French
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• I am planning a trip to Paris. It would be of great assistance to know how to order wine in a restaurant
Question submitted by
Peter Thivierge
French wine culture is based on terroir and appellation: wine areas such as Chablis, Saint Emilion, Sancerre or Cotes du Rhone.
Therefore restaurants list wines according to their appellation.
A rule of thumb is to drink red wine with meat and white wine with fish.
More details are available in our list of terroirs which tell you what are the best dish and vitange for a specific appellation.
Most restaurants provide a house wine. It is a cheap selected wine offering the best quality for the price. The house wine will be identified in the wine list as either:
- Cuvée du Patron
- Cuvée du Restaurant
Most restaurants also provide something called "vin au pichet" or "vin à la carafe". The wine is not served in a bottle but in a pitcher or carafe. It is the cheapest wine however quality varies greatly from one restaurant to another. Sometimes the house wine and the carafe wine are the same.
French waiters know wine enough to advise you on the most suited wine to go with your dish.
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