{"id":8079,"date":"2012-06-04T16:10:46","date_gmt":"2012-06-04T16:10:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/?p=8079"},"modified":"2012-06-04T16:10:46","modified_gmt":"2012-06-04T16:10:46","slug":"la-vieille-ferme-rose-france-theres-no-arguing-with-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/la-vieille-ferme-rose-france-theres-no-arguing-with-it\/","title":{"rendered":"La Vieille Ferme Rose, France: there’s no arguing with it"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>By Travis Oke<\/p>\n

I argued like a Frenchman this week and I liked it.\u00a0 A friend of mine (Rugby guy) started quizzing me about the \u201cstupid\u201d offside rule in soccer. He started by asking questions, then ran through some scenarios, and ended off with a firm declarative statement that \u201csoccer would be better without an offside.\u201d\u00a0 He looked at me for a response. I drew a small breath, glanced sideways towards him, and in a superior manner said, \u201cNo, you\u2019re wrong.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 End of argument.<\/p>\n

The French are like that.\u00a0 They like their rules and they like to keep them. I once asked a French man \u2013 Parisian to be exact \u2013 what his favorite wine was.\u00a0 He looked at me and in a polite, but superior, manner said, \u201cIt depends what you\u2019re eating.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 End of conversation.<\/p>\n

France is a country of rules and regulations and the right way \u2013 make that the only way \u2013 to do things.\u00a0 A winemaker could go crazy following regional regulations. Unlike the New World, where winemakers are encouraged to be daring and creative, French winemakers are not allowed to stray from the regional rules. The rules have been argued in parliament, declared law, and l\u2019argument est fini<\/em>.\u00a0 And they like it.<\/p>\n

Boundaries and regional names are fiercely protected. Only certain grape varietals are permitted in each region. Yields per hectare are regulated. In fact, the info on the bottle\u2019s label is a matter of national importance. And that\u2019s just the way it is.\u00a0 I think the French like to make laws. It may be a \u201cl\u00e9gende urbaine<\/em>\u201d, but I read that under law no owner may address his pig as Napoleon.\u00a0 I like it.
\n\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

My personal favorite rule-dominated region in France is the C\u00f4tes du Rh\u00f4ne (or CDR). Wine can be made with any of 23 different varietals, yet usually lead with Grenache, Syrah, and Mourv\u00e8dre. My LCBO general list favorite is the Old Farm \u2013 La Vieille Ferme<\/a><\/strong> \u2013 partially because of the Rooster on the label, but mostly because it is a good solid CDR and under $12.\u00a0 My personal rule is to drink C\u00f4tes du Rh\u00f4ne often. It\u2019s a good rule.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Travis Oke is a high school teacher by day and a wine writer by night. His blog, Pull The Cork<\/strong><\/a>, appears in the online edition of the Guelph Mercury.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Travis Oke I argued like a Frenchman this week and I liked it.\u00a0 A friend of mine (Rugby guy) started quizzing me about the \u201cstupid\u201d offside rule in soccer. He started by asking questions, then ran through some scenarios, and ended off with a firm declarative statement that \u201csoccer would be better without an offside.\u201d\u00a0 He looked at me for a response. I drew a small breath, glanced sideways towards him, and in a superior manner said, \u201cNo, you\u2019re wrong.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 End of argument. The French are like that.\u00a0 They like their rules and they like to keep them. I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[52,26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8079","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-travis-oke","category-wine-picks"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8079","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8079"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8079\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8091,"href":"https:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8079\/revisions\/8091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nataliemaclean.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}