One thing the French excel at, apart from food and wine, is giving other nations inferiority complexes. Somehow they have persuaded most of the world’s educated classes that France represents the summit of human sophistication, and that by comparison the rest of us are clodhopping peasants. This delusion is particularly deep-rooted in France’s former colonies.  These countries’ middle classes are convinced that the French version is always best and their own inferior.

A friend of mine once visited the Lebanon. Before leaving, he asked me what wines to look out for. At the time the only wine worth talking about was Château Musar. Read the rest of this entry »