Category: Culture

With Sweets, Crafts and Wine, the Strasbourg Christmas Market Arrives in New York

Alsace brings a piece of its famous Christmas market to Bowling Green Park in New York for the month of December.

Tarte flambée, hot mulled wine, chalets selling soft fabric ornaments, oven mitts, and Bredele cookies… the Strasbourg Christmas market has arrived.

A piece of the world famous Marché de Noël de Strasbourg is residing in New York from December 6 to 22. With support from the cities of Strasbourg, Colmar and Mulhouse, thirty chalets and their accompanying wares were imported from the small region of France that borders Germany and installed in Bowling Green Park. The area’s gastronomie, wine, culture and heritage are highlighted through artisan creations, sweet treats, regional food specialties and wine, all for sale seven days a week, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

After the North Pole, Alsace is the region of the world most closely associated with Christmas. Since 1570, Strasbourg has hosted an annual monthlong holiday market whose unrivaled size and holiday enthusiasm has earned the city international recognition. Four million people come to Alsace every year just for the Christmas season, to enjoy the 100 holiday markets in the region and partake in a few of the 7,000 events that happen on Christmas day alone. Continue reading “With Sweets, Crafts and Wine, the Strasbourg Christmas Market Arrives in New York” →

Paris’ hidden vineyards

Tucked amid the city’s urban sprawl, dozens of secluded vineyards dot the French capital and produce some of France’s most exclusive wines.

5 December 2019

When I first met Irene Henriques, it was the hottest-recorded week in French history. She was standing at the foot of her vineyard wearing long trousers and a thick khaki workman’s coat. When I asked how she wasn’t melting, she laughed and replied in her soft-spoken voice, “After 30 years of wine-growing, you get used to it.”

Gesturing towards the rolling, bucolic hill behind us, Henriques begged, “It’s beautiful, no?” I had to agree. The land that she and her team have spent decades cultivating looks like a Rococo painting come to life; an Arcadian vision of the French countryside. Climbing wisteria and lilacs line the surrounding iron fence, while apple and pear trees provide much-needed shade. Henriques’ most important crops, the Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Muscat grapes, crown the hill, gorging themselves on sunlight.

France has strict vine-planting regulations, and until recently, only certain regions – including Bordeaux, Bourgogne and Champagne – could bottle and sell wine commercially. But in 2016, an EU-mandated liberalisation of the French wine sector extended the right to sell wine commercially throughout most of France. Yet, wines produced within the French capital can still not be sold to commercial markets because of the perceived threat urban pollution may have on the grapes.

But the goal of Parisian vineyards was never to make money. So rather than going from wine cellars to wine sellers, the bottles have always been auctioned off to benefit the city during harvest time. Also, because the vines are owned and operated by the City of Paris, you can’t just go for a tasting or a tour, as you can in other French regions. Continue reading “Paris’ hidden vineyards” →

Franco Fans reviews Alysce

[GOOGLE TRANSLATION ]

After a first Ep noticed released in 2017, and pending the release of an album in late 2020, Alysce  presents a surprising new video, shot with his father on the guitar and his brother on the bass. Alysce has already won the Grand Zebrock 2018, she also won the France Bleu trophy, where was in the final of the Georges Moustaki Award … In other words, the female singer-songwriter has a silky voice to follow! Audacious, she is one of those who dare to leave the comfort zone … With her guitar and accomplice jazz influences, she does not hesitate to play dissonances, ups and downs of scales, to hit by its sharp rhythms … To hear her challenges us, to listen to him holds us back. Alysce will be in concert on December 3rd at the Conservatoire du Perreux sur Marne auditorium.

Source: Alysce, hors cadres – FrancoFans, The French Song Magazine -accfa