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A Very incomplete Guide to French Wine
Understanding French Wine Labels "Enough to make you dangerous!"

FRENCH WINE LAWS

When people think of wine, it's hard not to think of France. After all, the Greeks were cultivating grapes and making wine in the Rhône Valley in the 6th century B.C. France is the point of origin for most of the world's most famous grape varieties. Cabernet and Merlot hail from Bordeaux, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from Burgundy, and Syrah and Grenache from the Rhône Valley, to mention but a few. Wine is made almost everywhere in France and is named and classified in the most confusing manner possible, based upon long-standing traditions and the most arcane and complex regulations imaginable. 

All of this perpetuates the mystique that allows true wine snobs to be secure in their snobbery. Learning the varieties and characteristics of France's 450 wine appellations is a lifetime undertaking, and I have always felt that those who master it deserve to be snobbish. Serious Francophiles should move on now because, with that in mind, we will attempt to explain the basics of French wine in four pages or less.

To understand French wine, you must first understand that most French wine is named after places that are rigidly defined and registered by law. This system is the result of the concept, "gout de terroir," or "taste of place" that separates each region by virtue of their individual climate, soil and elevation, as well as the grape varietals that are suited to it. The system is hierarchical, and the wine laws officially grant some wines higher rank than others based on their place of origin.  

The four major classifications of French wine are:
Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée, or AOC is the highest class. On the label, the place of origin of the wine appears between the two words, as in Appellation Bordeaux Contrôlée. The places of origin generally go from very broad, an entire region like Bordeaux, to subregions like St-Émilion within Bordeaux, or St-Émilion Grand Cru - a group of 200 Châteaus within St. Émilion. As the size of the appellation decreases, the prestige and price of the wine usually increase. In 2012, this became Appellation d'Origine Protégée or AOP, but I have noticed that many of the 2013 bottle labels still use AOC.

An AOC / AOP can be: 

• A region - i.e., Bordeaux
• A district within a region - i.e., Médoc (in Bordeaux)
• A subdistrict - i.e., Côtes du Rhône Villages (in the Côtes du Rhône)
• A village or commune - i.e., Côtes du Rhône Rasteau (a village within Côtes du Rhône Villages)
• A specific vineyard - i.e., Montrachet (in Burgundy)

Vins Délimités de Qualité Supérieure, or VDQS wines. These words mean demarcated wine of superior quality and will appear below the name of the wine on the label. This is a class of wines you rarely see in the United States. This classification was eliminated in 2012.

Vins de Pays, or VDP wines, carry a specific region. This phrase will be used on the label, followed by the region of the wine's origin, like Vin du Pays d'Oc from Languedoc-Roussillon.   In 2012 this became Indication Géographique Protégée or IGP.  Thanks to France's rigid class system, some of the best wine bargains in the world carry the VDP or IGP designation.

Vins de Table, or VDT, is simply table wine that carries no place name, varietal name, or vintage. In the U.S., we would call this generic wine. In 2012 this became Vin de France or VDF and now allows the vintage and grape varietals to be shown on the label. 

Personal Thoughts on French Wine Regulation

Notes of pure opinion:  I love France, I love Paris, and I love French wine, but... Putting this guide together has only served to confirm my feelings regarding the entire French concept of "Terroir" and some of the other issues created by France's rigid hierarchical classification system.

1.) Too often, the concept of "Terroir" is used to imply that the best possible conditions for a particular grape variety are where someone happened to first plant it 1,000 years ago. Face it, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot perform better and more consistently in Northern California than they ever have in Bordeaux! The Brits (who invented wine snobbery, not the French) just got used to drinking lean wine from less-than-ripe grapes! There is a reason that the warmest, driest years in Bordeaux are the most acclaimed.

2.) Ever wonder why the French actually send people to jail for "wine crimes?" Imagine this: you own a small portion of one of the Grand Cru Vineyards of the Côtes de Beaune, and your acclaimed White Burgundy commands over $200 per bottle. Unfortunately, your entire production is less than 2,000 cases, enough to make a good living, but hardly enough to afford that new Mercedes you want. And then there is your cousin who owns 100 hectares in one of the unclassified areas of the region and produces a lot of pretty good VDP Chardonnay that struggles to command $10 a bottle in the grocery store without a hope of ever commanding more. Oh, the temptation to use his juice to extend your production just enough for that Mercedes or, maybe, one for you and one for him!

I'll take the "free market" system any day... In California, Silver Oak can command $100 a bottle and sell everything they make because they have spent almost 50 years building a reputation for the single-minded pursuit of excellence in producing Cabernet Sauvignon. At the same time, the winemaker in Sonoma on the other side of the mountain may struggle to command $25 a bottle even though he feels that his wine is every bit as good. But, at least he knows that he has the chance to become the next Silver Oak, so he keeps trying. How hard would he try if the government declared the SilverOak vineyards a Grand Cru and his a simple AOC? 

FRENCH WINE REGIONS

Alsace
Located in the northeastern corner of France, just across the Rhine River from Germany. Alsace wines have much more in common with Germany than France. However, while many of the same grapes are used, most Alsace wines are dry, while German wines tend to be sweet.

Permitted grapes are Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc, Sylvaner, Pinot Noir, and Muscat.

Bordeaux
Bordeaux is located on France's southern Atlantic coast and is divided into two zones called the Left Bank and the Right Bank. These zones are defined by the coming together of the Garonne and Dordogne rivers to form the Gironde Estuary that flows into the Atlantic. Bordeaux is generally acknowledged as the greatest wine region in the world based upon the reputation of its legendary red wines for longevity and improvement in the cellar. There are about 8,000 Châteaus and 13,000 wine producers in Bordeaux. The important red wine areas, classifications, and communes are:

Right Bank
St Émilion (sant em eel yon)
St Émilion Grand Cru - a group of about 200 classified Châteaus
St Émilion Grand Cru Classé - a group of about 60 classified Châteaus
St Émilion Premier Grand Cru Classé - a group of about 13 classified Châteaus 
Pomerol (pom eh roll)

Left Bank
Graves / Pessac-Leognan (grahv) (pay sac lay nyahn)
Haut-Médoc (oh meh doc)
St. Estèphe (sant eh steff)
Pauillac (poy yac)
St. Julien (san jho lee ehn)
Margaux (mar go) 
Médoc (meh doc) is where the famous classification of 1855 took place. The Classification of 1855: Imagine a wine quality classification system based upon a group of wine merchants who were asked to classify the Médoc wine Châteaus into a hierarchy of quality groups for the Paris Exposition. They divided 61 Châteaus into:
5 - First Growths Including Lafite Rothschild, Latour, Margaux, Haut-Brion & Mouton Rothschild
14 - Second Growths
14 - Third Growths
10 - Fourth Growths
18 - Fifth Growths

As a result, the products of winemakers who have been dead for almost 170 years still control the pricing and prestige of the wineries in the region today. 

Sauternes
The only Bordeaux region not famous for red wine, Sauternes produces sweet white wines made from botrytized (noble rot) Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon grapes.  

Permitted red grapes are Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Petit Verdot, and Malbec. Carmenere is also permitted but was not replanted after Phylloxera destroyed the vines in the 1860s. It was re-discovered in Chile in the 1980s, but that is another Story.

Permitted white grapes are Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon

Burgundy
France's second great wine region is Burgundy, a cooler growing area in eastern France known for its great Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs, as well as Gamays, which are made in the southern districts of Maconnais and Beaujolais. Where Bordeaux is known for its great Châteaus and expansive vineyards, Burgundy is a region of tiny family holdings and small wineries where a single 100-acre Grand Cru vineyard might have 50 owners. 

Burgundy is divided into five basic districts with hundreds of villages and vineyard sites referred to as Premier Cru or Grand Cru. The five districts and a few of the important villages and vineyards, beginning in the north, are: 

Chablis - the largest Chardonnay-producing region in the world
Premier Crus - 40 designated vineyards
Grand Crus - 7 designated vineyards 
Côte d'Or - the "Golden Slope" is the heart of Burgundy, where all of the most famous (and expensive) red and white Burgundies are produced exclusively from Chardonnay and Pinot Noir. The region is divided into two parts, north and south, with the north producing primarily reds and the south producing plenty of both, but most famous for their whites.
Côte de Nuits is comprised of 9 villages with multiple Premier and Grand Cru vineyard sites: Marsannay, Fixin, Gevrey-Chambertin, Morey-St.Denis, Chambolle-Musigny, Vougeot, Vosne-Romanée and Nuits-St.George.
Côte de Beaune - is comprised of 17 villages with multiple Premier and Grand Cru vineyard sites: Ladoix-Serrigny, Pernand-Vergelesses, Aloxe-Corton, Savigny-lès-Beaune, Chorey-les-Beaune, Pommard, Volnay, Monthélie, Auxey-Duresses, Meursault, Beaune, Puligny-Montrachet, Chassagne-Montrachet, St.Aubin, St.Romain, Satenay and Les Maranges.
Côte Chalonnaise  - is a group of 4 villages just to the south of the Cote d'Or, also producing red and white Burgundies that are generally regarded as of lesser quality than those of its neighbor to the north. Look for value Burgundies from Mercurey, Rully, Givry, and Montagny. 
Mâconnais - is most famous for its Chardonnays but also produces reds from Gamay and Pinot Noir. Mâcon wines are generally more affordable than the wines of the Côte d'Or, with the whites of Pouilly-Fuissé generally considered to be the best. Mâcon, Mâcon Villages, St.Véran, Pouilly-Vinzelles, Pouilly-Loché and Pouilly-Fuisse. 
Beaujolais - is the southernmost region of Burgundy and the home of the Gamay grape. The region is famous for, or to blame for Beaujolais Nouveau, depending upon your point of view. The serious wines of the region come from a group of 39 villages called Beaujolais Villages and ten hillside sites producing Cru Beaujolais called Brouilly, Côte de Brouilly, Régnié, Morgon, Chiroubles, Fleurie, Moulin à Vent, Chénas, Juliénas and St Amour. 

Permitted red grapes are Pinot Noir and Gamay.
Permitted white grapes are Chardonnay and Aligote.

Loire Valley

The Loire (l'wahr) Valley follows the Loire River across northwest France to the Atlantic. The generally cool climate makes the Loire home to a variety of mostly lighter-bodied white wines, none of them Chardonnay. The region is divided roughly into five areas:

Pays Nantais - at the mouth of the river, is best known for its Muscadet, a light, dry, rather low-alcohol white wine that is very well-suited to shellfish. 

Vouvray - an area that produces white wines made entirely from Chenin Blanc that can be vinted anywhere from sweet to very dry.

Anjou  - is also known for its Chenin Blanc, especially two sweet, botrytized wines from Quarts de Chaume and Bonnezeaux. 

Touraine - wines from Chenin Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc, and most notably, Cabernet Franc from AOCs of Chinon and Bourgueil.

Central Vineyards - is primarily known for its Sauvignon Blanc, especially those from Pouilly-Fumé and Sancerre. 

Permitted red grapes are Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Cabernet Franc. Permitted white grapes are Muscadet, Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc, and Chardonnay.

Rhône Valley

We like to tell people that the Rhône Valley is where the Italians taught the French how to make wine. Actually, the Romans had cultivated the Rhône and were making wine almost 200 years before Christ. The Rhône is one of France's warmest growing regions and is best known for its rich blended red wines. The Rhône is divided into 2 regions, north and south, with the south providing the production, almost 90%, and the north the most famous wines.

Northern Rhône Valley - is most famous for its Syrah-based wines from the AOC of Hermitage and Côte-Rôtie, as well as Viognier from Condrieu. Lesser regions also producing Syrah-based reds and Marsanne and Roussanne-based whites are Château Grillet, St.Joseph, Crozes-Hermitage, and Cornas. 

Southern Rhône Valley - produces primarily red wines blended from Syrah, Grenache, and Mourvedre. The most famous southern appellation is Châteauneuf-du-Pape, named for the 14th-century papal court in Avignon. The largest is Côtes du Rhône, which comprises over 100,000 acres. Followed by Côtes du Rhône Villages comprising over 50 communes and single village wines like Gigondas, Lirac, and Vacqueyras. You can look to the Southern Rhône for some of the best values in France on AOC-level wines.  

Primary red grapes are Syrah, Grenache, Mourvedre, and Cinsault.
Primary white grapes are Viognier, Marsanne, Roussanne, and Clairette. 

Other Regions6

We have covered what most people consider France's six most important wine-growing areas. These areas comprise less than 50% of France's wine regions. As with all things French, there is a strict hierarchy, and no wine from an unimportant region could ever pretend to aspire to the status of a Château that was a member of a classified Bordeaux Growth. Certainly, fetching over $1,000 a bottle by virtue of your name and location makes it easier to maintain quality. But the truth is, many great value wines are made in France in the lesser-known regions like:

Languedoc-Roussillon - France's largest wine region, in the warmest part of southern France, produces many very good VDP (Vin de Pays) or now IGP (Indication Géographique Protégée) as well as fine wines from virtually unknown AOC (Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée) or now AOP (Appellation d'Origine Protégée) regions like Minervois, Costières de Nîmes and Corbiéres. Many of our best-selling wines originate in this region, including Gerard Bertrand, Domaine Lafage, Château Saint Roche, Château Pesquié, and even American winemaker David Phinney, who owns an estate in Maury.

Provence - is home to many Rosé and Rhône-style blends that can sell for $8 to $10 and taste like $15 to $20. It is also home to lesser-known AOC/AOPs that produce quality wines like Bandol, Côtes de Provence, and Les Baux-de-Provence. 

The South-West - is filled with remote vineyards planed with many obscure grapes like Tannat and AOC/AOP seldom seen on an American wine shelf. A few notables are Madiran, Gaillac, Cahors, Bergerac and Monbazillac.

There you have it, a very incomplete overview of French still wines, and trust us when we say this barely scratches the surface! 

March 6, 2024