The Lost Vintage

“I had spent enough time in France to know that the words 'chez moi' meant something a thousand times more profound than one's current home. 'Chez moi' was the place your parents came from, or maybe even the region of your parents' parents. The food you ate at Christmas, your favorite kind of cheese, your best childhood memories of summer vacation -- all of these derived from 'chez moi.' And even if you had never lived there, 'chez moi' was knitted into your identity; it colored the way you viewed the world and the way the world viewed you.”

“Liberté. The word could have so many different interpretations: Freedom from oppression. Freedom from the past. Freedom to stand up to injustice. To remain and fight for one’s values was surely as important a legacy as the terroir itself.”

“But though the pursuit of pleasure was encouraged, ambition was considered unseemly. Hard work had to be hidden, and success needed to appear effortless, even accidental. It”

“The wine sleeps in the bottle, but still it is changing—evolving,” Jean-Luc had told us. “And when the cork is removed, it breathes again, and comes awake. Like a fairy tale. Un conte de fées.”

“Instead, we have simply readjusted our limits of tolerance.”

“this is the only place I’ve ever lived. Know what I mean? How will I ever grow up if I don’t leave?”

“wonder if this war could actually be a form of alchemy—changing us, testing us, until each of us has revealed the truest part of our souls.”

“At this point, my “chez moi” was more a space within myself—the dreams and ambitions that I carried with me—rather than any tangible place.”