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-Short Attention Span Theater-
Connoisseurs? Seven Out of 10 French 'Know Little about Wine'
2014-09-04
[An Nahar] It's enough to make you choke on your Chablis. In La Belle France, the land of good food and world-famous wine, seven of out 10 people admit they are far from connoisseurs when it comes to the grape.

Responding to the question: "Do you have the feeling you have a good knowledge of wine?" a surprising 71 percent of French people replied in the negative, with only three percent saying they had "a lot" of knowledge.

It appeared that social class has a great deal of influence over one's wine appreciation -- 43 percent of white-collar workers claimed to be connoisseurs but only 16 percent of blue-collar employees.

Polling company Viavoice said this showed a "very elitist" approach to wine in La Belle France but also the "real or imagined feeling for several households faced with tight budgets that they cannot afford quality wine."

Viavoice surveyed 1,015 adults between May 28 and 30 for the poll that was published in the Terre de Vins magazine on Tuesday.
Posted by:Fred

#11  Seven out of 10 French are muslims or children?
Posted by: rjschwarz   2014-09-04 21:32  

#10  California wine is good, Napa Valley wine rocks.
Posted by: swksvolFF   2014-09-04 20:34  

#9  Because for good wine you have to go to Italy.

Dunno how often you've been to California but you might wanna try it sometime. We're not all liberal loonies and some of the wine is very good.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305   2014-09-04 16:01  

#8  Scottish remark was Carrier JFM.
Posted by: Shipman   2014-09-04 15:42  

#7  If I have to use any tools to open the wine, it takes too long; just be careful when you sniff the cap not to pass it too close to your nose, otherwise the metal burr on it will cut.

My default favorite vintage is Wednesday.
Posted by: USN, Ret.   2014-09-04 15:15  

#6  My intro to wine was on a business trip to Oz.

My "mentor" told me all I needed to know.

1) Try everything.
2) Drink what you like when you like.
3) Don't drive afterward.

Prosit.
Posted by: AlanC   2014-09-04 13:10  

#5  Chien Fou, Nouvelle-Angleterre
quinze, une bonne annee
Posted by: swksvolFF   2014-09-04 09:46  

#4  The French know everything they need to know about wine and that is:

"Only French wines atre any good. Everything else is sh.t". At least that is what the French media tell them. Then when you point them at how wines of other countries like United States and Spain are coping international competitions French MSM tell: "These are demagogic wiones tuned to win competitions. They are still sh..t".

However an observation: the standards for telling you know about wine can be different depending on counytries. In a country where there are hundreds of wines you can feel you know little if you only know fifty of them. In, say, Scotland you could think you are an expert if you can distinguish between a white and a red wine.
Posted by: JFM   2014-09-04 09:40  

#3   It took every ounce of my willpower not to punch him in the face, hogtie the SOB and throw him in his trunk....

Stay thirsty my friends.
Posted by: Besoeker   2014-09-04 09:13  

#2  I had a (former) client who was a wine snob. I did some work for him, he paid me with a few bottles, giving me the standard wine snob description for each bottle while cradling every bottle like he was holding a newborn. It took every ounce of my willpower not to punch him in the face, hogtie the SOB and throw him in his trunk.
Posted by: Raj   2014-09-04 09:03  

#1  Because for good wine you have to go to Italy.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2014-09-04 05:50  

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