France’s Wine Country

France’s Wine Country

My wife and I were invited to France by the Mastalerz family living in Montpellier in southern France. We soon realized that this would be a trip of a life time. We also decided to visit Paris and some vineyards during our travels.  In preparation for the trip, I did some web research on the wine industry and grape growing regions of France.

Cultivation of wine in France has been an enduring enterprise since thousands of years before Christ.  Romans occupying the area around 90 AD produced a surplus of wine that forced Emperor Domitian to order half of the vineyards uprooted.  Viticulture in France during
the Middle Ages (400 to 1200 AD) was primarily kept alive by various monasteries located in the country. During the period of English rule (middle 1100 to middle 1400 AD) of the
Bordeaux region of France, much of the wine produced there was shipped to England.  Wine growing in Europe and France was set back in the mid to late 1800s because of disease and insect problems.  In the 1930s, France led a movement to ensure the authenticity of wine related to where it was produced.  Today, France is still producing some of the best wines in the world.

France is the leading wine producer in the world.  Rankings based on 2002 wine production totals, put France number one followed by Italy, Spain, United States and Australia,
respectively.  In 2002, France produced 5,199,930 metric tons, which was nearly 17 percent more than Italy.  Other countries that are top ten producers of wine in ranking order are Argentina, China, Germany, South Africa and Portugal.  However, France is not the
per-capita wine consumption leader, but is second to Luxembourg.  The other top three consumers of wine are Italy, Portugal and Croatia.  The United States doesn’t even make the top thirty per-capita consumers.

Three of the best known wine growing regions in France include Burgundy, Bordeaux, and Champagne. The Burgundy area produces various wines from the Pinot Noir and
Chardonnay varieties.  The Bordeaux area features the “noble” vine, the Cabernet Sauvignon.  The best sparkling wines in the world are produced in the Champagne region.  Other wine growing regions in France include Loire Valley, Savole, Rhone Valley,
Alsace and the Midi and Provence Regions of South France.  These other regions produce a wide variety of different full-bodied reds, whites, aperitif and dessert wines and popular
roses.  If you have a special taste for specific wines, you will easily satisfy that taste in France.

Touring the wine regions in France will provide many fond memories.  The vineyards you could visit are beautiful to behold and many include a back drop of historical
structures that date back hundreds and hundreds of years.  You will enjoy the wine tasting, the country style hospitality and at the same time soak up the historical significance of
this area of Europe.  Tours can easily be conducted by car, but you can also arrange bike tours and, in the Champagne Region, tour wineries by barges on the canal system.  I am sure a tour of the French wine regions will be an experience you will never forget.

I intend to follow up with more details on our trip to France, including a detailed discussion of a winery visited while in Montpellier.  In the meantime, buy the wine you like best, store and serve it at its optimum temperature and enjoy
immensely.

Author: Ronald Senn, Vice-president, Ideal Wine Coolers