We are celebrating! Poppin' bubbly. Nicole and I are excited to soon be moving back to the New York City area.

Two days ago, after Nicole accepted a job offer with a fantastic company, we sat outside on a overcast evening sharing a Cremant d'Alsace sparking wine from Domaine Leon Boesch. The wine perfectly tied together the past, present, and future we celebrated that night.

The Past. Last fall, Nicole and I spent two weeks in France's Alsace region. We cheered for the local "Racing Club" soccer squad, roamed Colmar's fairytale streets, and tried the regional wines. 

As I said in a blog post from that time, many Alsatians told us that the local bubbly, Cremant d'Alsace, is both better and cheaper than that of the more famous neighboring Champagne region to the west. 

Moreover, after consulting Google Maps, Domain Leon Boesch, the maker of the sparkler we opened two days ago, turned out to be located just up the road from our favorite Alsace winery, Domain Paul Kluber. Drinking this wine took us back to the small town, rural farm feel and rolling hills of Alsace. 

The Present. For the past month, Nicole and I have been living in the Catskill Mountains region of upstate New York. I love it here. Small towns, friendly people, and the great outdoors. I caught a lunker of a trout on the local Esopus creek just a few days ago.

During our most recent trip to the nearest big town, Kingston, we discovered the very cool, boutique Kingston Wine Co. shop specializing in hip natural wines. We enjoyed looking around and eventually purchasing the Cremant d'Alsace. 

Drinking it a few days ago felt like a nice capstone to our time in the Catskills.  

The Future. Back to the city! Having previously lived in NYC for seven years, we are excited to be returning and reconnecting with our friends there. We are currently in the process of apartment hunting, and then it will be on to moving in and resuming some "normalcy" in our lives. I won't be living out of a duffel bag any longer. 

And the wine iteslf? Delicious. Sometimes a wine will be special for reasons completely outside the bottle. This wine was for the above reasons. But Domaine Leon Boesch's Cremant d'Alsace also turned out to be a special wine for the reasons inside the bottle. The care involved in the winery's biodynamic farming methods shine. I picked up rich creme de la creme on the nose, and Nicole and I both got lots of lemon notes on the palate (reminding Nicole of lemon tart). A wine to celebrate!  

Like this post? Want to read more about Travis and Nicole's travel adventures? Check out The Case For France - The French Markets.

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