Proust Questionnaire: France vs. Italy

John’s Italian Revelations and Sara’s French Confessions

Marcel Proust

Marcel Proust

John Szabo and I have decided to go head to head with the theme of France vs. Italy. In order to keep this debate entertaining, I have adapted the “Proust Questionnaire” to both French and Italian wine thematics. If this popular parlour game from the 20s is new to you, you can find the unadulterated version widely online. The Proust Questionnaire was not written by the French novelist Marcel Proust but rather popularized due to his responses. A revelation of one’s true nature is thought to come in answering these questions. We have each responded to as many of the 35 questions as came naturally and immediately. Up to you whose responses are most persuasive. Please do contribute your answers to the thread below! – Sara d’Amato

John’s ITALIAN Revelations

  • What Italian wine region makes you most happy?

Piemonte, Tuscany and Campania (felix!)

  • What is your greatest fear for the Italian wine industry?

The climate gets too hot to make great wine

  • What is the trait you most deplore about Italian wine?

Making dry wine out of raisins

  • Which living Italian winemaker do you most admire?

Countless…

  • What is the greatest Italian extravagance?

White truffles

  • What is your current state of mind?

Happy

  • What Italian wine do you lie about not liking?

Super Tuscans…

  • What is the most overused winemaking technique in Italy?

Appasimento

  • What is Italy’s most underrated wine or region?

Aglianico del Vulture

  • What is the quality you most like in a white wine?

Acid

  • What is the quality you most like in a red wine?

Savoury flavours

  • Which words or phrases do you most overuse in wine reviews?

Clean, succulent, sapid, fleshy, rich

  • What is Italian wine’s most romantic quality?

History, deep regionals connections, connections to the table/food

  • When and where were you happiest in Italy?

Siena, 1995

  • Which Italian personality trait would you most like to have?

Outrageous hand gestures, swagger

  • If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

I’d like to sing like Freddy Mercury

  • What do you consider Italy’s greatest achievement?

Spreading wine and wine culture across Europe. Also pretty nice art, cars, shoes, fashion, food, film, Literature…

  • If you were to die and come back as a Italian personality or thing, what would it be?

Marcello Mastroianni

  • Where would you most like to live in Italy?

Langhe Hills

  • What is your favorite Italian dish?

Pici al ragù di cinghiale

  • What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery in Italian history or culture?

Mussolini

  • What is your favorite wine occupation?

Writing/telling stories

  • What is Italian wine’s most marked characteristic?

Firm and savoury

  • What do you most value in your Italian wine friends?

Ahh, such passione!

  • Who are your favorite Italian writers?

Dante, Macchiavelli, Umberto Eco, Italo Calvino, Primo Levi, Cesare Paves, Ignazio Silone

  • Who is your Italian hero of fiction?

Gian Burrasca

  • What are your favorite Italian names?

Giulietta, Antonella, Marco, Giuseppe

  • What is it that you most dislike about Italy?

Traffic, bureaucracy

  • What is Italy’s most easy to love grape?

Montepulciano

  • How would you like to go if you were to die in Italy?

Skiing, cycling or climbing in the Alps

  • What would be Italy’s wine motto if it was up to you?

Italian Wine: It’s for your mouth*

*Stolen from Brad Royal’s Kitten Swish brand

Sara’s FRENCH Confessions

  • What French wine region makes you most happy?

The Rhône Valley, Provence

  • What is your greatest fear for the French wine industry?

Clonal weakening, global warming

  • What is the trait you most deplore about French wine?

Insistence on corks

  • Which living French winemakers do you most admire?

Jean-Paul Jamet and Michel Gassier and many more

  • What is the greatest French extravagance?

Foie gras

  • What is your current state of mind?

Torrid

  • What do you consider the most overrated virtue of French wine?

Classification systems that don’t evolve, Zero dosage sparkling wine

  • What French wine do you lie about not liking?

Beaujolais Nouveau

  • What is the most overused winemaking technique in France?

Direct Pressing

  • What is France’s most underrated wine or region?

The Jura

  • What is the quality you most like in a white wine?

Verve

  • What is the quality you most like in a red wine?

Fruit-derived spice, garrigue

  • Which words or phrases do you most overuse in wine reviews?

Compelling, tense, fleshy, mineral

  • What is French wine’s most romantic quality?

Its seductive perfume

  • When and where were you happiest in France?

In front of a savory bowl of Bouillabaisse sitting in the Vieux Port of Marseille

  • Which French personality trait would you most like to have?

Frankness, trenchancy and a strong sense of irony

  • If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

Punctuality

  • What do you consider France’s greatest achievement?

Braille, pasteurization, the metric system, bicycles with pedals, popularization of atheism, progressive feminism and an enduring revolutionary spirit

  • If you were to die and come back as a French personality or thing, what would it be?

Simone de Beauvoir

  • Where would you most like to live in France?

Collioure

  • What is your favorite French dish?

Raclette, Bouillabaisse

  • What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery in French history or culture?

Robespierre’s Reign of Terror during the French Revolution, France’s capitulation in WWII

  • What is your favorite wine occupation?

Vigneron

  • What is French wine’s most marked characteristic?

A slave to terroir

  • What do you most value in your French wine friends?

Their conviction and ‘joie de vivre’

  • Who are your favorite French writers?

Voltaire, The Marquis de Sade, Albert Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre, Charles Beaudelaire, George Sand, Honore de Balzac

  • Who is your favourite French hero of fiction?

Justine, Candide

  • Which French historical figure do you most identify with?

Anaïs Nin

  • What are your favorite French names?

Loïc, Maël, Coco

  • What is it that you most dislike about France?

Bureaucracy, the current climate of intolerance (thankfully opposed by many)

  • What is France’s most easy to love grape?

Merlot, of course!

  • How would you like to go if you were to die in France?

Drowning in a Mediterranean tempest

  • What would be France’s wine motto if it was up to you?

“The most violent, the most pure, the most heady.” (words from Serge Gainsbourg)

Find great wines from Italy and France in our VINTAGES Buyers Guide for October 26th, 2019.