Many European parents, and some American ones, too, have long figured if they let their kids drink alcohol at home, they'd be less likely to go hog wild with their friends. But recent studies of teen drinking behavior don't bear that out. That's unwelcome news in places like France, where these scientific developments are running head long into a culture that loves its wine. France in recent years has seen pop-up street parties – organized via Facebook – that are well attended by vodka-shooting French teenagers. French alcohol researchers say these events reflect a growing problem of binge drinking among French teens. French government surveys show the number of French teens who drink heavily is on the rise, says Bertrand Nalpas, who heads the alcohol and addiction office at the French National Institute on Health and Medical Research. He says about 20 percent of French 17-year-olds are drunk at least three times a month. That's despite a recent tightening of laws in France that now prohibit anyone under 18 from buying alcohol.

The up-tick in binge drinking raises serious concerns, says Nalpas. He says data now shows that when kids start drinking, especially binge drinking, at a younger age, "this increases really hugely the risk of becoming dependent [on] alcohol in the future." Nalpas says the French are not immune to the growing evidence that suggests that kids who are allowed to drink in the home are at greater risk of developing alcohol-related problems. "The age of first drink is about 12 years old in France," he says. That first drink is usually at home with the family, which has made it difficult, says Nalpas, to get out the message that alcohol can be dangerous. If kids see their parents and grandparents drinking, he says, they think, "I can drink also." But it can be tricky for French parents who take a hard line on drinking. Pascale Dhote, a cardiologist, says she and her husband, who is also a doctor, warned their three children early on that alcohol wasn't good for their health. But it was difficult when visiting grandparents who didn't quite buy the science.

"Even when there are little ones, people say, 'Taste it, taste it. You have to taste it. It's part of French culture – you have to try it," Dhote says in French. "But I say that the children are too small. what red wine has the highest alcohol contentAs a doctor, I know that their liver isn't fully developed until they're adults. top 10 most expensive red winesAnd it's not worth it to mangle their organs or their brain. best wine list in spainBut systematically, they're asked if they want to try it." where to buy wine parisHer parenting seems to have worked. best dry red wine for gift

Pascale's 22-year old son, Valentin Dhote, an engineering student, says he seldom drank as a teenager. He says he thinks it's possible for French teens to delay drinking alcohol but still appreciate the culture of wine in France when they reach adulthood. top 100 red wines of 2012That's a message Nalpas, of the French National Institute on Health, would like to see promoted throughout his country. "It's not necessary to drink," he says. "The symbol of the French with the bottle of red wine and the bread and the hat. We have to change that." You are hereHomeRecipe: Glühwein, mulled wine for Christmas and wintertime (and a bit about Christmas markets in Europe) Recipe: Glühwein, mulled wine for Christmas and wintertime (and a bit about Christmas markets in Europe)There's no better place to drink wine than at a winery, the place that brought it to life. Cellars are better than the tasting rooms, if you ask me, and vineyards are best of all, when the weather is good.

Part of why wine is best at a winery is because it hasn't traveled, hasn't been exposed to heat or cold, hasn't been jostled or hit by light. It's just been sitting there, in the equivalent of a wine nursery, waiting for you to pick it up and adore it. (The other part is that you're probably on vacation; everything will taste better in the spot you've chosen for your time away from the hustle and scrape of your life.) With the proper care and attention, wine can also travel well, and it usually does just fine away from the safety and comfort of the nursery. Still, I prefer to consume local wine when I'm on the road, or as close to local as I can.This is easy to do in most of Europe because everything over there is packed in tight. If you're in the good ol' USA, though, and there are no wineries close by, at least try to find some wine that was made in the state. People grew grapes there, and turned them into wine. This is what they're doing with their lives in the place you are enjoying at your leisure.

My guess is that in more than half of the states, you're not going to be blown away by the local wine. You might not even be satisfied by it. But the other almost-half? There's a chance you might make a nice discovery — a good or at least decent wine from an unexpected locale. Earlier this year, some of the men in my family met in Arizona to commune in the desert, burn things, share philosophies, do the one-arm hug and generally bro-down. There was grilling, too. I thought we could use some wine. So at the edge of town, before we ventured out into endless sand, my brother and I collected rations at a supermarket. I had trouble finding any Arizona wines, so I flagged down a store employee who spent the next 30 minutes with me, walking up and down the wine aisles looking for Arizona bottles, calling people on his cellphone for help — even leading me to another part of the store, where he was sure there had been an Arizona food products display.The display was gone, but a maintenance man joined our search party.

While my brother went off to hunt down more meat, the three of us walked the aisles and looked, bottle by bottle, for any wine with the word Arizona on it. The maintenance man did label research on his phone. I urged the first man, who was holding a bag of food the entire time, to please go take his break. But he insisted on continuing to help. It was then that I noticed he was the store manager. One at a time, in different spots, the maintenance man found three 2015 Arizona blends: a red and a white from Provisioner, and a red from Arizona Stronghold. We bought all three.At the burn site, the men of the clan were intrigued by the Arizona wines, and as we drank from plastic cups, I looked out over the desert and its uncharacteristic greenness. Flying in a day earlier, I had been struck by the landscape below. The brown and orange mountains of Arizona looked like they were on their way to becoming the green hills of Vermont. It was like nothing I had ever seen in that part of the country — a pleasant surprise due to unseasonal rains.

It was strange and cool, a clear example of the overwhelming power and unstoppable-ness of nature. Another strange and pleasant surprise was drinking good wine from Arizona. We could have given up the supermarket search and just bought wine from California or Italy. It would have been fine, and the male fellowship would have been no less rewarding. But for me, and possibly some of the others, sipping the Arizona wines created a 1+1=3 scenario. It was like saying thank you to the place that was hosting us. It was honoring the people who spent so much effort making the wine, and the shopkeepers who spent so much time helping two random customers find it. Making those wines a part of our night gave us a taste of what the earth had to offer in that part of the world.The desert was in full bloom all around us. As dusk faded, and the temperature and darkness fell, a little here and a little there, some of the men of the clan sampled the Arizona wine and gently shook their heads without saying much, or sometimes saying nothing at all.