i love to meet passionate people. especially those who are in love with what they do for a living and are able to transcend this love, this passion and make something concrete out of it.

monday, joan and i met with wonderful pierre richard from l'atelier du vin, a french company which design and commercialize absolutely beautiful wine accessories.

ever since my trip to paris in 2004, i have been absolutely in love with their products. ok, ok... you may think i am strange to love corkscrews and the like. but they are not just corkscrews, decanters, glasses, and others. no. they are work of art, products of love, and more importantly, they are designed to increase the enjoyment of wine.

look at their glass l'explorer 5 for example, it has a specially conceived nerve in it to release the aromas of the wine. look at their chic lady corkscrew, beautifully designed in a classic shape and also versatile and easy to use.

atelier du vin is a family company and each of it member is formally trained and/or involved in some way with design, architecture, art and high fashion. they are passionate about design, about beauty, and about wine. in fact their passion for wine goes beyond drinking it, they are also grape growers in the champagne region.

their products are divided in 2 broad categories, "les outils", the tools to increase the enjoyment of wine: corkscrews and the like and "l'édition", the publications to help wine lovers learn and deepen their knowledge of wine.

the 1st item i bought was their aroma kit the wine discovery which consists of 40 small boxes with aroma crystals in them. with those i am able to practice my tasting skills and it includes a well designed and simple little book to guide me throught it.

check them out at www.atelierduvin.com to see where those lovely items are available close to you.