The Cultural Metaphor of France:

An Exploration of the Connections between Wine and Daily Life in France

Just as American Football plays a role in defining the culture of North America, Russia is
defined by ballet, Germany by the symphony, and the French by wine. A cultural metaphor
encompasses the characteristics of a country or culture group and ties them together. The
metaphor of wine and its principal components is imparted in advertisements, relationships,
humor, social class, food and eating behavior, lifetime and leisure pursuits, traditions and history
of the country, and the economy. Understanding a cultures common metaphor provides the
ability to sink deeper into another cultures identity offering insight into another language and
way of life. Cultural metaphors reflect the underlying values of a culture. Considering Cultural
Metaphors also plays a role in determining whether marketing campaigns or mergers will be
successful. In this paper I will focus on the influence of wine in French culture and society using
five main principles: pureness, classification, composition, suitability, and maturation.
French wine is pure like the language of France. French people have great pride in being
French and protect the purity of their culture by utilizing a board called the Academy de
Franais who meet regularly to decide which words to accept and not to accept and govern what
is and isnt considered French. An element of this pureness derives from Frances deep history.
As long as there has been France, there has been wine. The ancient Romans began cultivating
vines in France about 125 BC. French wine is considered to be the distillation of two-thousand
years of civilization (Gannon 184). Midway between the North Pole and the equator, France is
balanced in soil and climate. A good wine requires perfect soil, temperature, and harvest time.
Much like how a wine is determined by its region and vineyard, the French are also an ascriptive

culture and much of who they are is determined by ancestry and the region from which they are
raised.
In France, wine plays a vital role in determining the economy, the traditions, the classes,
and the attitudes of its people. Just as there are more than five thousand varieties of French wine,
there are also a variety of personalities among French people. Cultural metaphors are an
expression of a way of life and a way to underline the values, and often structure, of a society.
French wine is classified into four categories that correlate to the four classes of French society.
The four classes of wine are: Vin de Table or table wine, (newly called Vins Sans Indication
Geographique), Vin de Pays, Vin Delimit de Qualite Superieure, and the Appellation dOrigine
Controlee which accounts for over fifty percent of wines produced in France and is considered
the highest ranking (Office of Agricultural Affairs, Paris.). In respective order, the classes
populaires or working class correlates with the table wines, the classes moyennes or the
middles class of teachers, shopkeepers, and artisans represents the Vin de Pays, the petite
bourgeoisie or owners of small companies or top managers represents the Vin Delimit de
Qualite Superieure and lastly the haute bourgeoisie includes the few remaining aristocrats and
top business and government professionals, and correlates to the Appellation dOrigine Controlee
(Gannon 187). The French are only concerned on being the best they can be and flourishing
where they are ascribed in society. Workers in the classe populaire are just as accepted for their
contributions to society as the haute bourgeoisie class (Gannon 188).

Like wine, French people are extraordinarily intricate and complex. Similar to a
winegrower in its vineyard, the French have a tendency to need to control and prune their lives.
This may be one reason why France scores so high on the uncertainty avoidance (Trompeeners

191). The French like creating order, rules, regulations, and procedures that give certainty,
definition, and order to French life.
French people demonstrate a high context culture in the sense that they do not always
need explicit or written communication to understand each other. They exhibit low context
culture qualities in that they are prone to using excessive rules and regulations. This shows as
well that the French can be Polychronic and monochronic dealing with time in a cyclical,
multitasking way or a more monochronic goal oriented way. In France, disruptions tolerated
because it is all part of the process.
Just as French wine is known for its quality and composition; the French value quality in
their daily lives as evidenced by the chic and timeless clothes they wear. The simplicity yet
complexity of their clothes proves further that it is their contradictions and that is what makes
them French! Like choosing an outfit, many factors go into the process of making a good wine
such as climate and harvesting at the right time. It is a process not to be rushed. This is also seen
in business meetings. The French like to take time to argue, dispute, and make sure every opinion
is shared and considered in order to reach best possible outcome. France is also a diffuse culture
in the way that they are concerned with keeping peoples face, which also explains why they may
take more time to reach conclusions in mergers and business meetings. The art of French
conversation is just as complex as its wine. The French enjoy lengthy and lively conversations
and are intrigued by intellectual challenges. They also do not believe in small talk or smiling at
strangers. It is only considered rude if you pass a friend or family member and don't offer
conversation.
French advertisements are highly affective and emotive. In successful French
advertisements, the affective Joie de vivre attitude of the French is often displayed. When

advertising what constitutes a beautiful life or La Belle Vie one can easily find references to a
couple sipping wine and looking at the Eiffel tower. French advertisements focus on triggering
emotions over flaunting facts, as they are a very affective culture. In Lancmes recent perfume a
perfume called La Vie est Belle is advertised as The fragrance of happiness (see page 8
below). Prestige, tradition, elegance, sophistication, and glamour of French wine is seen in
magazines and fashion and throughout their culture. Understanding Cultural Metaphors can be
invaluable in comprehending cross-culture advertising. It allows viewers to be able to connect
with the media even without speaking the language. Preoccupation with form over facts is
evident in French culture not only though the promotion of the emotional benefits of a product in
an advertisement but in also transmitting into the French sense of style and fashion and their
affinity for elegance.
Holidays, like food and wine, are taken seriously in France. The French are required to
take five-week vacation. A good wine serves as a metaphor for life, to be enjoyed slowly and
when paired with the right food, the perfect blend of flavors provides and emotional and
euphoric outcome. This suitability of wine and food goes along with the image of French
elegance; it is a lifestyle and it is never rushed. When this suitability and way of life is not
respected, failures in cross-cultural communication result. For example, Disney negotiated a very
favorable contract to establish Euro-Disney outside of Paris in the 1980s, only to face near ruin
because of Disneys seemingly innocent decision to ban the sale of wine. Some of the most
meaningful occasions in life occur over food and wine and this blatant disregard of culture
proved nearly fatal. The French stayed home or went elsewhere rather than endure such
inconveniences (Gannon 3). The high context need for rules and process show in the manner by
which wine is held and smelled, much like there is a correct way to cut cheese in France.

The suitability of politics in France can also be seen by the vast amount of political
parties in France meant to accommodate different political suitabilites of individuals. At one
point in history, France had over twenty-two governments in the span of twelve years showing
that much like pairing the perfect wine with food, politics can be complex (Gannon 194). There
are also more recent examples in French history of the concern over suitability and preservation
of French culture as seen by the Burqua squabble of recent years. Frances economy is also
dependent on wine. Wine imports were valued at $822 million in 2015 according to USDA
reports from Office of Agricultural Affairs in Paris.
Through fermentation and the aging process in the bottle, wine develops its final
personality, blend, and balance. The maturation process in France can be seen by how your
destiny is determined by the education system where must choose career path early on. The
ascribed aspect of Frances culture and the focus on being the best you and flaunting your jolielaide imperfections that make you beautiful is also part of maturation. A fine wine also takes
time to grow and prune. It is a slow and gradual process. Type of wine determined by its
vineyard. Like wine is a product of its vineyard, so too are French people by their class. French
people are not trying to jump to another vineyard-, they are focused on being the best in their
own vineyard and growing from where they came.
Of all the cultural dimensions and habits that make up French daily life, the one
component that unifies them all is a common cultural metaphor. Infused in its culture, wine
subconsciously permeates throughout past and present French society. It is tied to social class
structure, rate of change in economy, relationships, and the expression of feelings and
communication in advertisements. The cultural metaphor acts as a guide, map, or beacon of light

that helps foreigners understand what members of French society value. Through the metaphor
of wine and its five key principles, French culture and identity can be defined.

Works Cited
Trompeneers, Fonds. Riding the Waves of Culture. 2007. Print.
Gannon, Martin J., and Rajnandini Pillai. Understanding Global Cultures: Metaphorical
Journeys Through 34 Nations, Clusters of Nations, Continents, and Diversity, 6th Edition.
Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications. 2015. Print.
"Office of Agricultural Affairs, Paris." http://www.fas.usda.gov/offices/officeagricultural-affairs-paris .Web.

Lancme Paris fragrance Ad.