SIP 'N SLIP

Vendange or vidange?

I came back from one of those terrific hotel barge trips on French waterways raving to my French friends about the meals and wine served on board. But I slipped up--again--and created one more of those moments of hilarity that mes amis have come to love and expect. Instead of saying we had sipped a very good vendange tardive wine, I said vidange tardive.


Vendange tardive is a late, hand-picked grape harvest to produce a liquoreux wine that pairs well with fois gras or some of the stronger cheeses. Vidange is a motor oil change...


Vocabulary
une péniche:  barge
mes amis, -es:  my friends
liquoreux, -euse:  syrupy (an adjective to describe wine)
moelleux, -euse:  mellow (color); moist (cake); sweet (wine)
hi-hi:  (pronounced hee-hee) laughing, tee-hee
hilarité:  hilarity, mirth
fois gras:  liver of a duck or goose which has been fattened through the forced feeding of grains
tardif, -ve:  late
tarder:  to delay

Expression
La plus perdue de toutes les journées est celle où l'on n'a pas ri. -- Nicolas Chamfort, French writer (1741-1794)
The most completely wasted of all days is that in which we have not laughed.

Text & photo ©2011 P.B. Lecron