The State of France

I was lost in France

And the vines were overflowing...
I was lost in France in love
(Bonnie Tyler)
How can anyone govern a nation that has two hundred and forty-six different
kinds of cheese? asked General Charles de Gaulle. He might have been even
more perplexed if he had considered wine: spread across France are 467 different AOPs (appellation protges, formerly appellation contrles or AOCs)
for wine. In Bordeaux alone, there were 57 AOCs at one point. Altogether
there are more than 500 different official classifications in France, identifying
the geographical origins of every wine.
The AOPs are both the glory and the despair of French winemaking. The
glory because they set a standard and preserve tradition: the AOP system maintains a certain quality, for example, by limiting how much wine can be
produced from each vineyard; and by restricting the choice of grape varieties,
it prevents producers from abandoning regional traditions to jump on the same
bandwagon of fashion. But the other side of this coin is that over-regulation
can stifle innovation. This makes producers less flexible in responding to
changing conditions such as global warming or foreign competition.

Burgundy & Beaujolais

43

Vintage Ratings
universally agreed to be a classic vintage
a very good vintage without rising to the absolute heights
a good vintage with interesting wines
a vintage with few wines of interest

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2013 2012 2011 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 2005 2004 2003 2002 2001
Champagne
Alsace
Loire
Burgundy
Beaujolais
Bordeaux
Northern Rhone
Southern Rhone
Languedoc

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2000 1999 1998 1997 1996 1995 1994 1993 1992 1991 1990
Champagne
Alsace
Loire
Burgundy
Bordeaux
Northern Rhone
Southern Rhone

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Burgundy & Beaujolais

They leave kisses in the wine, I found one inside of mine

When the rhythm's really fine, rare and sweet as vintage wine
(Grateful Dead)
Im not sure anyones actually described Burgundy in terms of kisses in the
wine, but if theres any wine for which this is appropriate, its red Burgundy. At
its peak, the Pinot Noir of Burgundy has a sublime, sensuous quality that no
other wine in the world can match. Of course, while Burgundy remains unchallenged as the pinnacle for Pinot Noir, production of white wine, almost
exclusively from Chardonnay, is more important in the region as a whole. As
an area devoted principally to vinifying Pinot Noir and Chardonnay as individual varieties, Burgundy is the place to ask which is more important, terroir or
winemaking, and just how far the intrinsic qualities of place and grape variety
can be influenced in vineyard and cellar.
You must also transplant the soil and the sun, the Prince de Cond was
told, when he was disappointed with the results of transplanting vines from
Volnay to his estate at Chantilly.1 The soil and the sun are the key parts of terroir: the concept that every piece of land expresses its characteristics in the
wine that is produced from the grapes grown on it. Nowhere is this concept
better fulfilled than in Burgundy. Two adjacent vineyards, separated by no
more than a track, if even that, may have different characters and reputations.
Making wine from only a single grape variety, there is no way to hide differences in soil or climate, or the effects of vintage variation.

45

74

Many of the top

vineyards in Volnay
run right into the
town, close to the
church.

Wines of France

tion in Pommard, it is there straight away, because the tannins come at the beginning.
South of Volnay, the tip of the Cte de Beaune is white wine territory. Characterizing the differences between Meursault, Chassagne Montrachet, and
Puligny Montrachet is complicated by the fact that each appellation has a wide
variety of producer styles. Conventional wisdom identifies Meursault as soft,
nutty, and buttery, while Chassagne Montrachet has a bit more of a citrus edge,
and Puligny Montrachet is taut, precise, and mineral. Changes over the past
decade or so, especially in Meursault, show that these styles are due only in
part to the intrinsic character of each appellation.
Meursault is the largest of the three appellations. Although it has no grand
crus, its top premier crus, Les Perrires, Les Genevrires, and Les Charmes, are
excellent, with Les Perrires sometimes approaching grand cru quality. Some
red wine is produced in Meursault, but the best is a premier cru that is actually
labeled as Volnay Santenots. The whites used to be rich rather than mineral,
although those of the top producer, Coche-Dury, tend towards a savory minerality. Others have now followed Coche Dury in a more mineral direction, most
notably Arnaud Ente and Antoine Jobard. Comtes Lafon makes some of the

90

Wines of France

Pouilly-Fuiss
consists of four
villages; Pouilly
Loch and Pouilly
Vinzelles are
separate
appellations.

time did nothing about it. So Mcon became the only part of Burgundy not to
have premier crus and we have been paying for that ever since. We studied the
history carefully, and we are asking for about 25 different premier crus, which
may amount to around 20% of the appellation. The introduction of a hierarchy will also have the effect of encouraging growers to bottle their own wines,
which is perhaps a major (unstated) intention.
Terroirs have been much better defined as part of the preparation for premier crus. Frdric-Marc maintains that, The reputation of Pouilly-Fuiss for
opulent rich wines is quite wrong, we have wonderful variety of terroirs, we
have all those levels mixed up from different geological periods, we have identified fifty different types of soil and geology. Theres a million years difference
between the soils. We can find mineral Pouilly-Fuiss and we can find rich
Pouilly-Fuiss from clay all over the appellation.
A tasting at Chteau de Beauregard illustrates the range of terroir differences
in Pouilly-Fuiss. Around ten cuves from different climats range from precise

Bordeaux

Jeremiah was a bullfrog

Was a good friend of mine
Never understood a single word he said,
but he always had some mighty fine wine
(Three Dog Night)
Mighty fine wine somehow seems appropriate for a description of Bordeaux
above all else. At its best, Bordeaux is probably the longest-lived wine in the
world, the top wines have unmistakable character and backbone, and they
have been established as the best of their type for centuries. Bordeaux reflects
the history of France itself. Wine production started after the Romans conquered Gaul, but fell into disarray during the dark ages after the collapse of the
Roman Empire. It was the English who put Bordeaux on the map as a major
wine producer after they took over Aquitaine in 1152. There were ups and
downs after Aquitaine was restored to France in 1452. Wines of quality began
to be produced during the eighteenth century when the top producers were
distinguished, detailed classifications came into effect in the nineteenth century, and Bordeaux reigned supreme during the twentieth century until
challenged by competition from the New World. Bordeaux has a reputation for
being staid and bound by tradition, but when tradition clashes with the need to
preserve market share, commerce wins every time. Today Bordeaux is caught
by a dichotomy between the unparalleled success of the top wines and the difficulties, not to say failure, of generic wines.

115

Bordeaux

The Graves classification (really it should now be called the PessacLognan classification) covers a range more or less equivalent to the five levels
of Grand Cru Class in the Mdoc. At the very top come Haut Brion and Mission Haut Brion: no dispute about that! Chteau Haut Brion has made wine
since the sixteenth century, and the monks at neighboring Mission Haut Brion
were making wine in the seventeenth century. One of the very first to establish
a great reputation abroad, Chteau Haut Brion was the most fashionable wine
in London in the late seventeenth century. I drank a sort of French wine,
called Ho Bryan, that hath a good and most particular taste that I never met
with, Samuel Pepys famously noted in his diary in 1663. It was the only wine
outside the Mdoc to be included in the 1855 classification; today its closest
rival is Mission Haut Brion, under the same ownership, which makes for some
fascinating comparative tastings.
Next comes a group that epitomizes the extremes of style. Chteau Pape
Clment (originating when the Archbishop of Bordeaux became Pope Clment
V and gave his private vineyard to the archdiocese), led the way into a more
international style when Bernard Magrez started to revive it in 1985. More recently Smith Haut Lafitte has moved in the same direction, and I sometimes

141

Haut Brion and

Mission Haut Brion
are separated by
the main road and
surrounded by
suburban housing.

150

Vineyards run
imperceptibly from
St. Emilion into
Pomerol as seen by
the view at sunset
from Cheval Blanc,
with the church at
Pomerol visible at
the right.

Wines of France

Figeac, unusual in St. Emilion for the high content of Cabernet Sauvignon,
which gives it more structure and less opulence. But when the first ever promotions to group A were made in 2012, they were of Anglus and Pavie. Chteau
Pavie has been controversial since a famous disagreement between critics as to
whether a change in style, after Grard Pearse bought the chteau in 1998,
was to a ridiculous wine more reminiscent of a late-harvest Zinfandel (according to Jancis Robinson MW) or an off the chart effort...trying to recreate
the glories of ancient Bordeaux vintages (according to Robert Parker). Irrespective of the merits of this wine (the 2003 vintage) the promotion is nothing if
not a clear validation of the trend to power. The inclusion in the classification
of the former garage wines, Valandraud and La Mondotte, as Premier Grand
Cru Class B, further reinforces the trend.
Completely at the opposite extreme from the gentrified town of St. Emilion,
the village of Pomerol is scarcely noticeable: the church is just about the only
notable feature. All around are vineyards, mostly with domains housed in small
practical buildings. Ptrus was famous for its shabby appearance until some
renovations a few years back. Coming from St. Emilion, first you cross the ex-

Bordeaux

I saw her today at a reception

a glass of wine in her hand
(Rolling Stones)
Take regions where wine production is marginal and full ripeness occurs only
occasionally. Most struggle to survive. But the genius of Champagne is to turn
weakness into strength by requiring the wine to be acidic and bland as a neutral base for introducing bubbles, with a touch of sweetness to counteract the
acidity. The reason why almost all potentially competitive regions have failed
to produce anything matching Champagne is that they can actually make reasonable wine: they are simply not marginal enough. You might think that as
sparkling wines are far more manipulated than still wines, Champagne would
be easier to imitate, but in fact very few alternatives are really competitive in
terms of character and quality. Champagne has progressively pushed all other
aperitifs into relative insignificance. That glass of wine in her hand at the reception was very likely Champagne.
The same method is used to produce all quality sparkling wine: performing
a second fermentation in the bottle to trap the carbon dioxide that is released
in situ. This is called Mthode Champenoise, but the term means far more than
merely a method for making sparkling wine. The fact that it is banned from use
by anyone but the Champagne producers tells you a great deal about their
commercial ruthlessness in enforcing their market position. The only term that
is allowed for wine made elsewhere by the same methods as in Champagne is
Mthode Traditionelle.

177

206

Before
disgorgement,
Champagne is
stored flat. Thin
layers of wood are
usually included
every few rows,
which gave rise to
the name sur latte.

Wines of France

up the smaller ones at a fairly steady pace. Well over half of all production
comes from five major groups44 and another quarter from a small number of
large houses. These are the Grand Marques. (Grand Marque was defined by a
group of major houses who formed an association,45 later disbanded, but now
is more loosely used to indicate major houses with significant international representation.46) Grand Marque carries no implication of quality.47 As large
producers, the Grand Marques rely on a mix of grapes from their own vineyards and purchases from growers (in most cases a majority of the latter); they
are the leading houses in the group that is described as NgociantManipulants, indicated by NM on the label.
Every bottle of Champagne carries a mark on the label that indicates the
character of the producer (but it is very discrete). At the other extreme from NM
is the Rcoltant-Manipulant, indicated by RM on the label. This describes a
grower who vinifies wine only from estate grapes. These are the so-called Boutique or Grower Champagnes. They are relatively small, with holdings typically
ranging up to about 30 ha. Indeed, any size increase is limited by the fact that
its all but impossible to buy vineyards, and of course purchasing grapes would
mean a change in character. In fact, the only way to obtain vineyards is to buy

Alsace

213

Strawberries, cherries, and an angel's kiss in spring

My summer wine is really made from all these things
(Nancy Sinatra)
Alsace must surely have the most picturesque villages and vineyards in France.
Driving through the vineyards of the Route des Vins from Strasbourg to Colmar,
you pass through an endless series of wonderfully preserved medieval villages.
This is quite surprising considering that the region has changed hands several
times in wars between France and Germany. Germanic influence has impacted
wine production, from the types of grape varieties to the mix of dry and sweet
styles. It is no accident that Alsace is the only region in France where the focus
is as much on grape varieties as appellations. Its history has also had a significant effect on aspirations to quality (or lack thereof).
You are always conscious of the Vosges mountains. Vineyards extend eastward from the lower slopes of the mountains. Most of the best vineyards are on
the middle slopes between 200 and 350 m, which are a degree or so warmer
than the land above or below.1 From the relatively narrow band of vineyards,
the land opens out to the east on to a plain extending to the Rhine (which
however is too far away to have any direct influence on the climate). The Vosges mountains are the dominant climatic influence. Bad weather stops on the
Vosges, they claim locally. Because rainfall is absorbed by the Vosges, Alsace
had the driest vineyards in all France.2

The Loire

A bottle of white, a bottle of red

Perhaps a bottle of ros instead
(Billy Joel)
Loire producers are thought of as traditionally making white wine, but now
there is some red wine, says Franois Robin of the producers organization,
Inter-Loire, but this is an understatement as production today splits more
equally between red, white, and ros. The emphasis is on cool climate varieties, as the Loire is at the northern limit for viticulture; in fact, it is only due to
the ameliorating influence of the river that wine can be made at all in the region.
The longest river in France, the Loire rises in the Massif Central, and runs
more or less north to Sancerre, where it turns west. No longer navigable, it meanders through the wine regions for about 400 km (250 miles) before it empties
out into the Atlantic. The Loire is divided into four general regions for wine
production: the Nantais near the coast, Anjou centered on Angers, Touraine
centered on Tours, and the Centre around Sancerre. All styles of wine are
found in the Loire as a whole, but going from west to east, the Nantais is dominated by dry white, the largest production in Anjou is ros, the bulk of
Touraine is red, and the Centre (the general name of the eastern vineyards) focuses on dry whites. The sweet whites of Anjou and Touraine have a great
reputation, although production volume is small.

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270

The hilltop town of

Sancerre dominates
the local vineyards.

Wines of France

style. The top vineyards are located in Chavignol and Bu. In Chavignol, the
best is Les Monts Damns, followed by La Grande Cte and Le Cul de Beaujeu. In Bu, the best is Le Chne MarchandWhenever a winemaker has
Chne Marchand, it is always the most complex wine in his cellar, says Clment Pinardfollowed by Grande (and Petite) Chemarin. Bu's soils have
more compact chalk, and less marl and clay, than Chavignol, so tend to finesse
and precision, sometimes almost perfumed, whereas Chavignol tends to more
powerful expression. Theres general consensus on which vineyards are superior, but a tacit agreement that it would be too divisive to try to achieve any
formal classification of Crus. The difficulties and arguments about classification in St. Emilion are a warning about trying to make a classification, says
Gilles Crochet of Domaine Lucien Crochet.
Chavignol is famous for its goat cheese, the Crottin de Chavignol, which is
supposed to be a perfect match for the wine. However, the locals chuckle
when you ask, where are the goats? On the tops of the hills, they say at first.
When you point out that the hills are now covered with vineyards right up to
the summits, they admit there are no longer any goats in Chavignol: the vine-

The Loire

I got red blood, and I got blood red wine

Which I bring you, when the snow is heavy on the ground
(Rolling Stones)

The powerful red wines of the Rhne are definitely wines to enjoy in the winter. Viticulture most likely started in the warm climate of the Mediterranean
coast when grapevines were brought from Greece to Massilia (now Marseilles)
around 600 B.C.E. The importance of wine production increased after the Romans took over Gaul in the first century B.C.E. By the first century C.E., wine
production had expanded north as far as Vienne, the capital of mid-Gaul, under the influence of the Allobroges tribe, who were admired by the Romans for
their skill in producing a wine called vinum picatum.1 Under the Romans, wine
production became increasingly sophisticated, with the best known wines
coming from Marseilles, Vienne, and Narbonne.
The river Rhne flows south from Lake Geneva across Savoie, before turning west to Lyon, from where it flows more or less directly south for two
hundred miles before debouching into the Mediterranean near Marseilles.
Wine is produced all along the Rhne, from below Lyon to the south of Avignon. Production divides naturally into two regions, the Northern Rhne and
Southern Rhne, which are about as distant and distinct from one another as
they are from Beaujolais to their north. There is a gap of about 30 miles be-

277

The Rhne

291

the red in order to obtain the white.18

Things more or less collapsed after the
first world war, with a large part of production moving from small growers to a
cooperative, and only four negociants
handling the wines. Most of the wine
was sold to negociants until the revival
of the 1970s. By then, the appellation
was almost fully planted.19 Today about
three quarters of production is red.
Because Hermitage is a single hill,
its geography restricts the size of the
appellation to about 135 ha. It consists
of a granitic outcrop, an anomaly that is
virtually the only granite on the east
side of the river, created when the river
changed its course long ago to flow to
the west instead of to the east side of
the hill. The hill rises directly up steeply
above the town of Tain lHermitage
(originally called Tain until it was renamed to reflect the glory of the wine),
with houses extending right up to its
base. Retaining walls are used to hold
Looking north along the Rhne, the hill of Hermitage stands out for its
in the topsoil. Southern exposure is an
southern exposure. The northern part of Crozes-Hermitage is also
hilly. St. Joseph is on the west side of the river.
important feature, protecting the vineyards from the north wind and giving
good sunlight. Like the Pinot Noir in Burgundy, were at the northern extreme
of the Syrahs ripening here at Hermitage, according to Jean-Louis Chave, one
of the top producers.20
There is some variation in terroir around the hill. Granite at the western end
changes to stones resulting from glacial deposits at the eastern side. Running
round the hill are a series of climats, each with its own characteristics. The top
climats are the granite-driven sites at the west: Les Bessards, Le Mal, and
lHermite. If Hermitage was part of Burgundy, many or all of the lieu-dits
would be bottled as separate wines, but the tradition here has been more towards blending. Jean-Louis Chave, who is widely acknowledged as the master
of blending, explains why Hermitage is different from Burgundy: What was
local in 1936 when the AOP was created? For sure, what was local in Burgundy was to have Crus. In 1936 they thought about having Crus here, but
what was local here was to blend wine from different sites to make the Hermitage. Its not like in Burgundy where there are small differences reflected

Languedoc & Provence

Red, red wine

Goes to my head...
Red, red wine
Stay close to me
(UB40)
If the Languedoc were an independent country, it would be in fifth place in the
world for wine production (more or less equal with Argentina and after the
United States). It accounts for one third of all wine production in France. To
give it its full name, Languedoc-Roussillon is a vast area, stretching around the
Mediterranean from near the Rhne to the Pyrenees at the west. (Roussillon is
the southernmost part adjacent to Spain). To say that the history of wine production is chequered would be kind. Together with Provence, immediately to
its east, the region used to be known as the Midi, famous for providing the major bulk of Europes wine lake, a vast quantity of characterless wine from highyielding varieties. But things are different today. Overall production has decreased sharply, production of Vin de Table has been reduced to a small
proportion, and although production remains predominantly IGP, there are
some AOPs establishing good reputations. Most of the wine is red.
Rich is the word that comes most immediately to mind to describe the style.
The warm climate makes this a fertile area for growing grapes, but until recently, quantity ruled over quality. At the start of the nineteenth century, the
focus was on producing wine for distillation; the Languedoc made about 40%
of all spirits in France.1 After the railway connected Montpellier to Paris in

325

326

Wines of France

LanguedocRoussillon stretches
from Nmes to the
Spanish border.
The IGP dOc
covers the whole
area, and includes
four departmental
IGPs.
IGP Ctes
Catalanes
corresponds to
Roussillon; IGP
Aude and IGP Pays
dHrault are the
heart of Languedoc;
and IGP Gard
extends from the
Languedoc into the
Rhne.
Some of the better
known zonal IGPs
are named in
parentheses.

1845, producers switched to making cheap table wine that could be sent to the
industrial cities in the north.2 Phylloxera wiped out the vineyards here as elsewherethere were riots in Montpellier in 1907 to protest cheap imports of
wine from Algeriabut by the second decade of the twentieth century, recovery was under way. Production still focused on price; wine was produced as
cheaply as possible, often blended with foreign imports, and sold in bulk.3 Almost all was Vin de Table, and as the demand for plonk declined, this surplus
became the largest single contributor to Europes wine lake. At its peak around
1970, Languedoc-Roussillon had 450,000 hectares of vineyards.
Economic difficulties, combined with incentives to abandon production, led
to a substantial decline in vineyard areas. Over the past forty years, production
has declined by about half. In fact, subsidies for pulling up vineyards became a
significant part of the income of the Languedoc. Today there are about 220,000
hectares of vineyards. The number of growers has declined, and in spite of a
move by the more enterprising to bottle their own wine, the cooperatives are
more important here than anywhere else in France. Of the 700 cooperatives in

The Challenge to France

Non, je ne regrette rien

(Edith Piaf)
Today, the Barbarians are at our gates: Australia, New Zealand, the United
States, Chile, Argentina, South Africa, stated a report by the French Ministry of
Agriculture in 2001. Until recent years, wine was with us. We were the center, the unavoidable reference point.1 A more personal point of view came
from Aim Guibert of Mas de Daumas Gassac, when he was leading the fight
to stop Mondavi of Napa Valley from investing in the Languedoc: Every bottle
of American and Australian wine that lands in Europe is a bomb targeted at the
heart of our rich European culture.2
The competition is so poignant because France sowed the seeds of competition by exporting its best cpages. The grape varieties that have swept the New
World all come from France. Cabernet Sauvignon is the most widely planted
black variety in the New World. Forgotten varieties of Bordeaux dominate
South America: Malbec in Argentina and Carmenre in Chile. Syrah became
Shiraz in Australia. Chardonnay is the most successful white variety in the
world, with a range extending from quasi-Burgundian to completely different
styles. New Zealand has made its reputation with Sauvignon Blanc.
Just before phylloxera devastated winegrowing in Europe at the end of the
nineteenth century, France was the clear market leader with almost 40% of
world production. (Most of the rest came from Italy and Spain.) France remained the most important producer as Europe recovered from phylloxera.

367

Alsace

378

Champagne

388

Loire

404

Burgundy

437

Beaujolais

491

Jura-Savoie

496

Bordeaux

500

Southwest France

555

Northern Rhne

564

Southern Rhne

579

Languedoc

599

Provence

616

Vineyard Visits

628

Symbols
Town
AOP (if different from town)
IGP
Red

Ros

White

Sweet

Reference wines

Second wine
Grower-producer
Negociant (or purchases grapes)
Cooperative
Lutte raisonne (sustainable viticulture)
Organic
Biodynamic
Tastings/visits possible
By appointment only
No visits
Sales at producer
No direct sales
ha = estate vineyards; bottles = annual production