Even if you’re an amateur wine snob and barely know your wines, you’ll recognize several of the big name French wines like Chablis, Bordeaux, Burgundyand Beaujolais, to name a few.
All of the major wines in France emerge from specified terroir (meaning collective growing conditions of the region), and their quality and origin are held under strict regulatory lock-down.
But even with so many points fins, French wines offer many single-grape and blended varieties that will make your mouth sing, “Oui, Oui!”
MAJOR FRENCH WINE REGIONS
In France, the more specific the appellation, the more prestigious the wine is considered to be. They have adopted a system of increasing specificity and they are:
(in order from least to most specific)
Region
District
Sub-District
Village or Commune
Vineyard
The problem is that unless you are extremely familiar with French geography, it’s hard to know what is what just by looking at the label.
There are ten wine regions in France, each with their own flavor and style of wine. A five most important are:
Alsace Wine
Bordeaux Wine
Burgundy Wine
Loire Valley Wine
Rhone Valley Wine
Except for a bottle of Dom, I would rather drink water with a bit of strawberry ribena in it
By: Glen Rose on October 1, 2009
at 1:41 pm