Wined it up

Calling all oenophiles! You who appreciate wine and know how to pronounce "oenophile" (I'm the latter only) appreciate restaurants like La Popote, a French joint in Northern England where the hosts reach out to those who don't care for fermented grape juice by offering...three different bottled waters, four sparkling waters (and free tap water, if you wish) along with your choice from a wine rack boasting 140 varieties of wine.

Actually, I might be wrong there. Maybe the wine rack isn't boastful at all. 

This is getting to be some deal, serving fine water to those disinclined to have wine. "Installez-vous confortablement, et buvez une bière,*" as we say in Baltimore County's luxe French Quarter. 

But the head cheese at La Popote is reading that fewer people are sucking up alcohol. Here in America, it crosses the lips of 58% of us, down from 67% three years ago. It's probably the same all over, so bring on the water, Pierre!

 

This is Joseph Rawlins and Gaëlle Radigon, owners of La Popote. 

As a kid who was raised on well water, I know what good drinking water tastes like, and it doesn't taste like well water. I do think it's funny that TDS plays a part in how good your water is, TDS in this case standing for "Total Dissolved Solids,"  - the measurement of minerals in water. That's what makes water tasty.

So now we know: you don't need wine, and TDS is a good thing. 

OK.

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* Take it easy. Drink a beer.