Drinking
France > Basics > Eating and drinking > Drinking

Lavinia

Wherever you can eat you can invariably drink, and vice versa. Drinking is done at a leisurely pace whether it's a prelude to food (apéritif) or a sequel (digestif), and cafés are the standard places to do it. Every bar or café has to display its full price list, including service charges, with the cheapest prices at the bar (au comptoir), and increasing progressively for sitting at a table inside (la salle), or outside (la terrasse). You pay when you leave, and it's perfectly acceptable to sit for hours over just one cup of coffee, though a small tip will always be appreciated.

Wine (vin) is drunk at just about every meal or social occasion. Red is rouge, white blanc and rosé rosé. Vin de table or vin ordinaire – table wine – is generally drinkable and always cheap, although it may be disguised and priced-up as the house wine, or cuvée. The price of AOC (appellation d'origine contrôlée) wines can vary from €1.50 to €15 and over, and that's the vineyard price. You can buy a very decent bottle for under €5, while €9 and over will get you something worth savouring. By the time restaurants have added their considerable mark-up, wine can constitute an alarming proportion of the bill.

The basic wine terms are: brut, very dry; sec, dry; demi-sec, sweet; doux, very sweet; mousseux, sparkling; méthode champenoise, mature and sparkling. There are grape varieties as well, but the complexities of the subject take up volumes. A glass of wine is simply un verre de rouge, rosé or blanc. Un pichet (a pitcher) is normally a quarter-litre, but you many need to specify the size: a quarter litre (un quart), a half (un demi). A glass of wine in a bar will cost from around €2.50.

The best way of buying wine is directly from the producers (vignerons), either at vineyards, at Maisons or Syndicats du Vin (representing a group of wine-producers), or at Coopératifs Vinicoles (wine-producer co-ops). At all these places you can usually sample the wines first. It's best to make clear at the start how much you want to buy (particularly if it's only one or two bottles) and you'll not be popular if you drink several glasses and then fail to make a purchase. The most economical option is to buy en vrac, which you can also do at some wine shops (caves), filling an easily obtainable plastic five- or ten-litre container (usually sold on the premises) straight from the barrel. In cities supermarkets are the best places to buy your wine, often at very competitive prices.

Familiar light Belgian and German brands, plus French brands from Alsace, account for most of the beer you'll find. Draught beer (à la pression) – usually Kronenbourg – is the cheapest drink you can have next to coffee and wine; ask for un pression or un demi (0.33 litre). A demi costs around €2.50. For a wider choice of draught and bottled beer you need to go to the special beer-drinking establishments or English- and Irish-style pubs found in most city centres and resorts. A small bottle at one of these places will cost at least twice as much as a demi in a café. In supermarkets, however, bottled or canned beer is exceptionally cheap.

Strong alcohol is consumed from as early as 5am as a pre-work fortifier, and then at any time through the day according to circumstance, though the national reputation for drunkenness has lost much of its truth. Brandies and the dozens of eaux de vie (spirits) and liqueurs are always available. Pastis – the generic name of aniseed drinks such as Pernod or Ricard and a favourite throughout Languedoc – is served diluted with water and ice (glaçons). It's very refreshing and not expensive. Among less familiar names, try Poire William (pear brandy), or Marc (a spirit distilled from grape pulp). Measures are generous, but they don't come cheap: the same applies for imported spirits like whisky (Scotch). Two drinks designed to stimulate the appetite – un apéritif – are Pineau (cognac and grape juice) and Kir (white wine with a dash of Cassis – blackcurrant liquor, or with champagne instead of wine for a Kir Royal). Cognac, Armagnac and Chartreuse are among the many aids to digestion – un digestif – to relax over after a meal. Cocktails are served at most late-night bars, discos and music places, as well as upmarket hotel bars and at every seaside promenade café; they usually cost at least €6.

On the soft drink front, you can buy cartons of unsweetened fruit juice in supermarkets, although in the cafés the bottled (sweetened) nectars such as apricot (jus d'abricot) and blackcurrant (Cassis) still hold sway. Fresh orange or lemon juice (orange/citron pressé) is a refreshing choice on a hot day – the juice is served in the bottom of a long ice-filled glass, with a jug of water and a sugar bowl to sweeten it to your taste. Other soft drinks to try are syrups (sirops) of mint, grenadine or other flavours mixed with water. The standard fizzy drinks of lemonade (limonade), Coke (coca) and so forth are all available. Bottles of mineral water (eau minérale) and spring water (eau de source) – either sparkling (gazeuse) or still (eau plate) – abound, from the big brand names to the most obscure spa product. But there's not much wrong with the tap water (l'eau de robinet) which will always be brought free to your table if you ask for it.

Coffee is invariably espresso – small, black and very strong. Un café or un express is the regular; un crème is with milk; un grand café or un grand crème are large cups. In the morning you could also ask for un café au lait – espresso in a large cup or bowl topped up with hot milk. Un déca is decaffeinated, now widely available. Ordinary tea (thé) – Lipton's nine times out of ten – is normally served black, though you can usually have a slice of lemon (limon) with it; to have milk with it, ask for un peu de lait frais (some fresh milk). Chocolat chaud – hot chocolate – unlike tea, lives up to the high standards of French food and drink and can be had in any café. After eating, herb teas (infusions or tisanes), offered by most restaurants, can be soothing. The more common ones are verveine (verbena), tilleul (lime blossom), menthe (mint) and camomille (camomile).