Do as the French do

I am leaving tomorrow to spend Christmas with a friend's family in France. I thought a bottle of wine would be an appropriate gift. The problem? A France wine aisle is even more expansive and overwhelming than an American chip aisle.

I meandered up and down the aisle for several minutes, getting nowhere. There was just so much wine. I don't know anything about wine. In terms of buying wine for myself, I usually bolt for something cheap and red. But a €3 bottle certainly wouldn't do for a gift.

Then I spotted a French couple deep in discussion. They would select one bottle, chat a bit and put it back. They looked very intelligent on wine buying. I decided I would buy whatever they did. They spent about another 10 minutes trying to pick a bottle. I spent another 10 minutes pretending I was trying to pick a bottle. They chose a 2005 Antonin Rodet Nuits-Saint-Georges. Thirty second later, I did too.

I felt that this was very clever of me. I told the story to my roommate's family, who was over for dinner tonight. 'What wine?' they asked. I revealed the bottle. 'That is really good wine!!' they told me. 'What year?' they asked. 2005. 'That is a really good year!!!!!!!!' they told me.

This made me feel even more clever. I am so good at picking wine. Ask me sometime, I can give you some tips.