By Lou Philips
The wines of France have much more to offer than Chardonnay or Pinot Noir but learning to navigate their intricacies can be difficult. So instead I will lead you on a tour of French wines.
Bordeaux
If you know two grapes, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, you know about 90 percent of Bordeaux wine. However, if you think Cab is king in the Bordeaux region think again. There is about 2½ times more Merlot grown there. It’s true there is a small strip of vineyards on the left bank of the Garonne River where the wines are primarily Cab, but the right bank and the rest of Bordeaux is dominated by the Blackbird, or in Francais, Merlot. And, yes, there are four other black grapes allowed, of which Cabernet Franc represents almost all, but Merlot and Cab are what you really need to know.
White Bordeaux, which can be dry or sweet such as Sauternes, is mainly Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon, but white wines comprise only about 5 percent of Bordeaux production.
Champagne
Let’s head northeast to Paris and on to Champagne, where three grapes dominate bubble production. Many think Chardonnay leads the way, mais non. Actually, it’s two Pinots – Noir and Meunier – that comprise about 37 percent each of Champagne. By the way, real Champagne is pricey because the traditional production process is time, labor and resource intensive.
Burgundy
North to south in Burgundy we find the regions of Chablis, the Côte-d’Or, Côte Chalonnaise and the Mâcon. With rare exceptions, if you are enjoying red Burgundy it is Pinot Noir and white is Chardonnay. Wines from the Cote D’Or known are the high-ticket items and will be labeled by their village or vineyard names. Beaujolais is southernmost but the French don’t really consider it part of Burgundy. However, we will and mention that the Gamay grape is Beaujolais wine.
We are off to a great start to becoming French wine experts, and in next week’s issue we’ll travel on to the Loire, Rhone, Provence and Languedoc regions.
Lou Phillips is a Level 3 Advanced Sommelier and his consulting business WineProwest.com assists in the selling, buying and managing wine collections. He may be reached at (775) 544-3435 or lou@wineprowest.com. Visit TheTahoeWeekly.com for more wine columns.
