The Food of France

Daniel Bulliat, head of the Beaujolais-Beaujolais Village association, told a press conference in Tokyo on Thursday that selling the wine in plastic bottles runs counter to the growers’ traditions and image.

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A new pro-wine lobby with a budget of some 2m has been created to counter the effects of the French government’s ‘vilifying’ of wine. The move against the ‘prohibitionist agenda ravaging France’ was announced at the Hospices de Beaune last Sunday.

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Michelin awards Tokyo most 3-star restaurants in blow to Paris - Telegraph

“Tokyo remains by far the world capital of gastronomy and also has the most three-star restaurants,” said Jean-Luc Naret, the director of the legendary French food guide. Tokyo just pipped the City of Light to the post in the latest edition of the Michelin guide to the Japanese capital, with 11 eateries awarded the maximum three stars, compared to 10 in Paris. New York has four three-star restaurants and London was awarded just one in 2009.

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Helping You Know Your Bordeaux - NYTimes.com

A new Web site set up by the promotional body for the Bordeaux wine region of France will allow wine drinkers to get a little practice the night before, in the privacy of their own homes. On the site, people can post questions to a panel of sommeliers, who answer via video chats. The site, www.enjoybordeaux.com, is part of a €2 million, or $3 million, campaign by the Conseil Interprofessionel du Vin de Bordeaux that is aimed at lifting sales of the region’s wines in the United States, where they have fallen sharply during the recession. The campaign aims to introduce casual drinkers to wines priced at less than $35.

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Why Wine Ratings Are Badly Flawed - WSJ.com

Given the high price of wine and the enormous number of choices, a system in which industry experts comb through the forest of wines, judge them, and offer consumers the meaningful shortcut of medals and ratings makes sense. But what if the successive judgments of the same wine, by the same wine expert, vary so widely that the ratings and medals on which wines base their reputations are merely a powerful illusion? That is the conclusion reached in two recent papers in the Journal of Wine Economics.

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A bottle of wine, a shoe, and a brick wall. (via cptmarco)

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Critics doubt French wine-makers’ boasts of a vintage year - Times Online

It is the harvest of the century in Bordeaux, with exceptional weather conditions producing grapes so fine that dogs are turning vegetarian to eat them. That, at least, is what the region’s wine-makers would have you believe as they lavish praise on this year’s pickings. But the claims have prompted wry smiles from French critics and drinkers, who recall that Bordeaux’s châteaux said much the same thing about the 2005 vintage — as they did about 2003 and 2000.

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Crémant - Wine of the Week - Slashfood

Generally, crisp and celebratory, wines like cava, brut, Champagne and American sparkling wines probably won’t turn any heads if you bring them to an occasion that calls for bubbles. But Crémant, a French sparkling wine, can make a fashionable entrance. Although still a nouveau import to many areas of the U.S. it’s tres affordable. Most Crémants are priced under $20 a bottle.

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Who Says French Food Can't Be Friendly? : NPR

Think of “fine French cuisine” and you imagine pressed linen tablecloths, a lineup of wine glasses, tuxedoed waiters ferrying trays of oysters or silver-domed serving dishes. It’s an experience that has persisted for generations: formal, classical and expensive. But the definition of the quintessential French dining experience is evolving, thanks in part to one Paris chef. For eight years, Chef Christian Constant ran the kitchen at Crillon, one of the city’s top hotels, where he earned two coveted Michelin rating-system stars. But at the height of his success he left the hotel restaurant to branch out on his own.

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France, Land of Epicures, Gets Taste for McDonald’s - NYTimes.com

When McDonald’s France announced a plan to open a restaurant in the commercial mall under the Louvre, the scene appeared to be set for a new French controversy. The New World was about to strike at the heart of France’s most celebrated cultural symbol. The French would not take it lightly. Skip to next paragraph Enlarge This Image Owen Franken for The New York Times Some Parisians have not even heard of the plans by McDonald’s to open a restaurant in the Louvre. The basement of the museum already contains a shopping mall and a small food court.

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Ducasse accuses media of ignoring French

Alain Ducasse, the famous chef behind some of the world’s top French restaurants, on Monday accused media of falsely peddling the perception that French cuisine has been left behind by other, newer offerings.

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Pumpkin Eaters - NYTimes.com

M. Farigoule looked at me and shrugged, his expression a question mark. It was clear that he was not familiar with Halloween and its customs.

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Alain Ducasse Means Gourmet Culinary Success - ABC News

Every indicator points to Alain Ducasse having an extra helping of talent under his hat. He cooks dishes no one else could and serves them in ways no one else would. Share Chef Alain Ducasse reveals what tastes best during the Autumn. The results are almost always the same. Wherever he opens a restaurant, crowds and critics flip out. Ducasse comes by Michelin stars the way most people come by tires. His work has changed the world of eating as well as the lives of many of his proteges. It looks like talent — but Ducasse says it isn’t. In fact, the chef says he doesn’t really believe in talent.

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Pernod Ricard sales down 6 pct in first quarter - Forbes.com

French wine and spirits group Pernod Ricard SA says its sales fell 6 percent in the first quarter as crisis-hit European drinkers poured fewer bottles of its cognacs, whiskeys and vodkas.

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The Associated Press: 1788 cognac, 1875 wine on sale at Paris auction

The landmark Tour d’Argent restaurant, which dates back to 1582, is cleaning out its 450,000-bottle wine cellar, considered one of the best in the world. It is putting 18,000 bottles up for auction in December, an event that has captured the imagination of French wine lovers.

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