Some people find it acceptable to swish the first sip around the mouth before swallowing it, as the wine tasters do. I personally find this ugly. And a guest must never pour himself wine, unless the host asks him to. Monsieur Besson was categorical about this. Thinking of all my American guests, both men and women, who had freely helped themselves to wine in my house, I decided, not for the first time, to spread this word.
Habits are hard to change.
You see, it is thought quite odd to drink water with a meal in France. Monsieur Besson made a disbelieving grimace. A third printing in Japanese has just been published in Tokyo. Permission is granted to make WWW links to this page. All other rights reserved.