The French adore...

I had a particularly novel experience yesterday. I spent much of the morning in a white, modern, air conditioned tasting room, tasting through the range of one of the bigger, more serious producers of wine down here in the Languedoc.

At the end of the tasting, my host reached down into a cupboard, pulled out a brand new toothbrush, unpeeled it from its packaging and handed it to me.

He then pulled out a half-used tube of toothpaste, a French brand I hadn't come across, Dentargile from Cattier, and nodded encouragingly at my blackened teeth.

'Moi, je l'adore.'...