The wine club with Joyce’s help arranged a filed trip to a winery. The group met at the bus station to start the tour. They then rode the public bus to a wine field. (Kind of weird – my bus stop is the winery). Ten people got off the bus. There was the guide, observer guide, the intrepid four (that would be our group), a British couple and a German couple. Everyone spoke English so the tour was in English.
Our guide introduced herself but none of the four could understand what the guide said her name was. Let’s call her Markita. She is a professional hiker. (Larry wanted to tell Markita about his recent hiking experiences but the other three were able to convince him not to talk about it). No one is sure what a professional hiker goes but she did have a badge. (Debbie thinks that Joyce should give out hiking badges – “I survived” “I got wet” “I got lost”.
The tour walked through a vineyard where the grapes were being picked. The grapes are picked by hand. Markita showed the group how to graft grapes. Joyce kept sneaking grapes off the vine to eat.
Markita did quiz Larry about wine. (She must have known that he was a wine club president).
Markita: “What is your favorite wine”.
Larry: “Merlot”. (Answer should have been box wine).
Markita: “When do you drink wine?”
Larry: “On Special occasions, for dinner” (Answer should have been – if I find it cheap enough)
Markita: What was the last wine that you drank?
Larry: “It was a red wine” (Answer should have been – the 1.99 Euro special that I found in Frankfurt).
Larry soon dropped to the back of the line so he would not be quizzed any more. Our next stop was the winery. Markita introduced us to the winemaker, Alod, (actually Harold). Harold is also a wrestler. (Larry was star struck).
It became a tasting extravaganza. The first tasting was pure grape juice followed by 1 day fermented juice. The tasting continued with two white wines, a red wine and some kind of grappa and white wine mix called le douce Tecornue.
On the bus ride home, Debbie became responsible for tipping the guide. (Not sure how this happened). The German and British couples had already decided on an amount so gave the money to Debbie when they departed. (They might qualify for Les Cheap Girls). Good find by Joyce as the tour was free except for the tip.
The wine club made several purchases and felt that the day was a great success. They have since taunted the chocolate club about their successful field trip. Debbie has retreated to her room with a box of chocolate.
Yes, I am thinking there should be some mention of chocolate if the group is in Switzerland.
No stomping of the grapes with Lucy?