8 myths about French wine you really should stop believing
France makes good wine, most people accept that - but it also comes garlanded with an incredible amount of mythology, fake rules and just plain snobbery.
1 Champagne beats all other sparkling wines
Sparking wine produced within the Champagne area in northern France is undoubtedly the most famous of France's fizzy wine, perhaps the most famous in the world (although Cava and Prosecco also make a strong showing).
But it's far from the only area in France that produces sparkling wine - crémants are produced in many different areas from Alsace in the north down to Limoux in the south.
Which are best? Well it depends on the vintage, the grape and weather more than the region where it is produced - there are some great crémants d'Alsace, for example, and some not so good Champagnes (although plenty of Champagne is very good indeed).
Champagne does tend to be more expensive, but at least in part you are paying for the famous name (which is fiercely protected by the Champagne region's team of aggressive lawyers).
If you're celebrating a big event it might be nice to splash out on a bottle of Champagne, but for an ordinary Wednesday night plenty of French bars will sell limoux or other crémants by the glass for no more than the cost of any other wine.
2 It's considered elegant to spit, not swallow, at a wine tasting
The question of spit or swallow is a personal choice, but in fact spitting is not as widespread as some people would have you believe. The people who most usually spit are professional wine judges - and that's simply for practical reasons. If you're judging a wine concours you will usually taste dozens of different wines, and if you drink them all - even only a single sip - you will probably end up quite drunk.
If you go along to a tasting at a vineyard or wine cave, there will usually be a bucket in the middle of the table. That's not for spitting into - it's for emptying dregs from your glass.
During the tasting, the vineyard owner will pour you a generous glass of each wine, to allow you to appreciate the aroma and the taste. It's usual to get around six to eight different wines to taste, so if you drink the full glass of each you are likely to end up a little tiddly. For that reason most people take a sip, and then tip the dregs into the bucket.
If you do prefer to spit, however, the way to do it is spit the wine back into the glass, and then empty the glass into the bucket - don't act like you're in a cowboy movie and spit in the direction of the bucket.
9 tips for enjoying a French vineyard tour (and tasting)
3 Screw-tops mean a wine is bad
There's no intrinsic difference between a wine stored in a bottle with a cork and a bottle with a screw-top, except that your screw-top wine will not be 'corked' (when the wine reacts with the cork and goes bad, taking on a horrible, musty, mouldy taste).
It is true, however, that screw-tops are a lot less common in France than they are in other wine-producing nations like Australia.
This is really just a matter of tradition and consumer taste, however, with French wine drinkers thought less likely to buy a bottle with a screw-top (which means that vineyards tend to avoid them).
If you're storing wine it's a good idea to store the bottle horizontally if it has a cork - the reason is to keep the wine in contact with the cork which prevents the cork from drying out, as dried out corks are more likely to crumble and let in air, which taints the wine.
Ask the expert: 7 tips for choosing French wine
4 The wine-taster in a restaurant must give a full report
When you order a bottle of wine in a French restaurant the server will bring it to the table and ask you Qui va goûter ? (who's going to taste?).
Don't panic, you're not being asked to provide a detailed report on the wine explaining its top notes, bouquet and other wine-related jargon - you're just tasting it to check whether it is corked or not. If it's corked it will taste revolting, if it tastes fine then all you need to say is something like Oui, c'est bien (yes, it's fine) or maybe a more enthusiastic Oui, très bon (yes, really good).
If you're in a specialist wine place, the server may ask if you will like to try a certain wine (perhaps a house speciality) - if you try it and it's really not to your taste it's OK to just say that you don't like it and ask for another.
Servers should ask who wants to taste the wine - if you're in a couple and the server ignores the female diner and pours the wine for the man to taste, feel free to glare at them and say that actually the woman is tasting tonight - it's not 1865 any more.
5 Gold medals mean a wine is good
If you're buying wine at the supermarket or cave you will likely see plenty of bottles proudly bearing a gold (or silver) medal with details of wine competition that it has won.
These don't necessarily mean that the wine is good, however - producers have to pay to enter wine competitions so usually the well-known vineyards don't bother with them because they already have name recognition.
Having a medal doesn't mean that a wine is bad either, it just means that it won a certain competition - but you have no way of knowing how many other wines were entered and whether it beat the bottle next to it on the shelf.
Ask the expert: Do gold medals really mean that a wine is good?
6 Bio is better
In recent years, French wine bottles have been gaining some extra labels - bio, nature or biodynamique.
These refer to how the wine is made - in brief bio (organic) refers to how the grapes are grown (with no chemical fertilisers or pesticides) with méthode nature refers to how the wine is made, with no chemicals or preservatives added. They often go together but not always.
Biodynamique, on the other hand, has no legal definition, but means a wine that is made in a 'natural' way which for some means planting crops in accordance with the lunar calendar. People who go to the trouble of doing this generally also use bio grapes and produce their wines in a natural way.
While this might be an indication that the wine comes from a producer who really cares about their crop, a lack of chemicals is no indication that the wine tastes any better than non-bio wines - like all wines they have good years and bad years.
READ ALSO 5 things to know about organic wine
7 Women don't pour their own wine
You will occasionally meet Frenchmen who think this (although they tend to be both old and socially conservative), while you'll also find Frenchmen who insist on opening the bottle for you.
It is, however, 2023 and fortunately most people have caught onto this fact. If you meet someone who insists on sticking to the traditional methods, you're well within your rights to tell them (politely) that they are wrong.
If they try to tell you that women don't know about wine, you can point out that around a third of France's professional sommeliers are women. It's true that a woman is yet to win the Meilleur sommelier du monde competition (world's best sommelier) but Frenchwoman Pascaline Lepeltier was a runner-up this year, so she probably knows a thing or two about wine.
8 Expensive French wine won't give you a hangover
Ha - we wish!
There are a couple of reasons that French wine might give you slightly less of a hangover than some other types - the first is strength, French (and indeed European) wines tend to be less strong than New World wine which is mostly due to the sugar content of the grapes. Less alcohol obviously means less of a hangover, although there are some strong French wines too so it's a good idea to check the bottle.
There may also be some truth in the idea that wines with fewer additives are less likely to give you a headache, an idea that organic wine makers are naturally keen to encourage.
But if you drink enough of any kind of alcohol it will give you a hangover, unfortunately.
. . . It's just a question of taste
Find a true expert and they'll let you in the deepest, darkest secret in the wine world - the 'best' wine is the one that you enjoy the most. Whether it costs €1.99 or €1,900, if you like it (and you can afford it) then you should drink it, and ignore anyone who tries to tell you that your preferred tipple is no good.
There is only one reason to drink wine, and that is to enjoy yourself.
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1 Champagne beats all other sparkling wines
Sparking wine produced within the Champagne area in northern France is undoubtedly the most famous of France's fizzy wine, perhaps the most famous in the world (although Cava and Prosecco also make a strong showing).
But it's far from the only area in France that produces sparkling wine - crémants are produced in many different areas from Alsace in the north down to Limoux in the south.
Which are best? Well it depends on the vintage, the grape and weather more than the region where it is produced - there are some great crémants d'Alsace, for example, and some not so good Champagnes (although plenty of Champagne is very good indeed).
Champagne does tend to be more expensive, but at least in part you are paying for the famous name (which is fiercely protected by the Champagne region's team of aggressive lawyers).
If you're celebrating a big event it might be nice to splash out on a bottle of Champagne, but for an ordinary Wednesday night plenty of French bars will sell limoux or other crémants by the glass for no more than the cost of any other wine.
2 It's considered elegant to spit, not swallow, at a wine tasting
The question of spit or swallow is a personal choice, but in fact spitting is not as widespread as some people would have you believe. The people who most usually spit are professional wine judges - and that's simply for practical reasons. If you're judging a wine concours you will usually taste dozens of different wines, and if you drink them all - even only a single sip - you will probably end up quite drunk.
If you go along to a tasting at a vineyard or wine cave, there will usually be a bucket in the middle of the table. That's not for spitting into - it's for emptying dregs from your glass.
During the tasting, the vineyard owner will pour you a generous glass of each wine, to allow you to appreciate the aroma and the taste. It's usual to get around six to eight different wines to taste, so if you drink the full glass of each you are likely to end up a little tiddly. For that reason most people take a sip, and then tip the dregs into the bucket.
If you do prefer to spit, however, the way to do it is spit the wine back into the glass, and then empty the glass into the bucket - don't act like you're in a cowboy movie and spit in the direction of the bucket.
9 tips for enjoying a French vineyard tour (and tasting)
3 Screw-tops mean a wine is bad
There's no intrinsic difference between a wine stored in a bottle with a cork and a bottle with a screw-top, except that your screw-top wine will not be 'corked' (when the wine reacts with the cork and goes bad, taking on a horrible, musty, mouldy taste).
It is true, however, that screw-tops are a lot less common in France than they are in other wine-producing nations like Australia.
This is really just a matter of tradition and consumer taste, however, with French wine drinkers thought less likely to buy a bottle with a screw-top (which means that vineyards tend to avoid them).
If you're storing wine it's a good idea to store the bottle horizontally if it has a cork - the reason is to keep the wine in contact with the cork which prevents the cork from drying out, as dried out corks are more likely to crumble and let in air, which taints the wine.
Ask the expert: 7 tips for choosing French wine
4 The wine-taster in a restaurant must give a full report
When you order a bottle of wine in a French restaurant the server will bring it to the table and ask you Qui va goûter ? (who's going to taste?).
Don't panic, you're not being asked to provide a detailed report on the wine explaining its top notes, bouquet and other wine-related jargon - you're just tasting it to check whether it is corked or not. If it's corked it will taste revolting, if it tastes fine then all you need to say is something like Oui, c'est bien (yes, it's fine) or maybe a more enthusiastic Oui, très bon (yes, really good).
If you're in a specialist wine place, the server may ask if you will like to try a certain wine (perhaps a house speciality) - if you try it and it's really not to your taste it's OK to just say that you don't like it and ask for another.
Servers should ask who wants to taste the wine - if you're in a couple and the server ignores the female diner and pours the wine for the man to taste, feel free to glare at them and say that actually the woman is tasting tonight - it's not 1865 any more.
5 Gold medals mean a wine is good
If you're buying wine at the supermarket or cave you will likely see plenty of bottles proudly bearing a gold (or silver) medal with details of wine competition that it has won.
These don't necessarily mean that the wine is good, however - producers have to pay to enter wine competitions so usually the well-known vineyards don't bother with them because they already have name recognition.
Having a medal doesn't mean that a wine is bad either, it just means that it won a certain competition - but you have no way of knowing how many other wines were entered and whether it beat the bottle next to it on the shelf.
Ask the expert: Do gold medals really mean that a wine is good?
6 Bio is better
In recent years, French wine bottles have been gaining some extra labels - bio, nature or biodynamique.
These refer to how the wine is made - in brief bio (organic) refers to how the grapes are grown (with no chemical fertilisers or pesticides) with méthode nature refers to how the wine is made, with no chemicals or preservatives added. They often go together but not always.
Biodynamique, on the other hand, has no legal definition, but means a wine that is made in a 'natural' way which for some means planting crops in accordance with the lunar calendar. People who go to the trouble of doing this generally also use bio grapes and produce their wines in a natural way.
While this might be an indication that the wine comes from a producer who really cares about their crop, a lack of chemicals is no indication that the wine tastes any better than non-bio wines - like all wines they have good years and bad years.
READ ALSO 5 things to know about organic wine
7 Women don't pour their own wine
You will occasionally meet Frenchmen who think this (although they tend to be both old and socially conservative), while you'll also find Frenchmen who insist on opening the bottle for you.
It is, however, 2023 and fortunately most people have caught onto this fact. If you meet someone who insists on sticking to the traditional methods, you're well within your rights to tell them (politely) that they are wrong.
If they try to tell you that women don't know about wine, you can point out that around a third of France's professional sommeliers are women. It's true that a woman is yet to win the Meilleur sommelier du monde competition (world's best sommelier) but Frenchwoman Pascaline Lepeltier was a runner-up this year, so she probably knows a thing or two about wine.
8 Expensive French wine won't give you a hangover
Ha - we wish!
There are a couple of reasons that French wine might give you slightly less of a hangover than some other types - the first is strength, French (and indeed European) wines tend to be less strong than New World wine which is mostly due to the sugar content of the grapes. Less alcohol obviously means less of a hangover, although there are some strong French wines too so it's a good idea to check the bottle.
There may also be some truth in the idea that wines with fewer additives are less likely to give you a headache, an idea that organic wine makers are naturally keen to encourage.
But if you drink enough of any kind of alcohol it will give you a hangover, unfortunately.
. . . It's just a question of taste
Find a true expert and they'll let you in the deepest, darkest secret in the wine world - the 'best' wine is the one that you enjoy the most. Whether it costs €1.99 or €1,900, if you like it (and you can afford it) then you should drink it, and ignore anyone who tries to tell you that your preferred tipple is no good.
There is only one reason to drink wine, and that is to enjoy yourself.
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