Meet Tanisha Townsend, a Chicago native who became a wine expert in Paris. She gives us a general info to wine and Paris wine bars, plus her take on wine tastings in the French capital.
Find more about Tanisha (aka Girl Meets Glass) via her website here (https://www.girlmeetsglass.com/) and her Instagram page here (https://www.instagram.com/girlmeetsglass/) . And here’s the link (https://www.girlmeetsglass.com/workwithgmg) to book a wine tasting with her.
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hello everybody my name is Oliver G this is the earful tower podcast and I think it’s time we talk about wine wine in Paris where to drink it how to drink it wine outside of Paris where to drink it how to drink it what does it taste like all these questions answered by today’s expert which is Tanisha townend who is sitting in front of me right now Tanisha welcome to the studio I’m finally here hi you are finally here it’s taking a while though we did it the we went the weird way about it video first video first what’s all that about on a beautiful balcony in front of the Eiffel Tower wasn’t sponsored by anyone but we can say it was Paris perfect they hooked us up with a what we did like a blind wine you know what my big takeaway was that Lena my wife didn’t know the Blindfolded if she was drinking red or white wine you know what it’s really hard to figure that out if you’re blindfolded you do not know white or red I mean I do because I’m the expert that’s why I’m here I think that people listening would would think that they certainly would know they certainly would not why is that because the flavors can be the same right so I mean when you see it clearly you know but then when you taste it all you’re tasting is fruit so you’re not sure if it’s the fruit from a red wine or the fruit from a white wine I bet the um I bet the temperature also is a giveaway for people it might be but if you choke them both then wow I like it see this tells me already that uh that wine isn’t just about smelling and uh tasting it’s about Vision it’s about Vision um also when it comes to tasting it’s not just like the flavor it’s also the mouth feel how does it feel in your mouth which sounds weird to be having a discussion about it especially during the morning on a Wednesday or Tuesday whatever it is but yeah how it feels in your mouth is it heavy is it light is it soft is it rough like that also has a lot to do with what it is I think um wanted cuz I uh there’ll be people maybe thinking I was picking on my wife then it’s just that I know so little about food and drink in general and she’s quite good with that kind of stuff so for for me it was a big victory to win one of those rounds uh but I do admit that I’m a I’m the idiot in the room when it comes to why and I think it kind of would be fun to rectify that in 25 minutes if possible okay possible I mean I got my work cut out for me challenge accepted but I also want to talk about you and what you do and uh and uh you know like uh you do sort of wine to we were talking about this before we pressed record and you sort of have a modern take on the wine tasting which kind of to me when people say wine tasting I think stuffy rooms some old guy telling me what I should be seeking in The Taste and stuff like that yes and that was that due for a change that is one way to go about it that is not the way I go about it I take people to wine bars and I want them to have practic iCal knowledge when they leave I want them to leave my tasting and be able to give you one or two sentences about the wine they had or a wine that they really enjoy because that way they can take that information and use that again and again they can go into another Wine Bar they can go into a restaurant they can go into a wine shop and they can like they can describe the wine that they want so whatever wine that we have I always ask them at the end after we talk through it like okay if you want to get this wine again how would you describe it and then I help them work through that description because so many people feel so uncomfortable when the bartender the waiter or they’re at a wine shop and the person is like okay well what are you looking for they’re like uh I want a wine yeah with a fruit in it I’m like you have narrowed it down not at all like help I’m glad you said that cuz I feel like that I had a glass of wine last night mhm and the guy says what do you want and I said fruity do you know why I said fruity cuz I panicked I didn’t even know what I want I didn’t even know what I wanted I just you know what I wanted I wanted something cold that’s what I wanted you wanted a beer Oliver no I didn’t want a beer I wanted a wine I felt like a beers are too big you know they can be I wanted a nice wine that was cold and I didn’t really know and I panicked okay can we do a little like therapy session first yes like can you just help me out with that order what I should be getting okay so you want cold in thinking cold you probably don’t necessarily want fruity or if you do want fruity you want more citrus fruit because with citrus fruit thinking orange lemon lime grapefruit that Citrus is going to come across as um like tart or more acidic and that will also give you the Sensation that it is colder or like fresh like a slice of lemon in my Coca-Cola absolutely right that also um minerality which people argue about that word but think of like um Stony chalky um how it smells after it rains like how like the ground smells like you will get characteristics of that in wine that will also come across as it will make it seem colder as opposed to something that is maybe more apple or red fruit that comes across as fruity whereas what you want it cold you probably wanted more of a sensation of citrus and like that tartness do you teach people how to say it in French as well or you just do an English thing I have done it in French because I have to do it to the waiter usually in French yeah what do you think I should have said to him last night um probably yeah so like you want it soft and then more a gosh and do you think like in general I was just at a very typical Bistro kind of place in the 12th hour this month very nondescript do you think that waiter would have been able to fulfill the request in general yes how come because most places will have something like what you ask for usually it’s going to be in the form of Savon BL so it’s on sale um now if you want to start going more deeper and getting into more I hate to say random but more um if you want different grapes then the beastro probably wouldn’t have that but if you want something um Citrus or if you want something a little more full-bodied as a white wine they will have that for you I got question for you when you go and you just fancy a glass of wine somewhere how many different like variables like how many different wines do you think you could request that you would actually want to drink do you get what I mean like if I go to I hate to I hate to say this but if I go to McDonald’s right I know that I like McDonald’s so I know but it makes me seem so in a place it sounds UNC in a wine conversation but I know at McDonald’s I’ve visited McDonald’s my whole life right I know that there’s basically three or four things I want there mhm Max and I am really straight from that so how many things are there that you would ask for in a year oh in a year yeah but is it like two or three always or is it like 700 probably closer to 700 no way okay maybe not 700 but like maybe 10 white and red things that I know are good every time really now veering off and say we going to natural wine then I never know what I want and I just let them pick for me what’s the deal with natural wine how much time do we have we have one minute for that so natural wine is just it’s weird to say like it’s natural it’s nothing added nothing taken away so it’s no extra yeast added it’s no um acidification no extra sugar added and then in the end it’s nothing taken away they don’t find it they don’t clarify it they don’t do anything they just let it be and then they put it in a bottle right problem with that is and problem put that in quotes sometimes I need the chemicals not me but just to make the wine more stable to make it um look the way we’re used to Wine looking um most natural wine is a little cloudy in the glass and some people just want to see a wine that is clear you don’t want to look like you poured something like there’s dust in the wine and they just swirled it around like that’s not the look you’re necessarily going for also I don’t feel like the flavor is always um indicative of the grape like I can’t blind taste a natural wine and figure out what it is so they you know those um you seen I’m sure you’ve seen those videos where someone like the pro the ultimate Pro smells oh I’ve have gone to those competitions and watched them they had the best somier in the world competition here last year or year before last maybe it was last year so I went and watched that was so intense they brought out the wines there were four of them and then they had had to figure out what they were what the grape was what the region was maybe the producer and then the year and then to top that off after they finished with the four they brought out two rocks and they were like okay two rocks two rocks and they were like all right which rock goes with which one what I was like what do you mean Rock like a like a round Stone like a round Stone they brought out a piece of rock okay and I think it was like shist and like maybe limestone I was like they SM what happened and so they were like okay let’s go back and taste these you can actually taste Stone in wine and that’s kind of what I meant earlier when I said minerality so what the vines grow in grow up through and all of that some of that flavor is imparted to the wine so they go so these guys go okay they they took a look at the Rock they touch it sniff it anything like that all of those things are you kid they put their tongue on it no so they look at I I would have to but that’s fascinating to me how did that make it on to social media and it’s on the video is on YouTube from the whole thing I play it in classes now I’m like guys look at this wow that’s really something it was fascinating it goes so deep it shows that I’m hardly scraping the surface with my uh yeah and also I’m not sure I want to know wine like that because if I it is and I feel like if you know it like that then can you really share it with other people that are just you know just learning it also I feel like it makes it hard to just have a nice glass of wine with a friend if you’re thinking about licking the rock that it came from that part you can’t just enjoy it you’re swirling it siing like I get hints of I’m like I’m just with my girlfriends I just want to have this glass and not worry if it’s apple or pear like whatever it reminds me of they say you it’s really hard to watch a movie with a um with like a special effects expert or something cuz they watch it and they go well that’s not a real exposure is it be like well there’s a hole in the plot yeah yeah can you be quiet please exactly just let me enjoy my fantasy land before we get into the wine tours that you do in Paris and Beyond there’s something we you chatted about before you’re like a triple threat of minorities yes I’m curious about this um because I want to know if it’s a big deal for you if it’s something that you um like if it’s something that’s your strength or if it’s something you just push to the side and get on with uh a little of both um I look at it in the beginning um I didn’t pay that much attention to it because I was like no I’m just really good at what I do so it’ll be fine but as time went on I started realizing like okay um I’m American I know y all didn’t know that because my accent CLE let’s get let’s let’s tackle this you’re from Chicago right from Chicago southside what is southide me just it’s I get I get it’s a north and a West and then a South it’s not really an east side but southide and what is for people like me what is it’s southide Good Side Bad Side I mean of course I’m going to say it’s a good side it’s just different different neighborhoods yeah where you most likely to have bumped into Michael Jordan in the ’90s Southside downtown downtown downtown or north side did you ever bump into him no never well okay next anecdote okay so you’re America you’re that would have been fun you’re American and that’s uh America and then also the Chicago part and especially the Southside part um I bring that up just because that isn’t something that you would think about like oh yeah so she grew up around wine or she knew wine it’s not like I grew up in like Napa or just fing York I didn’t come into wine until later later in adult life and I say later later because I was in grad school and I was like this is hard I should drink until so that time so you wine in the States before you came to Paris before I came to how long have you been in Paris been it’ be 10 years this fall it’s about the same as me man yeah we should have we can do a joint party I was you do the wine I do the podc done I’m sorry did they hear that done okay okay but yeah so I didn’t really think about it at first but as time went on I started like people would say certain things I think I didn’t think about it or it didn’t really affect me at first because when I first got here I didn’t speak French and so people would say things about me and I didn’t understand what they were saying so they probably were talking about me and I just didn’t get it there there there’s something good about that absolutely I quite like it worked in my favor because it didn’t bother me what people say about me that I don’t understand or that isn’t said directly to me I mean I’m not going to worry about that I love it I think I think that’s you know when some even today I assume you speak pretty good french I speak pretty good french but if some person walks past and mutters something maybe about me or not and you don’t hear it who cares who cares and I actually think that is so clutch because people now with social media and everything people say so much people everybody has a voice that is a good thing and a bad thing and so some stff people just say I’m like oh well I don’t get that so yeah yeah moving right it’s it has to give be an advantage okay moving right along yeah and like I was saying before I go for people who go for me yeah I’m not going to try to force you to like me I’m not trying to kick this door down you need to like me and no you like me or you don’t yeah yeah great great and so how about being a woman that’s the second minority for people in terms of in terms of in terms of yeah in terms of mostly dudes doing this mostly dudes and mostly old dudes yeah um mostly white dudes white old dudes yeah yeah yeah um they look at me crazy sometimes do they really do you get on with them what what’s the I do um now I think what has really happened for me is I Network a lot I’m at a lot of wine events a lot of wine tastings I go to conferences and they see me so often coign right and so that helped me out a lot that helped me out and is helping me out a lot by just knowing um people yeah and showing up and showing up if you don’t get anything else from this podcast which I mean I hope you do cuz we are talking about wine um show up yeah show sometimes it is just showing up over and over and over again so show up at the wine shop and what about uh how many black people are doing wine in Paris oh it’s not that many I’m starting to know more um cuz I actively look for them but yeah it’s still not that many um I don’t know why that is the case here I think um there may be a few factors uh they coming to play with that that um that seems like more if you get in whyne usually you start in a restaurant and so that’s more service and people aren’t necessarily interested in service jobs or they get stuck in the service part and never get to the wine car yeah um and then also I know cuz since we’re in France we’re talking largely like uh we’re talking black we’re talking an African population uh I think religion has a lot to do with it too and a lot of them are Muslim and so then there is no drinking there interesting interesting I think that plays into it but you don’t uh that I see you you don’t push that triple threat of minorities as your sort of business card I don’t because when a lot of times can I just say something when I say Triple Threat it sounds like a negative word I’m using the basketball Oh no you’re using it in the best sense of the word I think triple threat I think Chicago Bulls three p ex all those things that’s exactly what I was thinking good one same P Triple Threat no I was all on board for cool Sorry these bracelets are making so much noise that’s right it’s it’s just like a wine podcast is sound people are visualizing the bracelets now they’re on the table right now on the table cuz I’m moving my hands so it’s not your calling card it’s uh no it’s not my calling card because when a lot of times when people try to push that and be like oh what about this and then that’s all they talk about I’m like just let me be the expert that I am and not me just have this conversation about diversity or mixing or anything like that just let me be the diversity let me speak about what I speak about and then and I mean everything else will fall in place perfect well let’s get onto the wine bars and what you do yes you’re not sitting in some dusty old I actually like the dusty old caves I do like a car from time to time yeah yeah what do you say in English it’s not it’s not cave is it you can’t say cave I’ll come take you into the cave for some wine tasting sell sell Sellar I didn’t even know the word I was like what is what is the English word cuz I speak French now so what is the English word but you’re uh you’re more about going to cool new places and cool new places trying out wine bars taking people to wine bars just so they can um I just want them to be able to put what they learn into practice like immediately so can you walk me through what one of your um wine toys is like sure I will have them meet me um usually people take taxis now which that’s a conversation for another day so they just show up right at the wine bar depending on which one we go to um I’ll have a table already there and then and um just kind of talk to them a little bit about my background because that is a question they ask and then I’ll order sparkling wine I like to start with sparkling wine because people don’t drink sparkling wine enough people think sparkling wine is just for um celebrations just for parties or graduations or weddings and I’m like no it’s Tuesday we made it let’s let’s toast it up let’s toast it up you’re in Paris let’s cheers chin chin and so we do that I talk them through uh some flavors I have an aroma wheel that I bring out so we can speak specifically to what do you taste what do you smell then we’ll talk a little more and then we’ll go through um another wine depending on where we are I order food there uh if I don’t order food there then we will go to another place and then we’ll get another wine and then order food there and then really get into the conversation depending on the group we either do two or three places and why it depends some people get to the second place and we love it here we’re staying yeah okay because I imagine they’re not spitting out the wi that they’re they’re spitting nothing out and since this is wine bars are doing full glasses you know if you do a tasting you do just a tasting so it’s tasting poor and are these private groups or is like semi private groups all private okay yeah I used to do uh groups and have those featured on websites and things like that but that just never worked so now all private all the time you know what I get the sense from you uh cuz we do similar things a little bit I do walking tours which people come and I show them around but I get the sense that you if people said to you oh this is cool we want to stay in this bar that you’d be like this is awesome I’ll stay with you you guys are fun I’m having fun whereas if people on my tour said we’ll finish here I just I would say no we’ll finish the tour that I scripted am I right yeah because yours is more um like you just said scripted in the sense of there is there are other places for you to show them what I would show them in another bar they could essentially get at the one bar yeah yeah but also I think you might be more fun than I am I think you you you feel maybe not me myself maybe it’s the wine talk yeah maybe maybe cuz after a few glasses they get a little the conversation from the beginning to the end is a little different what about the professionalism of it are you drinking as well I’m not okay I was going to say because after like three or four glasses or whatever you have it might be hard to hit that Finish Line and go I got to go to hit the Finish Line to make sense to make sure they’re safe to move around to still keep um uh myself together and also if I’m doing two or three tastings a week I can’t drink with them like that true like what about my liver yeah true what about my kidneys but do you taste it a little bit I do yeah yep I will taste if I drink with them at all it will be the first one it would be the sparkling and then I still don’t even drink that like I’ll just taste that um take a sip of that yeah and that’s it cuz I can’t the other three I know what those taste like I know what those smell like so I can still talk them through it at this point what about um you now you live in the trendy Canal area yes does that mean you keep the tour around there I don’t not at all no I don’t a tour in my own neighborhood really well how do you pick which neighborhood to do I pick which neighborhood based on uh bars proximity to each other yeah I need at at least three bars that I can walk to within 5 to 7 minutes because once people start drinking they’re not trying to walk 15 minutes to another course of course also I’m largely dealing with Americans who aren’t used to walking sure so we need to keep it close and we need to keep it together yeah and so that’s what I do so do you always do the same uh tour or if people are like hey I’m in the um I don’t know wh thing in a hotel in the 16th do you go oh come out to the 16th then no I do it in the same I have four three or four neighborhoods so you’re like a regular at these at these places can you drop some names of some places that uh that everyone should go and visit a few the reason I hesitate the reason I hesitated is sometimes I’m like oh I Love This Bar so much I want everybody to know but then I’m like wait I also want to be able to get in when I go so I’m like I got to keep it a secret the precarious Zone I live in I live in this space that you’re talking about I’m like I want you to succeed and I want you to do well and go viral but then I need to come in here and I know this happens to you often but every now and then I’ll be out at a wine bar or somewhere and it’s like oh excuse me are you are you girl me’s glass I’m like hi now I can’t act the way I want to act I’m like oh just one glass you know what I did for that I’ve got places like uh lelon Cafe always talk about it always there if people want to find me they know that people come looking for me there and then my other regular spots I’ve never mentioned okay so I can sit there and uh you know meet someone like you and have a chat I’m going to ask for those after turn off the Record but what about uh you can give us some okay some places that I really enjoy um Freddy’s I think that’s the sixth off of rud desen that’s either five or six near Odon right um Freddy’s is fantastic um it’s a place called labas it looks a little divy it’s in m it looks a little DIY but their wine selection is amazing yeah and leavon everybody knows about this place so it’s not like I’m giving a secret they have three locations I like the big location the one in the covered Market because they have seats there which covered Market which one the San J and cover Market ah yeah it’s an Apple Store over there a uni clo yeah yeah yeah but this one um that butter they give you bread if you order food and drink or whatever and then they have this big Mount of butter that you just kind of scoop off of and then take that I love that the reason you’re recommending a wine bar is the butter I mean the wine clearly but also as an added the butter the salted butter is chef’s kiss oh wow even though a chef didn’t do that that was cows but yeah chef’s kiss um Ur Devon which I really like it’s near garor so if people are catching the Euro star or they’re just around that area I think that’s the ninth you really take your soul of right now great yeah how do you know that you given us four can you give us one more or am I pushing my luck no you’re not I’m trying to think of one other place another place that’s um actually kind of new I went there last week it’s called juicy C it’s natural and it’s um in the 10th not far from the canal okay perfect so I I really sharing those addresses with everybody uh as well as links to to your stuff I’m curious about when you go like when you out looking let’s say you haven’t read something online you’re just looking for a cool place to have a glass of wine when you walk into an establishment how quickly do you know if it’s got a good selection like what’s the telltale signs I know pretty quickly I will ask if they have um sometimes I look at the menu cuz you know people have the menu outside I’ll look at the menu kind of see what they have I’ll see what the seating is like a lot of times um if I’m looking to just have a glass of wine I don’t want to go into like the wine bar restaurant where I know I have to order food um I just want a place that has you know the small tables with the high chairs I know that’s going to be a place I can just go in and get a glass and then leave so I can tell by the way it looks wow um if they have never thought about that if they have the glasses and the napkins and the forks out the fork and knife out I’m like no I but is there like a wine that if you walk in and you say hey do you have XYZ and they say yes you go oh yeah I’m on something good like the secret wine no because places are so different here based on what they have uh depends on where the owner is from depends on what the owner likes like some owners are from say they’re from the south and they’re from the Ron Valley so they will have a lot of wines from their own Valley they’re from burgundy or from North they will have a lot of wines from that area so it all depends can I ask you a a question that has a half an hour answer okay I’ll try to half a minute answer okay 30 minutes to 30 seconds why do you like wine so much I think it’s going take me 30 minutes to figure it out um to give like a concise answer I enjoy wine so much because when I came to know about wine I came to know it from The Taste but then as I learned about it understanding How It’s Made how it depends on the soil and the sunlight and the rainfall and the slope of the land not even so much wine maker intervention but with all of those other things to go into it to get you this bottle and this glass all of that is fascinating to me it’s not like orange juice where orange juice is going to taste the same if I get orange from Australia versus California versus Chile if I get a cabernet svon from Bordeaux from California from chil they will taste different and then if I get one next year then that will taste different than the year before that is so fascinating to me a lot of yes yeah do you have the same approach to food some food I mean of course I have it to cheese now because we are in France and if you don’t like cheese then well something wrong with you in this country I’m not saying you yourself no no do you drink do you drink beer I do but I don’t like beer across the board I just like blonde or blanch and what’s your favorite what’s your go-to wine go-to wine if it’s white and I’m out somewhere shin and Blanc so shinan Blanc from the lir valley if it’s red and this also is for the listeners too when they’re just like I don’t know what I want to order I just want to wait a cult derone is going to work every day I’m glad you said that cuz I just had a flashback to about eight years ago on this podcast I had a French lady she was a comedian but she said to me she she was like if you want to just seem a little bit more sophisticated order K and not bordo yes and I think I’ve been doing that for eight years just it works but I might do the same for why what did you say sh sh okay uh cuz otherwise people will say s and then they’ll be like oh are you American so like interesting don’t do that do a sh well I propose two things I propose you say the best place for people to follow you online and find out more about your stuff what’s that that would be social media Instagram girl meets glass yep and for Australia listeners that’s glass oh thank you gloss can you do a straight accent that’s oh you don’t want to you don’t want to hear that I kind too you don’t want GL girl meets glass on Instagram search Tanisha town and I’ll put links down below uh and I would like to come on one of your tours so I’m going to come and uh come and drink at a wine bar with me no I’d like I think that’ be really fun so we’ll schedule try not to get you drunk I don’t mind it’s all right if it’s for work if it’s part it’s research research I love it no I’d love to come and do that I think that would be really fun so that’s something uh I’ll take lots of pictures and we’ll make an evening out of it yes uh but uh there’s lots more to talk about so we’ll have to have you back on the show at some point oh we’re done yeah yeah time run look 30 minutes has already passed what yeah I told you’d go quick all right that say something that you wanted to say that you didn’t get a chance to I mean I always have things to say well that just means we need to have a part two part two part two part two on location that’s what I like to hear Tanisha thank you for coming on the eful tower and uh thanks for teaching me so much about wine thank you it was a pleasure well the pleasure was mine and I’ll just round things out by saying if you want to find Tanisha girl meets glass is the name of the social media I’ll links so you can find her tours in the show notes below uh as for this podcast the earful tower if you enjoy it if you want to get more from it uh become a patreon supporter and keep these wheels spinning around patreon.com thee earful Tower you probably noticed there’s no ads on this episode that’s the only ad become a patron member and of course check out Tanisha for more about wine thanks for listening I’ll be back again next week with another episode my name’s Oliver G and this is the eful tower podcast [Music] [Music] [Music]