You read the room
Just not this one
Meet the Estate

Château de Poncié:
A Thousand Years,
One Claim to Rank

Beaujolais made its name on the wine you do not keep — drunk in November, forgotten by year's end. The region is now asking recognition for the wines worth waiting for. At the heart of the gamble: Château de Poncié, a thousand-year-old Fleurie estate, and two of its vineyards in the running for Beaujolais's very first premier cru. A lunch with the people behind it — where every glass was an argument.

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Beaujolais has no premier cru. In 2023 Fleurie asked the INAO to classify seven — two at Château de Poncié. Inside a region reaching for rank.

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Provence Rosé: Anatomy of an Icon (and What It Says About Us)
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More than a summer wine: how pale Provence rosé became a cultural icon. A complete guide to its history, styles, grapes, food pairings and prices.

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Why Paris Is Still the Food Capital of the World
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French cuisine is no longer the world’s best — so why is Paris still the food capital of the world? Food historian Loïc Bienassis explains.

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The Epistemology of a Great Bottle
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The Epistemology of a Great Bottle
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The 1855 Classification was not a quality ranking — it was a power move. What truly makes a wine great? A philosophical analysis of how wine value is built, legitimised, and contested.

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Magazine

Issue 01 is out now
cover of issue 01, the gce review, the art of deliberate choice

In a boardroom, what is truly decided is almost never said aloud. Power speaks softly — in the wine that’s poured, the pause held a beat too long, the restaurant that’s chosen.

Read the Table, Then the Wine
The Chinese Business Meal
The Map Changes. The Logic Never Does.
Between the Words
Jean Monnet: Authority Without a Mandate
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When Trump threatened a 200% tariff on French Champagne, Paris saw an attack on one of its oldest instruments of statecraft. How France wields the bottle as geopolitical soft power.

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French Business Culture: Hierarchy, Formality and Professional Etiquette
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Hierarchy, formality, the long table — French business culture operates on unwritten codes. A cultural intelligence guide for international executives navigating France.

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From royal ceremony to contemporary social performance: an anatomy of power at the French table, and why every gesture still signals rank to those who know how to read it.

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The Eye Behind GC&E

“Wine is never just wine: it is a language — a system of hierarchical, diplomatic and economic codes.”

Founded in January 2025 by Maria Kumessa, Grand Cru & Etiquette has evolved from an English-language blog dedicated to French culture and wine into a media platform comprising The Journal and The GC&E Review (a digital and print quarterly), specialising in cultural intelligence and wine.
It is complemented by an advisory practice designed to help professionals working in France, or with France — as well as Francophiles seeking quiet cultural fluency — master its codes and navigate cross-cultural situations with confidence.

Paris_Society_1931_Max_ Beckmann
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Max Beckmann “Paris Society” 1931. Source Wikimedia Commons.