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Choosing the Best French Wines
from: Maxx Guide to WineIf you're just getting into wines from France, then it can be confusing determining which one's to try since there are so many varieties available. Here's a brief guide to make it easier for you to do so.
The top grade of French wine is Appellation Controlee (AC or AOC), which is a French law that guarantees a wine is actually from the location stated on the label, and that the wine is made from specific grapes and produced in a specific way.
So it's a good idea to choose an Appellation Controlee wine. Next, you'll decide on a red wine, white wine or rose.
1st Rule of Quality:
Check the label to ensure the wine has enough alcohol content for its type. Thus, 13% minimum for a Bordeaux, but only 11% is required for a Gros Plant from the mouth of the Loire. In addition, 12 - 13% for a Tavel Rose from the Rhone Valley; 12% for Anjou Rose from the Loire. Alcohol level is easier to achieve these days than it used to be so, in some ways, this is less of a guide to quality.
2nd Rule of Quality:
You should determine if the wine is Chateau bottled or bottled by the proprietor, which it should be. If not, it's usually a blend from different producers, which isn't necessarily bad, but not really the best choice. Bottling by a negociant is now less acceptable than it used to be.
3rd Rule of Quality:
Check to see if the wine you're interested in trying has won any awards by looking for gold medals on the label. It may seem trivial to people outside of France, but wine producers who think well of their wines will compete for these award, and be quite proud to display the medal on the label.
4th Rule of Quality:
Is the bottle you're interested in numbered? Once again, if the wine producer is proud of his/her wine, he/she may take the time to number his/her output by putting a serial number on the label. Exactly what use these numbers are (other than this wine quality test) is pure speculation.
5th Rule of Quality:
Is the cork long enough for the wine? This test applies mainly to wines aged for a long time before drinking, since a long cork preserves the wine better. If the wine has a short cork, there may be a question mark against the wine i.e. that the producer was more concerned with costs than the quality of his wine. The difficulty with this rule is that the cork is going to be at least partly concealed by the capsul (the metal foil wrapper) so you won't be able to determine this until you've tried the wine.
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