French Wine
About French Wine offers complete introduction to the world of French wines including information about French wine classification, French wine tasting, winemaking, vine and wine history in France and grapes planted and used in the French wine. We will show you the right combinations of French wine and not only French food. We will guide you through the best wineries in Bordeaux, Alsace, Champagne, Loire, Burgundy and other wine regions in France.
Did you know that...
- about 8 billion bottles of French wine are produced yearly?
- even there are produced 8 billion bottles of French Wine, France is not the largest country from vineyard area point of view?
- French wine producers and marketers introduced two key terms for each wine lover: terroir and AOC (Appellation d'Origine Controlee)?
- first notice about French wine is dated to 6th century BC?
- majority of the most expensive French wine is blended?
Wine is product of fruits fermentation. Most often we consider as wine product of grape fermentation, to distinguish the wines made from other fruits are known as country wines. Wine is usually made from one or more varieties of European Vitis vinifera, for example Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot.
When one of these varieties us used as minimum of 75% or 85%, the result is varietal. If not, such wine is considered as blended.
There is different wine classification of French wine and in the rest of the world. French wine is usually classified by region (Bordeaux) when the non French wine is classified by grape variety (Merlot). But thanks to high reputation of French wine we can notice more and more of wines like Napa Valley, Central Valley etc which try to "copy and paste" the similar classification as in France.
French wine classification is based on terroir ("region of origin") and added classification from table wine (Vin de Table) to AOC (Appellation d`Origine Controlee.
Frech Wine Classification
French law divides French wine into four categories, two of them are under the European Unions Table Wine category and two are falling under the EUs designation Quality Wine Produced in a Specific Region (QWPSR).
Table wine
- Vin de Table
- Vin de Pays
Quality Wine Produced in a Specific Region (QWPSR)
- Vin Delimite de Qualite Superieure (VDQS)
- Appellation d`Origine Controlee (AOC))