France is all about the wine

France is all about the wine (plus other things of course) but wine dominates it all.  Many visitors to France like to see a vineyard or visit the occasional wine chateaux for a little sampling of the local produce, while many wine enthusiasts make an entire visit planned around visiting the vineyards of their selected region.  It’s a wonderful sightseeing row upon row of vines as you really do feel that you are in France when you see them.

Many wine chateaux offer wine tasting and most will have a tour of the vineyard and possible a small museum explaining the grape and its progress to the bottle.  Wine can be bought by the bottle or by the cubi container which is a plastic container holding 5 litres of wine.

There are around 10 main wine growing regions in France but the in the South West and Languedoc the regions that are most well known are listed below.

Bordeaux

The Bordeaux region which is in the Aquitaine is one of the three most famous wine producing regions and dates back to the 12^th century when it became the main supplier for wine for England. This historic wine exporting tradition helped Bordeaux to develop strong commercial links on the international market and in some cases Bordeaux wine is still referred to as claret.

Bordeaux is surrounded by 1000 square kilometres of carefully tended vineyards with over 5000 wine châteaux scattered throughout the precious landscape.  Enjoy the full bodied St. Emillion, lighter Médoc reds, dry-white Entredux-mers, sweet Sauternes and make an appointment for tastings at prestigious Pauillac châteaux including Lafitte Rothchild, Mouton Rothchild and Margaux. The best estates in these areas have the right to sell wines designated as grand cru. Below the grand crus come other high quality wines designated as cru bourgeois..

Other areas of South West France

 Inland from the Bordeaux / Saint Emilion regions, there are a number of smaller less well-known wine growing areas, producing some quite good wines at very reasonable prices. These Appellation Contrôlée wines include Bergerac, Cahors, Gaillac and Marcillac amongst others.  The areas below are the most well known and all equally good.

Cahors - Which only produces red wine and mainly from the Malbec grape, a Bordeaux variety. Malbec accounts for approximately 70% of an AC Cahors wine and traditionally this wine is known as ‘black wine’ because it is so dark and tannic, needing many years to soften. Today, thanks in part to Malbec’s ever-growing popularity most producers make more modern, lighter wines.

Madiran - Further south than Cahors, Madiran also makes fairly full-bodied, wines predominantly from the Tannat grape (Basque origin) which is dark but has a bramble fruit flavour and aroma. AC Madiran wines must comprise at least 40-80% Tannat, with Cabernet and in practice, the top wines are generally made exclusively from Tannat.

Bergerac and Côtes de Bergerac – Located not so far from Bordeaux, Bergerac wines, rightly or wrongly are often called ’Bordeaux-look-likes’ as they are made from the classic Bordeaux varieties of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot. Not as age-worthy or pricey as Bordeaux, this region is ideal for some excellent everyday wines.

Languedoc

 The Languedoc region, covering the Mediterranean coastal plain west of the Rhone, produces a lot of fairly ordinary red wine, much of it marketed as VDQS or Vin de Pays. Languedoc is the largest French wine producing area in terms of volume.  There are seven Appellations Controlées in the area, the best-known of which is Corbières, and possibly the best average quality of which is Fitou. AOC wines account for some 10% of the region's production. Thanks to the long hours of summer sun, grapes ripen well and quickly in this region, which means that Languedoc wines are rich and full bodied, and often have high alcohol content. The wines of Roussillon are very similar, this area being particularly noted for its fortified wines such as Banyuls and a perfect wine as an aperitif.