Parisian Christmas Market

By: Mona Ghanbarzadeh

Last week a few of us from the program went to the Christmas market in Tuileries Garden. We came across this hot wine. I thought it was hot chocolate at first, this was definitely a surprise to me. Vin Chaud is the French term for a fragrant and spiced mulled wine drink. People say it is similar to Swedish glögg and German glühwein. The drink is definitely on the sweeter side, of course it is hot, the consistency is not super thick, it is honestly just like regular red wine. 

As we were walking around there were A LOT of food and dessert options. Before I had my mulled wine I already ate so to pair with my sweet drink I wanted to find a dessert that would be tart/bitter. We came across this chocolate dipped fruit/donut shop. I got raspberries dipped in dark chocolate. It was delicious and really paired well with the sweet drink because they balanced each other out. 

Would I get this drink again? Honestly, yes, but only when on a special occasion (like another christmas market). I did not think it would taste good/I thought it would be wayyy too sweet for me, but I loved it! I believe it is because of the spices they added and the fact that it is warm. I think heating up the wine creates a new taste to it. As we learned in my Economics of Wine class offered by CIEE, a lot of different things change the taste of wine. I think the heat brings out greater flavors from the fruits and spices and it definitely reduces the alcohol content in the drink which probably also helps the flavor. 

The rest of the time we spent walking around tasting all the food and sweets that were offered. We went inside this Christmas maze ride thing which was really fun/funny. We took a look at all the little boutiques. It is definitely worth the visit while studying abroad during Christmas time in Paris. I could not wait to bring my mom here with me when she visits!