Wine =France and Beer =Belgium

Moet is the bubbly of choice of the Belgian Royal Family

Two weeks ago, we ventured into French Wine Country. It never ceases to amaze me how easy it is to drive over the border, into another country. The equivalent would be driving from New York into Connecticut or Pennsylvania into Delaware. There are cultural and regional differences in the States but driving from Belgium into Holland or France is really going "international." Luckily for me, Brussels is so central and it is easy to hightail it out of here.

During our excursion into France, we went to visit THE CHAMPAGNE MECCA, Moet. We chose Moet because we were in Epernay and decided to do the really touristy tour. I am not a bubbly drinker. If I indulge in wine, I enjoy the sweet dessert wines like Hungarian Tokaj or red wines. Also I am NO wine expert. Whenever, we order wine in a restaurant, I defer to my husband. He acts like he knows a little more than I do. He swirls the glass and swishes the wine in his mouth. I am more uncouth as I guzzle it down.

So as we were paying for our tickets to tour the Champagne Temple known as Moet, my husband pointed out the picture featured above. Apparently, King Albert, Queen Paola and their family enjoy this particular French Champagne. I was sort of surprised. Of course I figured that the Belgian royal family are going to drink other beverages other than beer. When they toast Kingdom of Belgium are they going to do it on some Jupiler or Maes beer? The drink of their subjects? Probably not. No, they are going to drink the best money has to offer even if that means drinking something that comes from France.

What did I think of the Moet Champagne? Dare I say it was okay. Like I mentioned before I am not really a Champagne drinker. I would have liked to have tasted the rose Champagne but since we only bought the ticket with one free sample, we only got to sample the standard white tipple.

In Belgium, people drink wine but I sometimes feel that beer is the standard drink of choice. I also enjoy beer more than wine. To me, beer has a depth that you can not find in wine (or maybe I am just clueless about wine). I can never detect the tannins or woody and fruity aftertastes. But in beer, I can now tell if it is a winter brew or bitter or blond brew. That is one of the benefits of living in the beer capital of the world!