Aslam Gafoor's visit to Russia

Wine lover, food aficionado and two happy feet — that pretty much describes Aslam Gafoor, COO of Weber Grills, who wouldn’t let an opportunity go by when it comes to travelling. Recently returned from France, he tells DNA about his fantastic vacation…

The big idea
For a few years now, I have been thinking of attending Vinexpo in Bordeaux, France. Vinexpo is one of the biggest biennial wine exhibitions and it gets a participation of over 2,500 wine (mainly) and spirit exhibitors and more than 60,000 visitors. This is a trip every wine lover dreams of! This was a great time to go (end of June) to France, as far as the weather was concerned — warm during the day and pleasantly cool in the evenings — just perfect!

Plan perfect
Since I was going to travel for only 12 days, I decided to plan meticulously before heading out. Thanks to the online world, planning international holidays is easy. Google came handy as far as destination details were concerned and I checked hotels out through tourism board websites and hotel review sites. I booked rooms thorough www.booking.com and made train reservations for travel within France on the TGV (Train à Grande Vitesse) at www.raileurope.in — all sitting in India and even paid in rupees. I also spoke to friends who had been to France for tips.

Travelling feet
During my visit to France, I visited Bordeaux, Cognac, Reims and Epernay in the Champagne region, Coulommiers and Paris. Bordeaux is the wine capital of the world. It’s a must-visit destination for all wine and food lovers. I have been to Bordeaux before, but I wanted to go especially during Vinexpo. My next stop was Cognac — home to some of the world-famous Cognacs. I spent my first day in Cognac at the Hennessy and Camus houses and the next day at Martell and Rémy Martin.

For my next destination, I jumped onto a TGV and reached the beautiful, historical city of Reims in the Champagne region. I visited some of the legendary Champagne houses in Reims and Epernay such as Veuve Clicquot, Moët & Chandon, Taittinger, Pommery, G.H. Mumm, among others. It was delightful! My next stop was Coulommiers in the Seine-et-Marne region, home to the popular AOC Brie cheese. My final destination was Paris where I spent a couple of days wandering around the Louvre, Champs-Élysées, Notre Dame Cathedral, Eiffel Tower and took a cruise on the River Seine before returning to Bangalore.

Vinexpo in Bordeaux is not open to general tourists — it is primarily open to people associated with the wine trade. I was privileged to visit this exhibition where I got to meet several wine producers from around the world and tasted some spectacular wines.

Next, during my Cellar tour at Moët & Chandon Champagne house in Epernay I was given a private reception and tasting of the Grand Vintage Champagne in Napoleon’s room, which is not generally open to tourists. I was told that Napoleon's favourite Champagne was Moët & Chandon and he would drink prodigious amounts of champagne before, during and after each battle in this room painted in his favourite colour — Imperial green.

Later, on my visit to Hennessy in Cognac, I had the pleasure of having a private dinner with Maurice Richard-Hennessy who belongs to the eighth generation of the prestigious Hennessy family. I was very touched by the fact that he personally picked me up from my hotel and drove me to Hennessy’s Château de Bagnolet, one of the most beautiful estates in the Charentes which was formerly the Hennessy family residence and now a VIP guest house.

We started our evening with Hennessy cocktails by the garden on the river banks, followed by a delicious sit-down dinner paired with  fine wines and rounded off with Hennessy XO. Maurice Hennessy spoke about his love for the Charente countryside, vine-growing and fine gastronomy. This was one of the most memorable meals for me.

Move that cheese
As we all know, among other things, France is famous for its cheese and I was determined to visit at least one cheese region this time. So I worked out a trip to a farm in St Simeon, Coulommiers to visit Fromagère de la Brie, a cheese production house owned by Pierre Bobin. Coulommiers is a beautiful village in the heart of the Brie region.

Pierre Bobin personally showed me the entire cheese production process right from the milk collection to the finished stages of the cheese. I later sat with him to taste the different kinds of cheeses such as Brie de Meaux, Brie de Melun, Brie de Coulommiers and others, paired so wonderfully with a red wine.

Shop and eat
I hadn’t gone to France to shop as such. But I did manage to pick up a couple of bottles of fine wine, a wine aerator from Bordeaux, a cute little bell from Cognac to add to my collection, some white wine Dijon mustard and lots of French cheese. However, I have to say that French food sure is one of the finest in the world. In Bordeaux, I dined at two very popular restaurants — La Tupina and Le Chapon Fin. Jean-Pierre Xiradakis, one of Bordeaux’s most talented chefs runs the rustic look-and-feel La Tupina — famous for its country-style duck and lamb preparations.

One of my other memorable meals in Bordeaux was at Le Chapon Fin, a fine-dine restaurant founded in 1825 and one of the first of 33 restaurants to receive a Michelin star rating in 1933 and that too a three star!  In Cognac, both my meals at the Hennessy house were simply marvellous. In Reims (Champagne region) I had a delicious meal in a cosy restaurant called the Le Jardin Brassiere. All through France, I also got addicted to scrumptious baguette sandwiches with different fillings. Not to forget the copious amount of wine I sampled during the 12 exciting days of my French journey!