As we wander this amazing cellar, we notice several old corking machines. Up until the 1930s, the Hôtel de Paris bottled all its wine, including the Premier Crus of Bordeaux and until the 1960s it bottled wines that had a quick turnover, such as Beaujolais.Now, nothing is bottled except the old Cognacs which we saw on the first day of this tour.
Tomorrow is Theme Day in the City Daily Photo community and the theme is 'glass' - a perfect subject for us, I think you'll agree. So do come back to see something beautiful from this incredible cellar.
8 comments:
I've never seen anything like these devices. What great shots! ALso, I had some really yummy wine tonight so all these wine shots are fun to see...
I love the shadow on the wall of your photo.
Don't you think that every restaurant should cork their own wines for the wines that come in screw top bottles?
This is a great tour. Julie, Glenda and I were just talking last evening about how you get into special places to share with your readers. I am still looking forward to the World War II story before the end of your series on the Hotel de Paris wine cellar.
By coincidence, my Theme Day post tomorrow will also have a wine theme.
David, the story will appear along with the relevant photograph. Promise. Look forward,very much, to seeing your wine theme tomorrow.
Is champagne the only thing that costs more than 800 euros per bottle??? Don't know much about wine or champagnes. however how much does the really expensive stuff cost and more importantly why?? is the process it goes thru or the ingredients that make the cost high?? how is that accompished. know it could take more than one post to answer those but do your best!!
Jilly,
I know you are going to get to the World War II story at some point in your series about the wine cellar. I was not trying to nag you, but only add to the sense of anticipation, as your readers will certainly want to hear about it. Like fine wine, you will tell no story before its time.
Anonymous,
I don't think that the process accounts for the difference in price. I think it is mostly the qualify of the grape stock from which the wine is made.
The major difference in the process is whether and how long the wine is aged in oak barrels, the best of which come from France. But that is not rare as most of the wineries that we tour in Napa use French Oak barrels.
The skilfulness of the vintners in harvesting the grapes and making the wine at exactly the right time is another factor.
The primary reason, I think, that accounts for the price difference is supply and demande. Prestigious wineries that have excellent reputations can charge more for wines that are in relatively small production.
We have a friend who has a wine cooler that covers one wall in his house and holds several hundred bottles. Each bottle is entered into a computer to keep track of where each bottle is located and other information about it. The computer also tells him the best time to open each bottle of wine. The computer is networked to the company that supplied the software so it also updates the price of each bottle every month.
These corking machines are really a bit of nostalgia. Quite a few wineries are using the screw tops now. But I must say I prefer the ones with corks. There is something to be said for the anticipation of uncorking a good bottle of wine which is lost with the screw tops.
Thanks for your comment today. Life is finally calming down on my end. I love the first of these pictures: it is just so intense. It makes me think they should be putting corks in bottles of honey.
I've got something ready for theme day tomorrow that may be a little lame. Given the week's events, it got put together hastily. And, as often happens with my theme day posts, it's a little obscure. I couldn't literally show a picture of a piece of glass, could I?
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