“The gap between the reality of Paris and the romantic notions that people around the world have been fed about the place leads to many people seeking medical treatment,” writes wine columnist RICHARD CALVER.

Another trip to the Kingston library and another book about French food and wine. This one is entitled At the Table in Paris. 

It contains recipes from what it says are the best cafes and bistros in Paris. It is an English translation of a German book that was published in 2022 and the text’s copyright is vested in Jan Thorbecke Verlag, although no author attribution is provided in the text. The English version was published in 2024. 

The recipes spark memories of the trips to France that I have been lucky enough to undertake in the last 40 years, including one trip in the 1980s to Paris that was excellent with memorable Croque Monsieur and Croque Madame that wonderfully elevate cheese on toast.

But the visit in the 2000s was marred by arrogant service, overcrowding (people six deep on the Champs Elysee) and filthy pavements where people had obviously not picked up their pooch’s waste. Which raises the question: “How arrogant do you need to be as a French model?” Answer: “Pretty.” 

The tendency to romanticise Paris is noted in this book and the psychological hit of finding that the city does not meet the heightened expectations of visitors is articulated.

The gap between the reality of Paris and the romantic notions that people around the world have been fed about the place that is known as the City of Light is discussed.

That gap, the confrontation with the reality of the city’s dirt, noise and other stressors, leads to many people seeking medical treatment: “Each year the Paris hospitals register patients in a distraught state as a result of this shock, and the malaise has been dubbed Paris Syndrome.”

The book contained a shock for me, albeit not at the level of the Paris Syndrome. In the discussion about “the perfect cheese board” it is quite declaratory, saying that wines to go with cheese “should be on the fresh and sweet side”. 

The author indicates that sauvignon blanc and gewurztraminer should be the accompanying wines. In the alternative, it is suggested that sweet muscat wines such as Muscat de Rivesaltes and Muscat de Beaumes de Venise should accompany cheese.

I found these recommendations a bit too broad, as the variety of cheeses that are said to comprise the perfect cheese board range from goats’ cheese, a hard cheese such as Comte’, a blue cheese such as Roquefort, a cheese in the style of Chaumes or Langres (soft and creamy) and another soft cheese such as brie or camembert. 

It has been my experience that for some fattier cheeses, particularly those that have aged, it is best to have a wine that is slightly acidic, say a riesling, in order to cut through the fat.

The two muscats that are mentioned are on the opposite scale to a young, acidic riesling. The latter nominated muscat, I’ve tried. Muscat de Beaumes de Venise is made from Rhone Valley muscat à petits grains grapes.

Part way through fermentation, the winemaker adds neutral grape spirit, a process that stops the yeast’s conversion of sugar to alcohol.

This process, known as “mutage”, produces a fortified wine of around 15% ABV. The muscat has an intense floral bouquet and concentrated fruit flavours and a real belt of sweetness: around 120g of sugar per litre of wine is usual.

In my view, a sweet wine of this kind is best paired with a salty cheese such as a blue that has a contrasting salty or spicy flavour rather than all the choices on an extensive cheese platter. 

Like in all things wine, pair whatever wine you prefer with cheese. The wine doesn’t need to be, as recommended, sweet or fresh. French arrogance?