Parlez-vous straight talk?

I’ve never understood the antipathy toward the French held by many Americans. In my experiences, if you’re nice to them, they’re nice to you. (Just don’t pick up a piece of produce to smell at a farmer’s market.)

Regardless, we have a lot to learn from them when it comes to wine. Some samples of their wit and wisdom:

• “The best wine on the planet is the wine in my glass when I am drinking it”!  — Laurent Ponsot, Burgundy (left)

• “When you marry your wife, you don’t know what she will look like in 30 years.  It’s the same with a wine.”  — Fréderic Jaboulet, Rhône

• “There is no bad vintage. There is only bad wine.”— Albert Seltz, Alsace

• “Rhône wines are not stuck-up. They are friendly; in the glass they come to you and jump on your nose.” — Louis Barruol, Rhône

• “Great wines are like children. If they start out balanced at a young age, chances are they will end up wonderful and balanced later in life as well.”  — Gerard Potel, Burgundy