Need help learning to know French wine..... Really!!!

Salut/Hi Midlife,

le/on Mon, 20 Sep 2004 09:46:53 -0700, tu disais/you said:-

I kept quiet on this up to now, wanting to read what everyone else said before butting in.

I do agree that for someone brought up on buying wine purely by varietal names, the idea of buying wine by region/area/village/estate can be confusing. But honestly, it's not really much more complicated than learning what grape varietal you like. When approaching wines sold under their variety name, you look for the name, "Merlot", "Cabernet Sauvignon" and try it out to see if you like it, right? So you don't have too much trouble remembering that you like Riesling, and don't like Chardonnay or whatever.

Well in France, different grape varieties are grown in different areas. So if you know you like Pinot Noir from New Zealand and Oregon, you should perhaps look for a red wine from Burgundy. Then, (just as in assembler mnemonics, where instead of using the number "201" (which the processor understands) you remember "return", which YOU understand) you just need to make the one-to-one relationship between Red Burgundy - which France understands - and "Pinot Noir", which you understand and remember it.

The list isn't THAT enormous, you know.

The grape varieties most commonly found are (in no kind of order and leaving out the more complex area round the Mediterranean)

red Cabernet Franc Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot Pinot Noir Malbec Syrah/Shiraz Gamay

White

Sauvignon Blanc Sémillon Riesling Chardonnay Viognier Pinot Gris Chenin blanc

The first three reds are all grown in the Bordeaux region, (with other areas like it - Bergerac, Duras etc). Pomerol (part of Bordeaux) is more or less

Pinot Noir, as I said before is THE grape of Burgundy, also grown a bit on the Loire, along with Cabernet Franc (Anjou).

Malbec is the grape used in Cahors (also in tiny quantities blended in Bordeaux)

Syrah is the French name for the Oz Shiraz, Northern Rhone - (crozes)- Hermitage, Cote Rotie etc.

Gamay Mainly Beaujolais

Sauvignon Blanc White Bordeaux (sometimes mixed with Semillon, especially for sweet whites) (and other similar areas) Most typical in the Eastern Loire - Sancerre, Pouilly Fumé

Riesling, Pinot Gris (also Gewurztraminer) Alsace above all. Chardonnay White Burgundy including Chablis (also grown increasingly outside) Viognier Rhone (esp. Condrieu) chenin Blanc. dry and sweet Loire wines.

You simply need to learn these equivalents.

If you then want to deepen your knowledge, as you would, for example learn that one part of California tends to make better wines than another and one estate specialises in wonderful Zinfandels, so you can learn the difference between

"Bordeaux" - region (=Oregon) "Medoc/Saint-Emilion/Pomerol/Bourg & Blay etc" area = Willamette/Umpqua/ Rogue/Columbia river

"Pauillac/Margaux/St Julien" - village = Newburg/Dundee/Dayton

"Chateau Latour/Chateau Margaux/Chateau le Gay" - estates = "Domaine Drouhin/Bergström/Chehalem"

There are plenty of good reference books that you can use, others have mentioned some names.

Hope that helps a bit.

The only thing I'd say, is that you DO need to make an effort of memory at first if only just to learn what the major areas are, and which grape varieties they tend to use.

Mike Tommasi, Six Fours, France email link

Good post...however Oregon is more like Burgundy and Californias Napa is more like Bordeaux.

FYI--you will see when you come later this year or next.

And, as the EU has common labelling regulations, typically not in the UK either. Though you might get lucky :-)

Incidentally, here in the UK you also get the occasional French AC wine labelled varietally. Most examples I have seen have been from Burgundy. I understand this is illegal according to French labelling regulations, but tolerated on export bottles.

in article snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com, Ian Hoare at snipped-for-privacy@angelfire.com wrote on 9/21/04 6:32 AM:

Thank you Ian. All the responses have been appreciated with yours and Dale's being two that I've printed out and will keep. It's not that I haven't been exposed to all this before.... I have. I've just never made a real effort to absorb it and remember it.

I had lunch yesterday with a young man who reps for a large wine distributor and also owns a small company that does wine education. The conclusion re my block on this was that I really need to drink more French wine and pay attention to the labels while I'm doing it. He served a wonderful red Burgundy (you know.... Pinot Noir ;o))..... I CAN DO THAT!!!!! So I think I'm on the right track now.

Thanks again.

No, the sparkling wine from Italy. Champagne comes only from F_____.

Probably marked on the rear label? That would be legal I think.

Mike

Mike Tommasi, Six Fours, France email link

Mike Tommasi wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

Probably very plain as on the bottles of Chardonnay sold by Jadot (and some foul oak juice it is not nearly as nice as the $2 a bottle cheaper Macon Villages. Oh the power of marketing!)

No. Main label.

Salut/Hi Richard Neidich,

le/on Tue, 21 Sep 2004 16:26:15 GMT, tu disais/you said:-

Thanks

I know, but these two were the first ones to come into my head. I wasn't trying to imply that the size or geography was similar.

Not long now. I've written to around a dozen Oregon Wineries and have dates or in principle agreement for around half of them so far. We'll be visiting between Friday 5th Nov and Tuesday the 9th. Leaving here in just about three weeks. We're beginning to get excited.

Salut/Hi Midlife,

le/on Tue, 21 Sep 2004 10:47:56 -0700, tu disais/you said:-

Well, the secret to learning about ANY wine from anywhere is to make some effort of memory. I know that with the manifold other calls on time and effort some of them seem less worth while, but as you rightly say, France is one of the the largest wine producing nations and despite the stupidities of which it is capable, you CAN find some of the most exciting wines in the world from there. Its wines repay the effort - generously. Not least because it IS hard to know in advance what pretensions a wine has, and impossible to know whether it has succeeded. So unless you KNOW, it is hard to work out whether a bottle of 1994 Gevrey-Chambertin from Jean-Claude Boisset is going to be as good as, better than or less good than a bottle of 1995 Charmes-Chambertin from Armand Rousseau.

(For your information, Gevrey-chambertin is the name of the village, and as a village wine, it is unlikely to be at the top end of the range. Boisset is one of the largest negociants in the business, and has a mediocre reputation for his bottom end wines. !994 was a fair year. Charmes-Chambertin is a Grand Cru vineyard, (right at the very top of the tree) Armand Rousseau is a winemaker of well justified stellar reputation and 1995 was a great vintage.)

ABSOLUTELY. Never pass up the chance to taste. And have a little notebook in which you write down the name of the wine, the maker (if you can) the year, the price, who imports it and what you think of it.

You're very welcome.

Enjoy trip. I like Oregon more than Napa simply cause its not nearly as commercial. Not fancy at all in Oregon.

Had some excellent wines when I was in Victoria BC and since you are going there you might enjoy checking out Harrold St Cafe/Bisto...or something like that. Real good and reasonable.

Exchange rates are going to be good for you...USA is on sale...buy all you want while here. Canada will be a great sale for you.

Enjoy.

Definitely not allowed in France. Stupid law, I think...

Mike

Mike Tommasi, Six Fours, France email link