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Oz's Wines
Alsace is a beautiful part of France, squeezed in between the heavily
forested Vosges mountains and the German border on the river Rhine. If
you’ve never seen a Hansel and Gretel fairytale village in the flesh, head for
Alsace where time seems to have stood still. The distinctive whites of
Alsace are rich in aroma and full of ripe flavour. Riesling, Muscat,
Gewurztraminer and Pinot Gris are generally considered the finest, but good
wines are also produced from Sylvaner and Pinot Blanc grapes. The region’s
only red grape is Pinot Noir, which can also produce light, fragrant wines.
Beaujolais is the all-time party red. You can’t take
it seriously - and you shouldn’t. The French have a word - gouleyant - which means the wine
just flows straight down. That’s Beaujolais - bright, breezy, gluggable,
devil-may-care red. Beaujolais Nouveau is the most famous type of Beaujolais wine, released
in November each year. During the rest of the year this year bright
fruity Beaujolais Villages is the best bet - always drink as young as possible. There
are also ten single villages which are their own name and make rather richer
reds, Fleurie, Morgon and Brouilly are the most famous of these.
Bordeaux in south west France is the world’s most famous
wine region. That doesn’t mean all the wines are good: they’re not.
There are thousands upon thousands of properties there, great and small, and
while some are brilliant, some should consider taking up a different
occupation. But one of the joys of Bordeaux is the enormous number of
different properties, well known and obscure each making different tasting
wines. You could spend years down in Bordeaux and never taste them all.
Now there’s an idea. Drive down for a week in the summer - nose in
and out of all the little villages, visit the chateaux, taste, buy and head back
with a car crammed full of goodies and a whole host of memories for when the
nights draw in.
Reds
Bordeaux is most famous for reds. We used to call them claret, and the
area around the Gironde estuary where the grapes grow used to be English from
1154 to 1453. No wonder they call Bordeaux “the Englishman’s wine”,
although the Scots and Irishwere pretty partial to it too. The main grapes
they use are Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot - which we’re more familiar with
in wines from places like Chile and Australia - but they originated here in
Bordeaux. The main areas are Medoc, Graves and St Emilion, but many of the
best small properties sport the appellation “Bordeaux Superieur”. When you
taste them, expect something pretty dry, maybe earthy, but strangely
appetising.
Whites
People don’t talk much of Bordeaux whites, but in fact the Sauvignon Blanc
and Semillon grapes (sounds familiar, from New Zealand and Australia) make
excellent light, tangy dry whites. But the most famous Bordeaux white is the
intensely sweet Sauternes.
Burgundy starts with Chablis a couple of hours drive
south of Paris, and extends right down through Beaujolais to the gates of
Lyon. Both red and white Burgundies can be fabulous drinks, but the really
good wines are made in tiny quantities and are expensive. Because Burgundy
isn’t warm, it’s difficult to ripen the grapes and only the best sites regularly
manage it, particularly in
reds.
Reds
There are a few pale reds made near Chablis in the
north, but all the best reds are made south of Dijon, and around Beaune.
The temperamental Pinot Noir is the grape, and the wines rarely have much
colour, but they can have a lovely perfumed sweet fruit. The most famous
villages are Nuits Saint Georges, Vosne-Romanée, Beaune and Volnay. There
are also quite good reds around Mercurey, further south, but the other major red
area is Beaujolais in the south which makes brighter, breezy reds out of Gamay
grapes.
Whites
Whites start with Chablis in the north. It’s cold
there and the grapes struggle to ripen, but the Chardonnay makes fine, steely
mineral whites which aren’t too expensive, either. Did I say
Chardonnay? Yes. This New World darling is actually the white grape
of Burgundy. Further south around Beaune - especially in Meursault
and Puligny-Montrachet - fabulous nutty dry whites are made. They’re not
quite so good further south in the Cote Chalonnais, and they’re definitely less
good - softer, fatter, less appetising in the broad warm meadows of the
Maconnais.
And if you’re in the mood for fizz - well, Crémant
de Bourgogne is a really nice glass of
bubbles.
One of the great country wines of South-West France made
from Malbec, Merlot, Tannat and Jurancon Noir grapes. Dark and highly
tannic, Cahors required a lengthy bottle age to
soften.
Champagne is the nearest wine region to the channel
ports - it’s only a couple of hours drive from Calais to Reims, the main
champagne town. Fancy lunch in Champagne? Leave the ferry by 10.30
and you’ll do it easily. This is pretty far north to make wine and it’s
only possible because Champagne has various river valleys and hillsides that are
protected from the wind and rain. The most famous Champagnes are made by
the big, widely advertised companies like Moet et Chandon, Lanson or Mumm.
But there are lots of small companies who also make good fizz. And,
increasingly, growers who would have sold their grapes to a big company to blend
into these brands are now making the wine for themselves. If you’re
driving round the area you’ll see endless signs by the side of the road
advertising these small producers. Pop in. Taste the wines. If
you like them - buy them. If you don’t - don’t buy. But
there’s no doubt you can save significant sums by buying your bubbly in
Champagne - and you have the added pleasure of knowing the men and women
who make it.
The Rhone wine region starts south of Lyon and continues
right down almost to the Mediterranean. In the north the river cuts through the
edge of the Massif Central and creates precipitously steep slopes. The intrepid
Romans planted grapes here, at places like Cote Rotie and Hermitage, and the
vineyards are still there, clinging to the rock. The Syrah makes marvellous
smoky reds and the floral Viognier and honey suckle – scented Marsanne and
Roussanne make lovely
whites.
The most famous wine of the South is Chateauneuf du Pape
– a rich, heady spicy red (although there is a little white). But there
are loads of other delicious, brawny, southern reds and smooth-textured whites.
(There are some intoxicating rosés too). Some come under the names of
single villages like Gigondas or Vacqueuyras, but most are called Côtes de
Rhône, or usually better, Côtes du Rhône
Villages.
A beautiful wild wooded mountain area on France’s
eastern border with Switzerland, but the wines can be a bit weird, especially
whites from the Savagnin which when called Vin Jaune - yellow wine -
taste and look like sherry. But there is some nice Chardonnay, some
pleasant Pinot Noir red and some pretty fair
fizz.
Right down in the Pyrenees just inland from Biarritz is
this historic but small wine region. It produces decent dry whites but
glorious pineappley sweet whites that always manage to retain a refreshing
streak of lemon
acidity.
This
is the vast area of Southern France that’s also called
the Midi. It runs from Nîmes by the Rhone Valley right the way round
to the Spanish border. It’s the most prolific wine region in the world -
it makes 10% of the world’s wines, one third of France’s wines, its vineyards
are 5 times bigger than those of Australia, 50 times bigger than those of
New Zealand… and yet we hardly know it at all. That’s because all those
anonymous litres of rough plonk we used to hoover back - they were all from
the Midi. But the area was once high quality - the Romans began
planting grapes at Narbonne - and if you get away from the flat sea shore
into the hills there are wonderful, challenging high quality vineyards all over
the place. Red wines are best, so look for names like Côteaux de
Languedoc, Pic St Loup, Minervois and Corbières. Whites can be good, but
it is a bit hot down there. Limoux is the best white area and there are
lovely sweet wines like Muscat de Rivesaltes. If you’ve noticed lots of
wines called by their grape name, Chardonnay, Cabernet etc, with the title Vin
de Pays d’Oc - these come from anywhere in the Languedoc. Above all,
it’s a wild untamed part of France and well worth a
visit.
You’re more likely to have been in Savoie during the
winter than the summer because this is the heart of the French Alps, and skiing
is big business here. But where the snow clears these high Alpine meadows
do shelter some lovely vineyards, mostly producing delightful fresh whites and
pleasant bubblies. And if the vintage has been hot there’s a rare but
lovely spicy red called
Mondeuse.
The Loire is the longest river in France, arching like a
great bow from way down south, up to Orléans and then gradually flowing towards
its wide estuary and the sea at Nantes. There are lots of different wine
styles, some obscure, some very well known. Far upstream there are
attractive country reds made from the Gamay, but it doesn’t take long before we
get to Sancerre and Pouilly Blanc Fumé - two of France’s most famous white
wines. (By the way, Pouilly Fuissé is quite different - that’s
another very good white from Southern Burgundy). Here the Sauvignon Blanc
grape provides bright tangy whites with lovely green gooseberry fruit and a
smoky perfume. Touraine makes good Sauvignon but is better known for
Vouvray - still or sparkling, sweet or dry -and the red Chinon or
Bourgeuil. Anjou has the Chenin Blanc as its main grape, often made dry,
but at its best in Côteaux du Layon where it’s intensely sweet. And over
in the west near Nantes is the perfect partner for a plate of ‘fruit de
mers’ -
Muscadet.
Most Provençal wine seems to be drunk in the region,
usually on the beach as far as I’m concerned. It could make better wines,
but with a captive market, most producers simply provide loads of rose and some
fair red and whites for the bars and restaurants of France’s playground.
However, Bandol is a seriously good wine area near
Toulon.
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