 restaurants in the Pacific Northwest) now includes wine on the menu of one of its restaurants. Consumers are generally favorable to wine, they see this trend as a reference of good living and gastronomy: “If you want to increase your image to yourself as being a premium fast food restaurant, wine drinking is essential for your strategy, “says David Henkes, of Technomic a marketing research company in Chicago. Sounds like the Pacific Northwest drinkers are the trendsetters here. Nov. 11, 2009

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Teaching Wine Appreciation at a Young Age

Here in France we take a very different approach to many things. Sometimes this shocks people from other countries, but the French way of doing some things seems to have worked in many areas. I must ask some of you to please keep an open mind on this subject.

This is a textbook given to students in Bordeaux schools.

It’s all about grapes and how wine is made, and teaches young people how to appreciate drinking wine. I went to Bordeaux and was amazed at how readily young people appreciate learning about this subject, and how maturely they handled this knowledge.

For years, I’ve been advocating in my articles and wine guides “Femivin” that the best prevention against alcoholism is educating children about wine. Most French families give a small bit of wine to their children, as drinking wine is an important part of our culture. By being exposed to wine at a young age, the vast majority of our youngsters respect alcohol and in France we do not have the problems of youth binge drinking like some other countries.

In Bordeaux, schools have introduced wine appreciation into the classrooms. The students learn all about their five senses and how they perceive the fours distinct wine flavors.

The books teach the history of wine, the different varietals of grapes, how wine is made, explains ‘terroir,” and tells the stories of some of the great Bordeaux winemakers.

Studying the grape gives students the chance to explore a wide range of related subjects, like wine’s poetic, botanical, artistic, cultural and economic aspects.

The pilot program has been a great success and the Bordeaux wine growers, who are funding the program, and expanding it next year.

I am going to do all I can to help this program and introduce our young people to look at the grape and wine from a very mature and responsible point of view. I wish that other regions of France and other countries would consider this approach and see if similar programs could be adapted to their schools…Isabelle