Wine Tasting

On Thursday, we visited with students from Brens. These students, who are studying to be in the wine business, go to basically a two-year vocational school to get their degrees. We were all divided into groups and paired up with one or two Brens students. From there, we each went to a different vineyard to learn more about wine, and of course, partake in some wine tasting.



Cat, Colin, Eric, and I were paired with a very nice girl who spoke a good bit of English. We piled into her car and drove to our first vineyard, only to find that the lady who was supposed to show us around couldn't do it then. So we drove back to the Brens campus to find an alternate vineyard that would take us in. After lots of phone calls, Cave de Tecou was our savior.



Cave de Tecou is a winery nestled in the southwest corner of the Gaillac region. We decided to try a medium-sweet white wine called Fascination. I was happy to be able to try something other than red wine, which is mostly what we have here at the monastery.



We learned about the different types of glasses for different types of wines, and how to properly drink and taste wine. Smelling is an integral part of the wine-drinking experience, and the wine we had gave off a nice, flowery odor.



It had a good, sweet, honey taste with a nice, tingling aftertaste. It was a very well-balanced wine and I definitely enjoyed it more than the red wines I've had. We received a few bottles to take back with us for our activities the next day.



On Friday, the Brens students came to visit us at the monastery, where we had another wine tasting. Each group gave a little presentation, talking about the winery they visited and presenting their wine. We tasted about five different wines, but I was partial to the one my group presented.



The Brens students were very kind and engaging. They were happy to answer any questions we had, and they were interested about our lives back home. One thing I found interesting was that they told us the cost per year of education for them was equivalent to about 5-thousand dollars. They were stunned when we told them we pay about 30 grand a year at SFU. It's quite a difference in price, to say the least.

Later that night, we had a quite a crowd for dinner. There were about 35 people here--the Brens students and their teachers, students from the University of Albi, and some Albi residents. Chelsea and I had dish duty at the end of the night--35 dinner plates, 35 dessert plates, plus wine glasses, regular cups, and silverware... it was a long night at the sink, haha. But we didn't mind too much, because we had a good time socializing and talking with the diverse mix of people at dinner. :)