The influence of wine on the French culture 🇫🇷

HISTORY

Wine was introduced to Gaul by the Greeks around 600 BCE in the region of Phocaea, now Marseille. The Celts quickly appreciated this beverage and given the commercial opportunities, developed its cultivation, first in the Mediterranean region and then in the rest of Gaul. The vine gradually moved northwards following the Roman conquest. The Celts improved the quality of the transport of the beverage by inventing the barrel. They were very skillful craftsmen and mastered wood and metal work perfectly.

If the vineyard survived during the Middle Ages, we owe it to the religious elite. Wine became indispensable to the exercise of religion. It was also the mark of a good welcome; anyone of high rank had to be able to offer wine.

Wine was cultivated throughout the 17-18th century. It is said that Henri IV drank Jurançon immediately after his birth. Jurançon is a white wine, dry or sweet

In 1693, at the court of Louis XIV, Burgundy was for a time prescribed as a medicine

Champagne was much appreciated at the court of Louis XVI.

A FRENCH STORY ABOUT WINE

Saint-Honorat is an island located in the Mediterranean Sea off the bay of Cannes.

This monastic island since the 5th century is the only one in France to belong to a religious community. With its 40 hectares, it is the smallest of the Lérins islands. It houses the abbey and its community of 22 monks.

For nearly 25 years, the monks have made a living by restoring their vineyard.

As good servants of God and the Earth, the monks practice agriculture in harmony with nature: no chemical fertilizers or herbicides are used.

WHAT INFLUENCE TODAY ?

Wine is considered today and has always been a heritage of French culture. Its omnipresence on the French territory has made it a true "French art de vivre".

Wine is not only an alcohol, it is a cultural element. Indeed, you can't make wine just anywhere and in France you can! It has inspired poets, painters and film makers...

• WINE WILL INFLUENCE WHAT YOU EAT...OR THE OTHER WAY AROUND !

Wine and food pairing allows cooks to associate different dishes with different wines. They allow the flavour of both the food and the drink to be enhanced.

Food and wine paring, Madeleine Legoe, (2019), https://thedepanneur.ca/event/master-class-intro-to-wine-pairing-with-madeleine-legoe/, (accessed 22/03/2022)

• WINE AS MUSE

"One night, from bottles, sang the soul of wine: “O misfit man, I send you for your good Out of the glass and wax where I’m confined, A melody of light and brotherhood!

I know you must, out on the blazing hill, Suffer and sweat beneath the piercing rays To grow my life in me, my soul and will; I’m grateful to you, and I will not play"

This theme, even if it is not essential to Baudelaire, is of some importance. It is present throughout the life and writing of the author of Les Fleurs du mal.

Wine has many connotations with Baudelaire:

- Eroticism: wine can bring lovers together in the same dream

- Dreams: Wine creates many different dreams,

- The death: Wine can lead to murder

- Virtue: Wine makes you good,

• WINE: A PALETTE OF COLOURS

Renoir, the painter who loved vines and wine

His son, Jean Renoir, speaks of it in his memoirs: "His taste in wine was the same as his taste in art.

LUNCHEON OF THE BOATING PARTY (Detail)

Auguste Renoir (1841-1919)

1880-1881

The Phillips Collection, Washington DC

• WINE ALWAYS ACCOMPANIES THE SCENES

Wine served in 92% of popular French films

There is a lot of food in French cinema, and clichés about wine are present and recurrent

The Wing or the Thigh (here with Louis de Funès)

1976

Claude Zidi