Introduction to Pauillac Wines

By Miroslav Kucera

Millions of tourists are coming to France every year. Plenty of them enjoy sun on the beaches of French Riviera or Atlantic Ocean. Others want to see Paris, the castles in the Loire Valley or invasion beaches in Normandy. I am sure that majority of the adult visitors’ tastes some French wine during lunch or dinner in restaurant or simply buy a bottle as gift or souvenir.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Miroslav Kucera
• Release date: Nov 26, 2015
• ISBN: 9781519913470

Book preview

Introduction

Millions of tourists are coming to France every year. Plenty of them enjoy sun on the beaches of French Riviera or Atlantic Ocean. Others want to see Paris, the castles in the Loire Valley or invasion beaches in Normandy. I am sure that majority of the adult visitors’ tastes some French wine during lunch or dinner in restaurant or simply buy a bottle as gift or souvenir.

I remember the day when I went to supermarket in France to buy a bottle of good French wine. After arriving to closest shopping center I headed to department with wines and beverages. There were racks, racks and racks and... again racks with different bottles of different wines at different price levels. And the question was – how to find the right bottle that might be considered as good enough?

This book will guide you not only through the best wineries of Pauillac wine region, home of the best and luxurious red wines but also invite you for an amazing journey to the world of French wines. It would be my honor to encourage you to visit Pauillac or Bordeaux region.

Old truth says that if you want to enjoy and understand a wine from certain region, you should go there and spend time wandering around the wineries, breathing the air, feeling the soil under your feet, touching the vines leaves and grapes. Then when you are back, sitting in your armchair after long day, open the bottle, take a sip and close your eyes. You will be back at the vineyard; you will feel the sun again...

French Wine

France has been for many years wine producer number 1 with 8 billion bottles of red, white or rose, still or sparkling wine. In 2010, Italy became the biggest producer thanks to emerging demand for wine from China. France holds 2nd place from the vineyard area point of view when the 1st place belongs to Spain. Oh, my poor French wine industry, just imagine where you could be if you had the largest vineyards surface in the world.

There is different wine classification in France and in the rest of the world. French wine is usually classified by region (for example: Bordeaux) when the non-French wine is classified by grape variety (for example: Merlot). Thanks to high reputation of French wine, we can notice more and more wines named Napa Valley or Central Valley, this naming approach tries to copy and paste the classification used in France.

Furthermore, French wine classification is based on terroir (region of origin) and based on classification of wine quality. The quality range varies from the cheapest table wines (Vin de Table) to AOC wines (Appellation d’Origine Controlee).

French law divides wine into four categories. Two of them are under the European Union’s Table Wine category (Vin de Table and Vin de Pays) and two are falling under the EU’s designation Quality Wine Produced in a Specific Region (VDQS – Vin Delimite de Qualite Superieure; AOC – Appellation d‘Origine Controlee).

AOC system defines which grape varieties and winemaking practices are allowed in each French region (appellation). Appellation could be entire geographical region, village or just specific vineyard.

French wineries cultivate numerous grape varieties including internationally well-known and local varieties. Most of the so-called international varieties are of French origin or became known and spread because of their cultivation in France.

Since French appellation rules generally restrict wines from each region, district or appellation to a small number of allowed grape varieties, there are in principle no varieties that are commonly planted throughout entire France. Most varieties are primarily associated with a certain region, such as Cabernet Sauvignon in Bordeaux and Syrah in Rhone. There are some varieties that are found in two or more regions, such as Chardonnay in Bourgogne and Champagne, Sauvignon Blanc in Loire and Bordeaux.

The usage of grape varieties is restricted by French laws. As an example, even the climatic conditions would appear to be favorable, no Cabernet Sauvignon wines are produced in Rhone, no Riesling wines in Loire and no Chardonnay in Bordeaux. If wines were produced from forbidden varieties in these regions, they would have to be declassified to Vin de Pays (French table wine) and they would not be allowed to display any appellation name or even region of origin.

Traditionally, many French wines are blended from several grape varieties. Varietal white wines are more common than varietal red wines. In many respects, French wines have more of a regional than a national identity which is driven by different grape varieties and different production methods in the various regions.

When we are talking about regions, I need to highlight one word which France introduced to the world – terroir. Terroir defines the style of the wines based on specific location where the grapes grow and