One of my readers has requested some recommendations
regarding French wine, especially Bordeaux wines. Thinking about it, it occurs to me it might be helpful if I give
a brief primer so to speak about French wines.
France, of course, has a long history of winemaking going back thousands
of years. Wine is grown all over but
the majority of wines in France can be broken down into these basic
regions. See the map for exact
geography.
1.
Bordeaux. The Bordeaux region is
divided by the Gironde estuary which is formed from the meeting of the rivers
Dordogne and Garonne.
a. To the West is the "Left Bank",
also known as the "Medoc" and "Graves". Here you will find the most famous and
expensive Bordeaux wines, Lafite Rothschild comes to mind.
b. To the East is the "Right
Bank". Best known for St.
Emillion(Bergerac). A famous vineyard
here is Petrus, one of the most expensive wines in the world. Most of the lesser known, and hence lower
cost, vineyards are on the right bank.
Over my last couple of trips to the area, I have been very impressed with
the following right bank areas, most wines costing less than $30 a bottle. Many are available in the US but sometimes
you have to look for them but these are clearly the Bordeaux wines you should
look for great wine at a reasonable price.
1.
Cotes de Blaye, an example here from B-21 for $14 a bottle is:
2.
Cotes de Bourg
3.
Fronsac
4.
Lalande-de-Pomerol
5.
Castillion Cotes de Bordeaux
6.
Cadillac Cotes de Bordeaux
7
Bordeaux Superior
2. Bourgogne.
The French have corrected me and have said they do not use the term
"Burgundy" and insist we should use the word Bourgogne. The main town in Bourgogne is Beaune in the
center of the area. In general, the
lower costs wines come from either the extreme north of the area and the extreme
south of the area.
1.
North of Beaune is the Cotes de Nuits.
Red Pinot Noir is the predominant grape grown in this area and many of
the most famous and expensive Pinot Noir's are from here primarily Domaine
Romanee Conti who make La Tache. Lower
cost Red Bourgogne wines would be:
1. Marsanney, just south of Dijon
2. Fixin
3. Gevrey Chambertin,
one of my favorites
2.
South of Beaune is the Cotes de Beaune.
White Chardonnay is the predominant grape grown here the most famous
being Montrachet. Lower cost White
Bourgogne wines would be:
1.
St. Aubin
2.
Santenay
3.
Maranges
4.
Rully
5.
Mercurey, just north of Chalon-sur-Saone, famous for being where Joseph Niepce who was born and lived who invented the photograph in 1826
A great bargain White Bourgogne is Bouchard Aine and Fils Bourgogne and will be part of Friday evenings tasting at Amelia Wine Company on Amelia Island.
3. Rhone wines. The Rhone river goes north to south from Lyon(it starts in Lake Geneva) to Arles. Along the river are thousands of vineyards and the Rhone is the 3rd or 4th largest wine producing regions in the world. It is divided into a north and south area.
a. In the north just south of Lyon, the culinary capital of the world are the famous Hermitage vineyards and Condrieu. But some of the best value wines are here in the Cote de Rhone. Many Cote de Rhone wines are readily available and many are less than $15 a bottle.
b. In the south just north of Arle, famous as this is where Vincent Van Gough was in a mental hospital where many of his famous paintings were done, the "Yellow House" to name one, the most famous vineyards are Chateauneuf-de-Pape along with Gigondas and Vacqueyras. One of my favorite vineyards here is Mont Redon which is available in our area. You will find a lot of Rose wines from this area also, my favorite is Chene Bleu, generally $26 a bottle.
4. Champagne is well Champagne. It is important to know that by International law any bottle of wine that says it is "Champagne" must be grown specifically in the French Champagne regions. Any other "sparkling" wine from anywhere else by law can only be labeled "sparkling" wine. My best value French Champagne is Heidsieck Blue Top Monopoly which generally sells for under $35 a bottle. Of interest, Costco now sells their own legitimate French Champagne and is usually is around $22 a bottle. We served it at our daughter's wedding and it is very good Costco Champagne for the money. We also like Drappier Champagne for around $35 a bottle.
5. The Loire Valley. Wines from here are primarily white and are predominately Vouvray and Sancerre wines. Sancerre is from the Sauvignon Blanc grape and is a little more "grassy" than what you will find in Sauvignon Blanc around the world. Wine prices here are around $30 a bottle and only a few have any celebrity following. You rarely see them in our area. However visiting the Loire Valley is a real treat in that this is where most of the French Kings Chateau's are, Chambord for example. So put on your bucket list a week or two here along with the Normandy Beaches and spend a few hours at a Chateau and then a few hours at a vineyard tasting wine.
6. I have not yet been to the Languedoc or Alsace regions of France. The Languedoc is known for reasonably priced wines and Alsace is known primarily for Reisling and other white wines, many in a style closer to German wines but I have no recommendations for there.
You might ask how are French wines different than wines say from California. When you talk to the wine experts this is what they tell you. When they first try and guess what wine is in a blind tasting the very first thing they do is determine if the wine is an "old" world wine or a "new" world wine. What they mean by this is the wine from the "old" world which is basically Europe and usually France or Italy. "New" world wines are from everywhere else, USA, Australia, Chile, etc. What separates these two general areas is whether or not the wine is predominate "earth" forward which means when you smell and taste the wine it has a lot of mineral characteristics to it or even earthy or dirt like tastes and less fruit juice. Or does, in fact, the wine tastes really fruity with a low concentration of mineral tastes. "New" world wines especially California wines are fruit driven, fruity wines. They are made in that style. French wines, on the other hand, are much more on the mineral side and earthy side. In addition, French wines, as a rule, have less oak aging and taste in them. So it basically is a matter of style and taste. If you like complex minerally wines then French is the way to go.
If you are interested in purchasing French wines from the areas I mention and cannot find any locally I recommend for the best selection you check out online B-21 Wines in Tarpon Springs, Florida (link below) who have some of the best prices and generally very low cost or even free door to door shipping for Florida residents. Their site lets you put in Country, Region, and Subregion so you can really pin down my recommended areas. For Bourgogne and Rhone wines check out Burgundy Wine Company(link below)and ask for Brian, tell him Ross sent you. I also recommend www.wine-searcher.com to look up wines. In addition please see below the agents and wine shops I use in France. They all will ship legally direct to your door and they handle all the customs paperwork for you. One other important note. If you decide to buy wine directly from France be aware the prices you see include VAT tax which is removed if you ship directly to the USA so US prices will be approximately 21% less than what is quoted on the web pages though some shops will list US prices separate. The French also require insurance which is 4% of the wine cost and believe me you need it. Two years ago I had a shipment unloaded in NYC on the dock at customs overnight when a freeze hit. All the wine froze and when thawed broke the bottles. Insurance covered it all and every bottle was replaced except one that was replaced with a more expensive bottle.
https://www.wine-searcher.com/
Frederic Borliachon is a good friend and my agent in Bordeaux. He does great wine tours and can get you into most anywhere as well as not so well know vineyards. In September he made me an appointment with the vineyard that ran Robert Parker off as the owner doesn't believe in ratings and most owners in St. Emillion say he makes the best Bordeaux. More on that in September
Dominique Dupuch is the Manager of Cave Ulysse in Margaux. His web site has one of the most extensive lists of Bordeaux and other French wines I have ever seen. He ships direct to your door step and is a good friend
Steve Bobes is also a great friend who manages my trips to Beaune, Bourgogne France and can get you most any Bourgogne wine and ship direct to you. He is my go to guy for any trips and vineyard appointments in Bourgogne.
I have known Julien Wallerand for years and purchased many cases of wine from him. He ships door to door. Of interest his father was the worlds first Master of Wine.
Caveau Chassange-Montrachet is a couple of kilometers from Julien's shop in Puligny-Montrachet and they have extensive offerings of French Bougogne wines you can purchase directly to your house.
Adrien DuMay at Bouchard Pere et Fils is the current manager of the wine shop in downtown Beaune. I have shipped more wine from them to my house than any other Bourgogne wine shop. Their list is extensive and their prices are significantly less than what you would pay in the US
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