French Wine with Cookies Improves Bicycling and the Appetite

Who ever heard of drinking fine French wine while eating cookies? I hadn’t until we found ourselves in Sancerre, France and were introduced to Croquets de Sancerre, a twice baked almond cookie that is best described as a French biscotti. These small deliciously crunchy confections are not too sweet and not too savory. They fit perfectly in a dainty tri-digit grasp and are meant to dip in a glass of Pouilly-Fume, the region’s famous dry white wine.

My husband and I were finding our way to Sancerre on bicycles and we stopped to ask an elderly French woman which way to go. With a twinkle in her eye she pointed straight up to the sky and laughed before she indicated the correct route. By the time we arrived sweaty and breathless in the village square, up 312 meters (1,023ft.) from the Loire Valley, we understood her levity.  Up on its own rocky little mountain it was one of France’s best naturally fortified castle villages during the Middle Ages.

The central square included a few cafes, two nice restaurants, many fine bulk French wine purveyors and two bakeries that featured Croquets de Sancerre. I wanted to buy the one-kilo bag for 32 Euro (about $US43) but I controlled myself and bought the 300-gram bag for just 10 Euro ($US$13.37). I fully intended to eat them all myself because they were far too fragile to carry all the way home.

At dinner my husband was horrified by the thought of mucking up his beautiful glass of French wine by dipping a biscuit in it. Never mind, I dunked and slurped them as an appetizer because I have always believed that cookies improve on every meal. That night proved I was right again. After eating 300grams of Croquets de Sancerre, sharing a bottle of Pouilly-Fume and enjoying a three-course dinner, I still had room for the cheese course before we careened back down the mountain on our bicycles. You see, fine French wine with cookies improves the appetite and bicycling fortitude.

Copyright © 2013 Gayle Madison