WINE-COUNTRIES France

Alsace
Bordeaux
Burgundy
Champagne
Corsica
Côtes du Rhône
Jura
Languedoc
Loire
Provence
Languedoc-Roussillon
Savoy
South West

Vineyard area: 943 thousand hectares

Total production: 55.4 million hectolitres

Annual consumption
total: 36.9 million hectolitres
per capita: 64.5 litres

Exports: 11426 hectolitres

Imports: 5.8 million hectolitres

Principal grape varieties: cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc, carignan, merlot, pinot noir, syrah, chardonnay, chenin blanc, gamay, gewürztraminer, grenache, pinot blanc, sauvignon blanc, sémillon, sylvaner, aligoté.

France continues to maintain a firm hold on her leadership in the area of premium and fine wines at international level, thanks to the country's unique oenological culture. France boasts more Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée wines than any other country in the world, with an output which has risen from the 12 million hectolitres of the late 1960s to the 22 million plus of the early 1990s. Production of table wines on the other hand has fallen over the same period from 45 million hectolitres to less than 30 million. On the domestic front per capita consumption is steadily and apparently irreversibly declining (roughly 120 litres in 1960, it now stands at 64.5 litres) but France is still the world's leading wine exporter both in terms of value and quantity of sales.

French wine is classified in four categories: Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée (AOC), Appellation d'Origine Vin Délimité de Qualité Supérieure (AOVDQS),Vin de Pays and Vin de Table . The first and most prestigious category is subject to regulation by the Institut National des Appellations d'Origine (INAO) and includes roughly one third of France's total wine production. The Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée regulations are among the strictest in the world and are drawn up with close attention to the soil types and microclimates of the regions concerned, thus very firmly linking each wine to its geographical origins or terroir. Yields per hectare, varieties, irrigation and vineyard layout are just some of the aspects that are rigorously controlled.

France's leading varieties, now planted in all the major wine producing countries of the world, have created international standards. Two varietals in particular have made their mark, Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon, but the complete list of French varieties is longer and much richer. Pinot Noir has been cultivated in Burgundy since the XIV century and on the Côte d'Or makes wines unsurpassed anywhere in the world. Sauvignon Blanc is the classic Loire variety which a number of producers in Sancerre and Pouilly are now ageing in wood - sometimes new wood - in the Burgundy style. Chenin Blanc is possibly less well-known, but it provides the basis for the great dessert wines of the Loire. Merlot dominates the right bank of the Bordeaux region. Sémillon (particularly susceptible to the highly desirable botrytis cynera or 'noble rot') along with Sauvignon and Muscadelle contributes to the great dessert wines of Sauternes. The Gewürztraminer grape, with its characteristic aromas of fruit and spice, has found an ideal adopted homeland in Alsace. Riesling finds in this north-eastern region many opportunities to express its rich, dry wines. Other wines of interest from Alsace are the substantially underrated Sylvaner, Muscat, Pinot Gris and Pinot Blanc. Gamay and Carignan are favourites in France although little known outside the country. Gamay makes a wine with a style widely imitated elsewhere but which succeeds best in the celebrated Beaujolais. Carignan is typical of the Corbieres, Fitou and Minervois zones in the south of France. It is also cultivated in Spain. The Grenache grape thrives in the lower part of the Côtes du Rhône (especially for Châteauneuf-du-Pape) and under the Banyuls and Colliure appellations in combination with Mourvedre and Syrah.

France's vast ampelographic heritage, barely hinted at in this short list, constitutes a range and quality that is unmatched anywhere else in the world. The relationship between these varieties and the local terroir has enabled the wines of France's various regions to establish distinctive personalities. There is a trend today however among some winemakers (certainly not all) to aim for a bland, international style that militates against the cru factor. Inevitably in France as elsewhere there are examples of over-cropping, over-fertilization, the use of high-yielding clones, deacidification, chemical clarifying and sterile filtering and so on which result in characterless if not actually faulty wines . This worrying state of affairs is nonetheless offset by the increasing number of producers committed to the continual improvement of quality in vineyard management and the winemaking process.

France is divided in this guide into 12 regions. Within those regions we have selected, tasted and described wines from 688 producers - over one third of the total wines examined in the guide. Burgundy and Bordeaux are the most important regions, not only for historical reasons, but Alsace is equally well represented. The overall quality of wines from Burgundy may be up for discussion at present but the legendary Côte d'Or has lost none of its fascination and many of its wines still set the international standards others strive to emulate. The hand over here from the older to a new generation of producers has resulted in the recapture of lost colour and body as high-yielding clones and chaptalization are abandoned.

The prestige of Bordeaux wines, in contrast, remains untarnished, evoking an image of breeding, distinction and nobility. Around the city of Bordeaux may be found the highest concentration of premium wines in the world. The great maisons de négoce of Bordeaux have left the city centre to take refuge in the suburbs and the renowned Chartrons district has seen its hopes for the infinite expansion of the négociant sector dashed. It is interesting to note however that, thanks to sustained international demand, prices of Bordeaux wines are currently very buoyant . The four major areas, Graves, Libournais (with Pomerol and Saint-Emilion), Médoc and Sauternais produce masterpieces of nature and the winemaker's art. It is in the Bordeaux region that modern oenology has found an environment in which to study in depth the problems of viticulture and vinification. Bordeaux-based Professor Emile Peynaud, one of the undisputed masters of contemporary winemaking, opened new horizons in the field that have been explored and developed by the many talented oenologists who have transformed themselves from mere analysts into hi-tech "wine processors". It will therefore come as no surprise that Bordeaux has once again taken the lion's share of placings in the list of the world's Top Wines selected for this guide.

Champagne is another legendary region, where growers continue to take pride in harvesting grapes by hand. The late 1980s were extremely lucrative for the region's growers but prices have fallen by more than a third over the past three years, after increases of over 30 per cent in the period up to 1991-2. Germany, the United Kingdom (where sales are now in steep decline) and the United States are still the major export markets for Champagne with a total consumption of more than 40 million bottles.

The Côtes du Rhône is the region that appears to have made the most significant progress thanks to the policy of promoting quality over quantity implemented over the past ten years. Both in the northern part of the Rhône Valley, (Cornas, Hermitage, Saint-Joseph and Côte-Rotie) and in the south, (Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Gigondas and other appellations) Côtes du Rhône wines have enjoyed an undeniable renaissance in quality.The same trend can be detected in Provence and Languedoc-Roussillon. The south of France embraces about 30 per cent of the country's total area under vines and in the past has produced almost exclusively vin ordinaire. Today however major investments inspired by a new quality-oriented ethos are beginning to bear fruit, albeit at prices that regrettably are beginning to drift higher.

Lying at opposite sides of the country, Alsace and the Loire Valley are the regions that dominate the white wines of France. The varietals of the former are familiar; perhaps the white Savennieres, Vouvray, Pouilly-Fumé and Sancerre and red Anjou, Chinon, Saumur-Champigny of the Loire Valley deserve to be better known.. The South West is another part of the country undergoing change . A huge area with many different microclimates and a wide range of wine types, the South West is accorded a place of honour in this guide.

Despite the increasing international competition, exports of French wine to the key markets of Germany, the Benelux countries, the United States, Great Britain and Switzerland are more than holding their own - the appearance on the scene of excellent wines from Australia, South Africa, Spain, the United States and Italy seems to have been an extraordinary stimulus to the producers of France.