Le BIB

The food stylings of Gee.
I don't think Saveur will be calling anytime soon...

Let me tell you about my love for the box of wine. Or, as the French like to call it: le BIB (a.k.a. bag-in-box). Did you know they're making a comeback? Kind of like the screwtop wine bottle, which is no longer only for the underaged bush party crowd circa 1995...

Don't get me wrong - I'm just as demanding of my wine as I am of my food. I enjoy a nice bottle of Bordeaux Premier Cru as much as the next girl. But I like to have a glass of wine a day, and cracking open one of those suckers twice a week gets pricey. Not to mention how dishonorable it is to leave a Premier Cru sitting in your fridge for two or three days... It's just not done. 

So, enter le BIB; the greatest rebirth of an oldie since John Travolta played Vincent Vega in Pulp Fiction. I highly recommend giving it a try (the wine, not Travolta), especially for the summertime where every balmy evening on your patio just demands a glass of rosé. Again, this may not be an appropriate wine for entertaining first-time guests, but it is a very nice "me-and-myself" or "me-and-my-better-half-who-knows-I'm-not-a-desperate-wino" weeknight wine. And it's just so much fun to open the fridge, wine glass in hand, and squirt yourself a dose from the spigot. Whoo! Do I sound as classy as I feel right now?

My market research still continues on the red wine front, but one rosé has pretty much been locked in as a favourite for 2011: it's called Nicolas Laloux (or, as it was recommended to me by a friend, "the one with the bicycle on it") and it's available in grocery stores on the Gatineau side at the very reasonable price of around 30ish dollars for a box of four litres (that's the equiv. of five bottles, people!). So make this a classic apéro provençal day : squirt yourself a glass of rosé and enjoy it with a bowl of salted peanuts, tiny gherkins and some olives. Spa shpa. This is the only way to relax.

À la prochaine!