The French Wine Culture in Côte d'Ivoire

You would not have imagined how amazing the wine culture is in this one costal nation in West Africa called Côte d'Ivoire, where I spent time as an expat. Having been a former French colony, the country inherits a lot of French culture, from architecture, education, customs, and most prominently the culinary culture. You could have authentic French cuisine like Andouillette and Frog legs, amazing bread from Paul and Eric Kayser, and even the airplane food on the local "Air Côte d'Ivoire" is pretty decent. 

Now, these cuisine are accompanied by decent wine. As in the case of many foods and supplies, Côte d'Ivoire imports a lot of wine varieties from France. These bottles can be found nicely displayed by region. For example, you will see in the photo, Bourgogne and Loire. What really intrigues me is that, amongst the two entire rows occupied by regions in France, there is a small section called "Vins Étranger," meaning "Foreign Wine." Here, you will find wines from countries other than France, such as those from Portugal, South Africa, and sometimes the US (California). It always makes me want to remind the supermarkets that "France is also foreign to Côte d'Ivoire", but I guess the wine culture is already embedded in the Ivorian culture!