Wines of the Old World

The Wines of France 

One out of every seven French person earns his living directly or indirectly from wine. In France wine is considered food, an

essential part of daily life, and no table is set without a bottle. French winemaking is regulated by strict government laws by

the Appellation d'Origine Controlee. Only 15% of the wine made in France is worthy to be designated A.O.C., the balance

is consumed as a simple beverage. We are concerned with the regions of top quality wine. These regions are:

·        Alsace 

·        Loire Valley

·        Bordeaux

·        Burgundy

·        Rhone Valley

·        Champagne

Alsace and Loire Valley are truly known for their white wines, while Bordeaux, Burgundy and Rhone Valley have both high

quality white and reds. Instead of giving you a geography lesson, just learn these regions.

Alsace is north and close to Germany, and has many similarities. Same grape varieties, same looking bottle, except

the wine is made differently. Every bit of sugar is is fermented here in France as opposed to the German style. Of all Alsace wines 99% are totally dry and quite a bit stronger than the german wines. On average German wines are 8 to 9% alcohol where the Alsace wine is 11 to 12%. Two factors are important when selecting an Alsace wine, namely the grape variety and the reputation of the shipper. Look for Hugel & Fils, F.E. Trimbach, Leon Beyer or Dopff Au Moulin. Landholders in Alsace don't grow enough grapes for it to be economically feasible to market their own wine. They sell their grapes to a shipper who produces, bottles and markets under his own name. The best thing about Alsace wines is the price, as they are unknown, good quality and readily available. You will find Riesling and Gewurztraminer the dominant grape varieties

there. For beginners this area produces some of the most "instructive" nuances. 

Loire Valley starts on the west coast and stretches 600 miles along the Loire river. Loire wines are also reasonably priced. They are considered the summer wines of the Parisians and some of the most famous are: Pouilly-Fume (not to be confused with Pouilly-Fuisse from Burgundy), Sancerre, and Muscadet. These wines are meant to be consumed young, with Vouvary being the only exception I can think of. These wines are not easily found in North America or Asia, so if you see them buy them. 

Bordeaux is the most important wine making region in the world. There are 54 wine regions that enable them to carry

the A.O.C. designation but all you have to do is really know the five major ones to follow the purpose of this book:

1. Graves

2. Medoc

3. Pomerol

4. St. Emillion

5. Sauternes

In the Medoc there are 4 major inner areas that you should also be familiar with, namely:

1. St. Estephe

2. Pauillac

3. St. Jullien

4. Margaux

 In the Bordeaux region there have been many comprehensive guides to the wines produced. This is a very complicated and

extensive wine producing region, I will attempt to give you an  overview.

 There are three levels of quality in Bordeaux:

 GOOD

 Regional m wines that come from a defined area. Only grapes and wine made in that area can be called by

 BETTER

Proprietary - table wines that have been given specific names. Ie: Mouton  Cadet

BEST                                                                    

 Chateau - these wines are produced in individual vineyards. The grapes are harvested, the wine is made and it is bottled at the particular chateau

or farm.

We are for the purpose of this blog looking at the best quality wines so we will focus our attention on the Chateau wines. The good news is you will use this information more than most in the book because Bordeaux wines are very abundant both in wine shops and restaurants, the bad news is there are more than 7,000 individual chateaus. Wine has been around for thousands of years, but about 1 30 years ago in the Medoc region of Bordeaux a wine classification was established. In was done at the Paris exhibition of 1855 to rate the top Medoc wines according to price, which at that time was relative to quality. The classification of 1855 had three parts and rated the top 61 chateaus in the Medoc in the following manner:

Grand Crus Classes

Grand Crus Exceptionnels

Crus Bourgeois

Crus in French simply means "growth" but simply means classification. Following is the official classification of 130 years ago of first growth, second growth, third growth, forth growth and fifth growth, the first being the most expensive and best quality and downward from there. There were many, many wines that did not make this classification, so, you will understand that this is the rating of lithe best" of lithe best". In 1 8 5 5 the difference in price from each classification was about 25%. So if a first growth was $150.00 then a second growth would be $112.00, a third growth would be $84.00 etc..The wines of St. Emilion and Pomerol were not included in this classification, as at the time they were not "trendy" enough and therefore did not merit listing. Many argue that the classification is not valid today because much has changed, but for our understanding it is good enough. After my discovery that my knowledge of wine was limited to the term "Bingo Juice" I decided to memorize these classifications with their proper Chateau names and communes or districts they were from. All knowledge is good but apart from readily identifying the bottle quickly in a wine store or restaurant there is no purpose to memorizing the classification. Use it as reference material and look for wines that are on the list to try. Everyone should try a first growth Bordeaux at least once or twice in his or her life time. This is what wine is supposed to be like, and what everything is judged by. I recently had a bottle of Chateau Lafite-Rothchild with two good friends who have had limited exposure to good wines. Once they got by the price of the wine they fell in love. Remember that a good bottle of wine is remembered long after the price has been forgotten.

Looking at the classification it interesting to note how each commune rates in the total picture.

·        Margaux has 21 wines

·        Pauillac has 18

·        St-Julien has 11

·        St-Estephe has 5

·        St-Laurent has 3

·        The Haut Medoc has 2

·        Graves only 1.

This gives us a guide as to where the best regions are. Maybe you don't want to spend a lot of money on a bottle of wine but would like to be relatively safe in your buying decision. Then look for the chateaus in the Margaux or Pauillac region. Other factors come into play such as vintage which we will discuss at a later time. 

Pomerol is one of the top wine districts in Bordeaux which is not included in the aforemention classifications. It is the smallest of the top wine districts and therefore it's wines are very difficult to find} and when you do you wish you din't because they are very expensive. Look for:

·        Chateau Petrus,

·        Chateau Trotanoy

·        Chateau L'Evangile

·        Chateau Lafleur

·        Chateau Gazin.

The wines here are made almost exclusively with Merlot grapes and are wonderful wines. 

St- Emilion produces a huge amount of wine. There are eleven first growths: 

·        Chateau Ausone

·        Chateau Bel-Air

·        Chateau Cheval Blanc

·        Chateau Beausejour-Duffau

·        Chateau La Gaffeliere

·        Chateau Canon

·        Chateau Figeac

·        Chateau Tottevieille

·        Chateau Clos Fourtet

·        Chateau Magdelaine

·        Chateau Pavie

 There are many other St-Emilion wines that are good quality and worth trying. You will find them good value and

readily available, but search for the chateau wines not the regional. 

Sauternes wines are sweet and primarily used as a dessert wine. You can buy regional or chateau wines. Remember, regional wine is simply labelled "Sauternes", St-Emilion" or whatever region the wine is from. There are some spectacular wines in the top chateaus in Sauternes. Try Chateau d' Yquem if you can swallow the price tag. It is expensive because it takes many pickings before the crop is entirely harvested. The

harvest here can run Into November. Also, very Important in this district, only buy the best vintages which will be discussed