For the next couple of Education posts, I will attempt to break down the various wine regions of France. Most of the worlds major varietals of Vitis vinifera come from France. Not to mention the fact that it was Brother Bertrand and his fellow monks in the 1300’s (around today’s Burgundy) who were the first to get serious about varietal & soil. The French were also the first to introduce “Wine Law” (back in 1855), the system of rules by which wine is made, bottled, and classified; a variation of which most wine producing countries use today . As always, most of the information will come from my National Wine School (NWS) notes, while some info may come from either of my two reference guides (The World Atlas of Wine – WAoW or The Oxford Companion to Wine – OCtW). The French have 3 different levels of wine. I will only be focusing on the top level – AOC/AOP (Appellation d’Origine Controlee/ Appellation d’Origine Protegee). There are over 400 French wines (about 1/2 half of them all) that have this distinction. ONLY BUY FRENCH WINES THAT ARE AOC/AOP!!
France is broken up into 9 different and mostly unique wine regions. I will be breaking down 7 of them (going clockwise from the northeast) , with more detail spent on the 2 big ones: Burgundy & Bordeaux. Champagne is the first area in the far north and I covered much of it in my last Wine of the Month (December). It is broken up into 4 sub-regions and is famous for its cool climate, as well as its “chalky” soil. Alsace is the next area and it is closest to Germany. Not coincidentally, its wines are the most German-like. It is the ONLY French region where you will find the grape name on the label. It produces “cool” climate grapes (like Riesling, Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc, Gewürztraminer, & Pinot Noir) and long fluted bottles (like Germany). This area does dry “German style” whites very well and usually much cheaper that the German ones. They’re worth a look.
Just below and to the west of Alsace is Burgundy, one of the 2 BIG ones. Some of the most expensive wine in the world comes from this area. It is famous for its Kimmeridgian clay soil (from microscopic shell fish –Jurassic Period) and small estates called “Domaines”. It is broken-up into 5 sub-regions: Chablis, Cote d’Or, Cote Chalonnaise, Maconnais, and Beaujolais. The Cote d’Or is further divided into the Cote de Nuit (north) and Cote de Beaune (south). Here you will find 33 Grand Cru wines (the BEST) and over 600 Premier Cru wines (second best), including Romanee-Conti (considered by many to be the BEST WINE in the WORLD!). Otherwise, if you are looking for affordable Burgundy wines (Steve’s range, mostly Pinot Noirs), try Joseph Drouhin or Philippe Colin (2015 or 2019 would be best).
That should be enough for this post. Next time I will go back to a Food & Wine one. Cheers!