Wines Around the World

France

French people and their affinity for wine has been legendary for centuries, but it wasn't until the 1800's that French winemakers elevated their trade to a fine art. Always the producers of the world's best wine, the French started to feel competition from New World winemakers about this time and began to produce a better and better product.

This competition did not however cause them to de-mystify their product. It is still a very difficult task to understand the several levels of classification and rating of French wines. Following is a list of the major French regions, the wines they are known for, and some of the classification systems the various regions have.

Every French wine has a label bestowed upon it by the government. They are:

Appellation d'orogine controlee (AOC or AC): The most widely applied standard used on French wine labels. This indicates that the wine has met the legal standards for the area indicated. The more specific the area of designation on the label, the higher the standards.

Vins delimites de qualite superieure (VDQS): This is a second set of standards for wines in areas not covered by AOC law.

Vin de pays/vin de pays d'oc: These are country wines from outlying areas. Most varietal wines (name of grape on the bottle) come under this heading.

Bordeaux

Bordeaux has six well-known sub regions, each with its own style of wine. While almost any kind of wine can be grown in many of these regions, following is a list of the regions and the types of wines they are best known for.
Suaternes- sweet desert wines
Pomerol- Merlot-dominant reds
Saint-Emilion- Merlot-dominant reds
Entre-Deux-Mers- light, simple whites
Graves- fine dry whites, Cabernet Sauvignon-based reds
Medoc- Cabernet Sauvignon-based reds

The Medoc sub-region is rather large and has four "Communities" that have their own appellation. They are:
Saint-Estephe
Saint-Julien
Margaux
Pauillac

The more specifically a French wine identifies its location on its bottle, the better it is and the higher the guarantee of its quality.

Burgundy

Situated to the East, and a bit North of Bordeaux, Burgundy grows the more delicate Pinot Noir grape along with the Gamay and Chardonnay. Its three most important kinds of wine are light, velvety reds from Pinot Noir, light, fruity reds from Gammay, and Dry white wine made from Chardonnay. It is also home to the most bandied about wine name, Chablis. Chablis is a region famed for its dry Chardonnay based wines.
The sub-regions of Burgundy and the wines they are best known for are:

Chablis- very dry whites
Cote de Nuits- full-bodied Pinot Noir reds, a few whites
Cote de Beaune- Lighter Pinot Noir, excellent Chardonnay
Cote Challonaise- less expensive Pinot Noir and Chardonnay
Macon- Chardonnay whites, including the famous Pouilly-Fuisse
Beaujolais- Gammay reds

The villages Cote de Nuits and Cote de Beaune are known together as the Cote d'Or.

Rhone

Further South from Burgundy is the Rhone region. With its warmer climate and southern situation it produces more earthy, gusty wines.
There is no ranking system in this region; so following is a list of the major sub-regions, the styles of wines, and the villages that produce them.

Northern Rhone Reds: Big, syrah based reds worthy of aging at least two years.
Cote Rotie
Hermitage-Crozes-Hermitage
Cornas
St. Joseph

Northern Rhone Whites: Substantial Whites made from Voignier or a blend of Marsanne and Roussane.
Coindrieu
Hermitage/Crozes-Hermitage

Southern Rhone Reds: Grenache-based blends (with Syrah, Cinsault, Duriff, Mouvedre, and other grapes)
Cotes-du-Rhone
Gigondas
Chateauneuf-du-Pape

Southern Rhone Whites: Not so common, these whites are made from Marsanne and Rousanne, and are an interesting alternative to Chardonnay.
Cotes-du-Rhone Blanc
Chateauneuf-du-Pape Blanc

Southern Rhone Rose: Tavel is a dry rose that is considered by many in the wine community to be the best rose in the world.


Loire

The vineyards along the biggest river in France are part of the Loire region. These vineyards are known for producing mostly white wines. Following are the most important ones:
Muscadet- a straight forward wine, made from the grape of the same name
Vouvray- made from the Chenin Blanc grape, Vouvray can be bone-dry (sec), delightfully off dry (demi-sec), or sparkling.
Rose d'Anjou- an off dry rose made from Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc
Pouilly Fume- straight Sauvignon Blanc in a rich, heady style; the inspiration for California Sauvignon Blancs called "Fume Blanc"
Sancere- unblended Sauvignon Blanc in a style more acidic than Pouilly Fume

Alsace

This geographical region has historically belonged to whoever won the most recent war between France and Germany. It is currently part of France, but there is still considerable German influence on the wines from Alsace. Late harvest, sweet wines are made here, and in this region there is a tradition of varietal labeling. If a grape is named on a bottle of Alsacian wines, it has to be 100%. The grapes grown in Alsace are as follows:
Riesling
Gewurztraminer
Pinot Gris (Fokay Pinot Gris)
Muscat
Sylvaner
And a small amount of Pinot Noir used for rose wines.

Champagne

In order to be called Champagne, a sparkling wine must meet the following standards:
1) It must be produced in the Champagne district of France
2) It must be produced from the Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and/or Pinot Meunier (red) grapes grown there.
3) It must get its bubbles from the Methode Champenoise (Champagne Method)

The Champagne method is an expensive and labor-intensive process in which the grapes are harvested and made into wine. It is then aged for a measure of time, and then put into the thick-glassed Champagne bottles with enough yeast and sugar to cause a second fermentation. It is this second fermentation that puts the bubbles into the bubbly. The carbon dioxide cannot escape from the tightly sealed bottles and is absorbed into the wine. The hardest part is removing the dead yeast from the bottles. After aging for several years, the bottles are gradually tilted every day until the dead yeast is coaxed to the neck of the bottle. At this time, the yeast is removed and the bottle is topped off and adjusted for sweetness. The degree of sweetness is indicated on the label as:
Natural or Au Sauvage- no added sugar
Brut- very dry, up to 1.5 percent sugar by volume
Extra Dry- up to 2 percent
Dry or Sec- up to 4 percent
Demi Sec- sweet, up to 8 percent
Doux- very sweet, up to 10 percent

Vintage- Many Champagnes do not include a vintage on the label because more often than not, Champagnes are blended with grapes from many different years. Sometimes a vintage is included, meaning it was an unusually prolific harvest and Champagne can be made from grapes grown in only one season. Rarely is there much yield in a season, since the Champagne region is so far north and the short growing seasons make ripeness an issue in most years. A vintage Champagne is usually no better or worse than a multi-year blend.


Terms:

Appellation: A specific geographic area.

Chateau: A piece of land. For instance, Chateau Latour is a specific plot of vines in Pauillac, France. This term means the same thing as "domaine." "Domaine" is more frequently used in Burgundy, and "chateau" is more frequently used in Bordeaux.

Chateauneuf-du-Pape: This name comes from the Babylonian captivity in the 1300's when French popes summered in the "new castle" near Avignon. It is a district in the southern Rhone region.

Cote: the French word for slope, as in the slopes of a river valley.

Cote d'Or: Literally means "golden slope."

Cru: French for growth.

Grand Cru: Literally "great growth" this is the highest rating for a Burgundy vineyard.

Premire Cru: Literally "first growth" this is the highest level of quality in Bordeaux and Medoc, but second highest-level behind grand cru in Burgundy.

Terroir: A French word that refers to the soil and climate's influence on winemaking, rather than grape variety.

Vin: French for wine.