Puisseguin, France

We left Montgaillard-sur-Save today to head up to the Bordeaux region and the little town of St Emilion. We said good bye to our host, David, as he would be gone when we returned on Thursday.

It's been quite the multi-cultural visit as well as populous! When we first arrived at La Coume Hiroko's Japanese family; mother, father, brother, brothers wife and daughter were all visiting. They ended their trip a few days ago and returned to Japan. Then Philippe and Marie Maitrepierre, David's French wine partner and his American wife came to visit for a couple of days. Then, with the house nearly bursting , and yet still a few empty bedrooms, Himi and Yurikomo, David's NY restaurant partner and manager, came to stay.

Meals were glorious with French, English and Japanese flowing around the table as freely as the new French wines that David and Philippe were tasting. David cooked multi-course meals for lunch and dinner. Hiroko was the energizer bunny, chasing after the three young boys and ever the gracious hostess. I look forward to spending more time with her when we get back on Thursday.

Philippe was a fountain of information about our destination. He called ahead and set up some wine tastings for us over the next two days. I showed him the article in Wine Spectater about the 250 Bordeaux wines that recieved over 97 points. He looked at the list and said there were no surprises. All familiar names and expensive one at that. I love his attitude about wine. He says that no wine is worth $300 no matter how rich you are. This from a guy in the business. Mom and I have decided that all that wine lingo is what wine snobs use to impress each other. We like what we like!