The Beauty and the Beast & Princesse Joyeuse Vin Blanc

We're home!

After touring ten colleges around the Philadelphia area and a brief frolic through downtown, we have returned to our cats and our couch. (And I'm back amid my wine and my books.)




Since I wasn't quite ready to return to reality, I've picked a pairing to take me back on another journey- one that's familiar and strange all at once.

The Pairing

The Beauty and the Beast by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villaneuve and Princesse Joyeuse Vin Blanc


Spoiler alert... Disney didn't get it quite right. However, on the most important detail, they didn't change a thing: Beauty (aka Belle) is a kind, headstrong, optimistic bookworm. And, just like the movie, she ends up a princess, so only a royal wine will do. 


The reason this wine is a perfect match for this story has to do with the core of each. At the center of the TBATB is an unlikely love story. An extraordinarily attractive and smart and and benevolent woman falls in love with a gruff and simple and hideous monster. But, despite these contradictions, they create a bond strong enough to break a spell. 

Likewise, in this white blend, you find two unlikely ingredients: a sauvignon blanc and loin de l'oeil. Sauvignon blanc is widely popular, just sweet and easy. Loin de L'oeil, on the other hand, is not very popular due to it's difficulty to grow, tendency for rot, and finicky level of acidity. (I'll let you guess which is which in the Beauty/Beast matchup.) The combination creates a delicious, light, and pleasant wine. 


I finally got to use my favorite wine glass- it's from Epcot. Couldn't help but make that little Disney connection. :)

This particular edition of The Beauty and the Beast comes with amazing illustrations and sweet little interactive pages (like a swiveling card to show all of Beauty's new clothes). It's great to read the origination stories for my favorite Disney tales. This one has the added benefit of revealing details in the newly remade movie version that were inspired by the original story. For example, I remember jarring on Belle asking her father to bring her a rose from the fair. It seemed strange, like they were forcing the rose connection. But after reading this book, I realized that the new movie drew that directly from the original story! Now it takes on a whole new light. 

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Page 60

Beauty and the Beast merchandise is always recommended, but here are a few special pieces to accent your experience. A reminder about true love and a reminder about who is who. 

  

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