NICE, France — The French Riviera is a mixed bag for the wine enthusiast willing to travel thousands of miles to a foreign land in search of exotic wine and food experiences.
Here, in the heart of the Cote d’Azur, the most exotic wine experience at the beginning of my personal Tour de France came at a rustic French cafe, La Femme du Boulanger, located mere steps from the Promenade des Anglais.
For an aperitif before dinner on a warm summer evening, I ordered two glasses of Viognier. When they arrived, I noticed something at the bottom of each glass. When I pointed to the submerged objects, the woman in charge — the owner, I presumed — smiled and we think she said, "Raisins."
She offered an explanation in French, which I didn’t quite understand, and then retreated inside the restaurant. I figured it must be some sort of local custom and enjoyed the Viognier anyway. Days later, at Bastide Saint-Antoine, the culinary jewel of the Cote d’Azur in Grasse, I told the story to the sommelier, who wrinkled his nose in disgust.
"That is no local custom," he assured me.
Probably not, considering I planted myself in Nice for seven days and only got the raisin treatment once. But I did see a number of people at the beach plopping ice cubes into their glasses of rosé, and every red wine I ordered throughout the week arrived chilled.
My greatest surprise, which was somewhat of a disappointment, too, was the absence of local wines on the wine lists of the restaurants in and around Nice. At the wine bar at the Welcome Hotel in Villefranche-sur-Mer, I came across one local wine, a 2016 Domaine de Toasc rose from the Bellet AOP, an appellation situated on cliffs just west of Nice. It was very nice, if you will forgive the pun.
Otherwise, most of the French wines I encountered were from the Cotes de Provence, Languedoc, the Cotes du Rhone and Burgundy. I say French wine because Nice, Cannes, Monte Carlo, Villefranche and environs offer nearly as much of an Italian wine experience as French. That’s understandable if you remember that Nice was once part of Italy and the Italian border is but an hour or so away from the center of Nice.
I was reminded of this fact again and again, even as I had lunch at Bastide Saint-Antoine, one of the most famous restaurants in France. The first course? Risotto de mer. But of course. The Cote d’Azur is full of surprises.
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