The French regions
If you have been reading this website, you could be forgiven for thinking that I am only interested in Italy – but that is far from the case. Here are posts on favourite French regions.
Champagne
Champagne scholarship 2013 – how an Italian sparkling wine led to a trip to Champagne- Avenue de Champagne, Épernay – the Champagne lover’s street of dreams!
- Effervescence – the visual excitement of Champagne in the glass
- Options in Champagne – the growers’ wines of Laherte and Bérêche
- Alfred Gratien – traditionalist on the move
- Blending at Beaumont des Crayères – what a small, special cooperative can achieve
- Ruinart – the art of good company – a grand house with remarkable cellars
- Bollinger – quality in the long term – the factors which lead to consistently great wines
- Aesthetic delights at the Restaurant Foch, Reims – gastronomy that looks as good as it tastes
- Deconstructing sparkling wine – a master class on Champagne styles with Martin Hudson MW
- Ayala and Bollinger for starters – preparing for the trip to Champagne
- Top glasses – a brief stop-over at André Jacquart, Vertus
Sancerre and Pouilly Fumé
Aristocrats and the bourgeoisie in Sancerre and Pouilly Fumé- Classy Château de Tracy – an ancient château and ageable Sauvignon Blanc
- The exemplary Bourgeois – top quality wines and the region’s ambassador
- Joseph Mellot – a tour of the central vineyards
Chablis
- Chablis home page – basic introduction and visits of October 2010
- Jean-Marc Brocard – Chablis on a grand scale
- Vignoble Dampt – family company and a transvestite spy!
- Chablis – all flints and fossils – scintillating, mineral wines at the Royal Opera House
- Christian Moreau at Caviste - top producer visits Hampshire
- The world’s Chardonnay – a Chablis in the company of the range of Chardonnay styles
Burgundy
- Burgundy highways and byways – BIVB’s big annual tasting, 2011
- Meursault Masters – at Corney & Barrow’s 2011 en primeur tasting
- Burgundy at the home of cricket – an unlikely combination of the 2010 tasting at Lord’s under snow
- Something to celebrate: 1990 – why it’s worth keeping some red Burgundy
- Weekend bottles – Burgundy is not just for special occasions
- Red Burgundy’s contribution to European unity – we may disagree about politics or religion …
Bordeaux
- Recent vintages of Langoa-Barton – an Englishman’s claret shows its worth
- Bordeaux master class 1 – Martin Hudson MW introduces Bordeaux’s under-regarded whites
- Bordeaux master class 2 – Martin Hudson does justice to Bordeaux’s great reds
Alsace
- Particularly Alsace – a tour around the great grapes of Alsace
- Zind-Humbrecht at Coe Vintners – a leading producer’s visit to London
- Searching for older Alsace bottles – the fun of the chase
Roussillon
- Sun, mountains, hills, sea – the wines of Roussillon and Southern Languedoc – the home page for a week of visiting wineries in the far south of France, featuring:
- Introduction to the area and homepage
- Mysterious Bugarach
- Southern Sparklers – Domaine du Fourn, Robert; Domaine Grier
- Ancient and modern – Maison Cazes, Domaine Gayda
- Mainly red – Lesquerde, Terroirs de Vertiges, Préceptorie de Centenach, Grier
- In praise of Carignan – Domaine Roc des Anges, Côtes d’Agly cooperative
- Organic and bio – Cazes, Ch. Prieuré Borde-Rouge
- Vin doux naturel – Cazes, Préceptorie de Centernach, Lesquerde
- Roussillon – sunshine and big fruit – Jean Pla’s selection from Maury and Corbieres
- The good and the great – reflections on good everyday wine and what a region does best
- Organic Sud de France – should you drink organic wine because it is organic or because it is good?
