Index
The regions of French wine
Twelve regions, each with its own geology, climate and grape palette. Choose one to see its appellations, styles and the food it belongs with.
Bordeaux
The Left Bank, the Right Bank, and the art of the blend
Gravel, clay and limestone on either side of the Gironde produce the world's benchmark Cabernet and Merlot blends.
Bourgogne
One grape, a thousand plots of earth
Pinot Noir and Chardonnay parsed into climats so precise that a stone wall can change the wine entirely.
Champagne
Chalk, cold, and the second fermentation
France's northernmost great vineyard, where marginal ripeness and deep chalk cellars make the world's finest sparkling wine.
Vallée du Rhône
Syrah on granite, Grenache on stones
A river valley of two halves: steep northern terraces of pure Syrah, and the sun-baked southern blends of Châteauneuf.
Vallée de la Loire
A thousand kilometres of freshness
France's most varied region, running from Sancerre's flint to Muscadet's Atlantic salinity.
Alsace
Aromatic whites in the rain shadow of the Vosges
Germanic grapes, French hands, and one of the driest climates in France thanks to the mountains to the west.
Provence
The birthplace of French wine, now the capital of rosé
Phocaean vines planted 2,600 years ago, today producing pale, herbal rosé under relentless Mediterranean sun.
Languedoc-Roussillon
The largest vineyard on earth, reinvented
Once a sea of bulk wine, now France's most dynamic frontier for old-vine Carignan and ambitious hillside estates.
Beaujolais
Gamay, granite, and carbonic maceration
Ten crus on pink granite producing serious, perfumed Gamay that has finally escaped its nouveau reputation.
Jura & Savoie
Alpine outliers with a vocabulary of their own
Oxidative vin jaune, Savagnin, Poulsard and mountain whites from France's smallest and strangest vineyards.
Sud-Ouest
France's deepest reserve of native grapes
Tannat, Malbec, Négrette and Manseng survive here in a patchwork of small appellations inland from Bordeaux.
Corse
Island vines between mountain and sea
Nielluccio, Sciaccarellu and Vermentinu grown on granite and schist, scented with the maquis.