Wine drinking in France sucks poll

[Gerhard_P]

Sitting in my hotel room in Lyon, laughing at this poll, after my wife and I just finished a wonderful meal, with wine, at Restaurant Les Adrets. Total bill for both of us was 99 Euro.

Enjoy!
Visited Cote-Rotie?

[Joe_S]

French dining is dead at retail.

[Tim_York]

I live in France in the Calvados département.

There is no difficulty in eating both well and badly in France but, with minimal research online and in the Michelin and Gault Millau guides as well as person to person advice, it is easy to avoid the latter and only experience the former. Good wine lists are more hit and miss. Within a 45 minute driving radius from here, there is only one restaurant AFAIK (the Pavé d’Auge at Beuvron-en-Auge) which proposes a really extensive but highly priced wine list with an expert sommelier able to give good advice on wine/food matches; there are also good wine by the glass choices. There are, however, very few mature vintages available.

That said, it is usually possible at other good food restaurants to find a decent wine, even if the choice is limited to safety-first sources like Jadot and Chapoutier.

In Paris and wine growing regions, wine choice can be more extensive but in the latter mainly confined to the region itself. I have several times dined in a restaurant in a wine growing region and have made my way next day to the estate to buy more of a local wine recommended by the sommelier and drunk with my meal.

[Ross_Massey]

People like Alan remind me why I dropped out of wine boards 10 years ago.

Drop off again, nobody will miss you

You’ve done more than anyone else, including Nathan Smyth, to lower the quality of discussion on this board. Why don’t you do us all a favor and keep your idiotic opinions to yourself?

[Ian_S]

You’ve done more than anyone else, including Nathan Smyth, to lower the quality of discussion on this board. Why don’t you do us all a favor and keep your idiotic opinions to yourself?

NO!!! Who wants to be bored all the time? Without demons, there can be no divine. Ying and yang. Alan brings that balance.

[Craig_G]

People like Alan remind me why I dropped out of wine boards 10 years ago.

Drop off again, nobody will miss you

You’ve done more than anyone else, including Nathan Smyth, to lower the quality of discussion on this board. Why don’t you do us all a favor and keep your idiotic opinions to yourself?

-1.

Nathan is just a boring troll. Alan is a Berserker.

[Chris_Seiber]

What would anyone think if a European came to the US and wrote the following:

I went to California where the food and wine is all supposed to be fabulous. I went into a restaurant that seems to be very popular called Applebees. The food was very mediocre and the wine list terrible. Then, the next night I went into Outback. I guess the steaks were ok (but the wait was horrific). Again, the wines were terrible. All American restaurants seem to be terrible and the wine drinking in the US sucks.

I will note that I, like I expect many of you, have encountered a number of French and other Europeans who rather gleefully stereotype American in this very way. Like we eat at McDonalds every day. It’s a cherished view over there.

[Howard_Cooper]

What would anyone think if a European came to the US and wrote the following:

I went to California where the food and wine is all supposed to be fabulous. I went into a restaurant that seems to be very popular called Applebees. The food was very mediocre and the wine list terrible. Then, the next night I went into Outback. I guess the steaks were ok (but the wait was horrific). Again, the wines were terrible. All American restaurants seem to be terrible and the wine drinking in the US sucks.

I will note that I, like I expect many of you, have encountered a number of French and other Europeans who rather gleefully stereotype American in this very way. Like we eat at McDonalds every day. It’s a cherished view over there.

It is as prejudiced and silly as the views of the OP on France. Both are grounded in ignorance and stereotyping, reflect everything that is wrong with the world today, and I condemn each of them.

[John_Morris]

Drop off again, nobody will miss you

You’ve done more than anyone else, including Nathan Smyth, to lower the quality of discussion on this board. Why don’t you do us all a favor and keep your idiotic opinions to yourself?

-1.

Nathan is just a boring troll. Alan is a Berserker.

+1

[Howard_Cooper]

You’ve done more than anyone else, including Nathan Smyth, to lower the quality of discussion on this board. Why don’t you do us all a favor and keep your idiotic opinions to yourself?

-1.

Nathan is just a boring troll. Alan is a Berserker.

+1

In other words, each is truly awful in their own unique way?

[Jonathan_Loesberg]

What would anyone think if a European came to the US and wrote the following:

I went to California where the food and wine is all supposed to be fabulous. I went into a restaurant that seems to be very popular called Applebees. The food was very mediocre and the wine list terrible. Then, the next night I went into Outback. I guess the steaks were ok (but the wait was horrific). Again, the wines were terrible. All American restaurants seem to be terrible and the wine drinking in the US sucks.

I will note that I, like I expect many of you, have encountered a number of French and other Europeans who rather gleefully stereotype American in this very way. Like we eat at McDonalds every day. It’s a cherished view over there.

I have never noticed this. Although French intellectuals are frequently anti-US and have stereotypes about American lack of culture, most of the French I meet–admittedly I am not in Paris that much–are biased in favor of Americans (even taking into account their attitude toward Trump, who may have done more than his share to weaken Marine Le Pen in the last election).

[Ian_S]

Nathan is just a boring troll. Alan is a Berserker.

Wish I had thought of that.

[Greg_Malcolm]

Sitting in my hotel room in Lyon, laughing at this poll, after my wife and I just finished a wonderful meal, with wine, at Restaurant Les Adrets. Total bill for both of us was 99 Euro.

But admit it, you drank Red Bicyclette from thick undersized rental condo type wine glasses, right?

Chris – You pegged the wine glasses, but the wine was very good. I started with a Marsanne from the Vienne area for my starter and switched to a Beaujolais for my main plate. My wife started with Chablis and her second glass was Cote Rotie. All for 6 Euro per glass. If it is possible to get this good of food and wine in the U.S. for this price, I haven’t found it.

[Alan_Eden]

What would anyone think if a European came to the US and wrote the following:

I went to California where the food and wine is all supposed to be fabulous. I went into a restaurant that seems to be very popular called Applebees. The food was very mediocre and the wine list terrible. Then, the next night I went into Outback. I guess the steaks were ok (but the wait was horrific). Again, the wines were terrible. All American restaurants seem to be terrible and the wine drinking in the US sucks.

I will note that I, like I expect many of you, have encountered a number of French and other Europeans who rather gleefully stereotype American in this very way. Like we eat at McDonalds every day. It’s a cherished view over there.

It is as prejudiced and silly as the views of the OP on France. Both are grounded in ignorance and stereotyping, reflect everything that is wrong with the world today, and I condemn each of them.

You condemn me, which basically means you want me to die, yet im the asshole ???

[J_O_S_H_L_O_N_G]

People like Alan remind me why I dropped out of wine boards 10 years ago.

Drop off again, nobody will miss you

You’ve done more than anyone else, including Nathan Smyth, to lower the quality of discussion on this board. Why don’t you do us all a favor and keep your idiotic opinions to yourself?

No. I like the debate. Keep it up, Alan.

[Greg_Malcolm]

Sitting in my hotel room in Lyon, laughing at this poll, after my wife and I just finished a wonderful meal, with wine, at Restaurant Les Adrets. Total bill for both of us was 99 Euro.

Enjoy!
Visited Cote-Rotie?

Unfortunately, not. I’m here in Lyon for business meetings. Heading to Chambery tomorrow to visit a customer. My experience with eating/drinking in France – Paris or otherwise – is radically different that Alan’s.

[John_Morris]

It is as prejudiced and silly as the views of the OP on France. Both are grounded in ignorance and stereotyping, reflect everything that is wrong with the world today, and I condemn each of them.

You condemn me, which basically means you want me to die, yet im the *sshole ???

No, Alan, he did not condemn you. Read his post. He condemned the views he described – Americans who hold stereotypes of the French and vice versa.

And no one has called you an asshole.

You’re escalating the rhetoric without reading what people are saying.

[Herwig_Janssen]

Compared to Belgium :it sucks .
If you do a little research , it will be anywhere between ok and fabulous .
But once-in-a-while , if you enter a French restaurant , especially a pretentious one… and you have a lot of them in France , chances are that the proposed wines are overpriced or plainly suck . They are served in small glasses with thick rims … temperature too high … and if the wine is corked , you are a fool . If the vintage is different from what was on the wine list , who cares .
France is becoming a country with many relatively poor areas ( after so many socialist presidents , who can be surprised ) . They don’t have the money to offer decent wine service ( i.e wines by the glass , correct stemwear etc ) . Not Paris , Lyon , Bordeaux or Beaune . But Angouleme , Metz … those kind of places where everything is shutting down .

[Craig_G]

And no one has called you an *sshole.

You’re losing credibility here.

[paul_hanna]

What would anyone think if a European came to the US and wrote the following:

I went to California where the food and wine is all supposed to be fabulous. I went into a restaurant that seems to be very popular called Applebees. The food was very mediocre and the wine list terrible. Then, the next night I went into Outback. I guess the steaks were ok (but the wait was horrific). Again, the wines were terrible. All American restaurants seem to be terrible and the wine drinking in the US sucks.

I will note that I, like I expect many of you, have encountered a number of French and other Europeans who rather gleefully stereotype American in this very way. Like we eat at McDonalds every day. It’s a cherished view over there.

Actually, there were quite a lot of Americans at McDonalds on the Champs-Élysées…

Must admit we didn’t have a bad food or wine experience in France last year - actually quite the opposite…and wines by the glass from 6 euros up (to maybe 12-15 euros) I had one ordinary one (generic/boring - not faulty), the rest were generally quite drinkable, some were very good to excellent.

But then I guess, like most things, you only get out of it what you put in. A bit of simple research, and a few friends recommendations helped - really not that hard to do.