Best French red wines for dinner time and down time, from pinot noir to bordeaux
French wine can be a little intimidating and you could be forgiven for thinking you need an intimate knowledge of the “terroir”, the region, the chateau, the winemaker or the grapes themselves before even reaching for a corkscrew.
Chris Cassell, owner of Must and Lees wine shop and tasting room in Islington, North London, understands why.
“The majority of French wines are named after the region where the grapes are grown,” he explains, “and therefore the name of the grape, or grapes, which make the wine aren’t always mentioned on the bottle, so consumers are expected to know all of that just from the association with place.”
That’s why Cassell advises that when you come across a wine you like, note the label to inform future purchases and increase your knowledge of regionality and taste expectation.
And don’t always be drawn to the more user-friendly New World reds because drinkers in the UK are well placed to explore French wine with confidence.
“There are far fewer bad French red wines in the UK than the country they’re made in,” reveals Cassell. “That’s because they’ve usually gone through more filters from importers, distributors, retailers etc and with that in mind, it’s rare you’ll get a wine you won’t
