Dear all,

What a fascinating conference we had on Saturday evening, given with so much detail, clarity and great professionalism by Candice François, Assistant Lecturer at the University of Exeter!
We thank her very much.

We believe that all of you who attended this conference entitled Parlons du vin will agree with us that Candice's pleasant personality and her know-how delighted us.

It was not only a talk on the idiomatic expressions related to the tasting of wines of different grape varieties, it was also a conference which made us discover in the first part wines in literature starting with the play L'Avare by Molière where we find the drunken servant, then in the realist novel describing the downfall of the alcoholics as in the novel L'Assommoir by Émile Zola.

Candice also showed us how 16th century poets such as Du Bellay and Ronsard, for example, described wine as a promise of adventure, an experience which brings colour to an often normalized and sad world, and the poet Baudelaire who celebrated the exotic virtues of wine.

It was all fascinating but that was not all since, then, Candice told us about the slang found in French songs such as the words pinard or piquette (wine) before playing us the well-known 60s song by Claude Nougaro I am under (your balcony) and that of Boris Vian I drink.
And then, we had excerpts from more popular songs such as the one called Ah, the little white wine which recalls the days of open-air cafés and balls as well as the joie de vivre in France. Ah, the good old days!

In the second part of the conference, we had the pleasant surprise of the presence of Candice's brother, expert and wine merchant, in a recorded interview with her on YouTube. This is where we learned a lot about the main grape varieties in France, about biodynamics which is a guarantee of quality and about the labels and medals won in competitions. Candice recommended four very good French wines to us which can be purchased in Waitrose. Good suggestions for Christmas if you want.

And to end this presentation on the subject of wines in style, with a glass in hand, we followed the example of Candice who showed us the different stages of tasting by speaking and performing the necessary actions, especially for a connoisseur, to determine the color of the wine most of us drink. It was interesting to talk about the vocabulary related to aromas.

We very much appreciated and applauded Candice's detailed and well-structured presentation which allowed us to end this horrible year in a very pleasant way and put us, to a certain extent, in the holiday mood. year,

You can find Candice's superb presentation on this website by clicking on 2020/2021 and going to December 12th. You will be able to take the time to read, listen to the songs and the interview with Candice's brother.

We hope to see you again on January 9 for another fascinating topic on Simone de Beauvoir - a committed woman a talk on Zoom by Annie Kean, former Director of Translation Services at the United Nations. Annie acts independently but she is also a speaker for the Alliance Française.

It remains for us, the whole team and I, to wish you a HAPPY CHRISTMAS and OUR BEST WISHES FOR THE YEAR 2021 AND ESPECIALLY GOOD HEALTH!

Thank you

Josiane, Claire, Anne-Marie, Ingrid, Catherine, Astrid, Jo, Paule and David