Don't Even Consider Going Outside

July has only just kicked off, and we’re already in the midst of a gagging level of humidity. Temps have been in the high 90s°F this week with humidity that made it more feel like 110.

Take my associate’s advice and stay near a breeze instead.

And if you have a Peacock subscription, you can stay inside and watch this year’s Tour de France, the venerable road cycling tradition that tortures a bunch of dudes up and down the mountains of France. Here’s it’s hot and humid. In France there was rain and even the possibility of hail. Sure, you have to climb like 3,000 feet straight up to get there, but I might almost try it. Or I’d pass out and wouldn’t care either way.

Sweets to the sweets, and French wine to the French. Today it’s 2018 Chateau Thivin Côte de Brouilly.

Côte de Brouilly is one of the 10 cru appellations in the Beaujolais region. It covers the slopes of the dormant Mont Brouilly volcano in central Beaujolais. The area is surrounded completely by the vineyards of the much larger Brouilly appellation, but is the source of a noticeably different style of wine, made from the Gamay grape variety. Côte de Brouilly wines are concentrated and elegant, with floral characters, and are less earthy than their Brouilly counterparts.

The Gamay grape “is a cousin of Pinot Noir and it grows primarily next to Burgundy, France (Pinot motherland).” Which makes it light to medium bodied, lots of acidity, and not too much tannin.

The color is a nice ruby red, and I get a little tobacco leaf on the nose. On the palate I get a lot of pomegranate juice with a little raspberry. You’ll want to give this a little chill, not unlike yourself. I like this one a lot, and I think I’ll try and hang on to my last bottle for a few more years. Bonne chance, folks!