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France and Wine, so much to write and discuss.

Where to start, where to stop, impossible!

So with this in mind we start to compile articles to educate, inform and delight.

We once overheard an expat in converstaion stating that 'She could never drink wine the same again, now she had lived in France.' How true.

The days of buying 'off the shelf' at the local corner store back in your home land would be an unthinkable act. How could you drink and not know where the grapes where grown, who produced and lavished care on the crop. The thought of foregoing the tasting and discussing around the table and the choosing of which to go with which course or dish is a tradition and way of life that once experienced, will never be forgotten.'

Enjoy, and savour.....

Loire Wines

I couldn’t help wondering, as I poured myself another glass of a delicious Saint Nicolas de Bourgueil, why it is that wines from the Western Loire valley are so little known in both the UK and France, and why they are so frequently and easily dismissed as being of poor quality. In fact, the answer is as simple as the question is naïve—a vast proportion of the Loire wines that are exported to the rest of France or to other countries is indeed of poor quality and therefore rarely recommended. What wine drinker has not at some time suffered paint-stripper Muscadet or Anjou rosé that would give a volcano a good run for its money on sulphur content? In short, the canny locals keep the best for themselves: c’est naturel, non?

So the great thing about being in the region is that there is an endless array of good local wines available at all prices, direct from the producer, at the supermarket and through specialist wine merchants. But working out what is dry and what is sweet, what fizzy and what flat, which grapes are used and what the Appellations mean can be very confusing.

Next time we’ll start with what some of the wording on the labels tells you, what it means but doesn’t actually tell you in so many words, and the significance of the coloured seal on the top of the bottle.

In the mean time, à la vôtre!

JEAN-JACQUES

What does the coloured disc on the top of the bottle

mean?

Let’s have a look today at what is on the bottle, as distinct from what is in it.

Bottled wine sold in France has a tax disc printed (usually) on the top of the foil covering the cork. If you buy wine in boxes, the disc will be printed somewhere on the box. It has an image of Marianne (symbol of the Republic) with the number of the department of production of the wine and another number unique to the producer or bottler.

If the wine is AOC or AOVDQS (we’ll talk about these terms later) the disc will be green, and if the wine is a vin de pays, it will be blue. You may see other colours, including grey and red, for wines of different classifications, but these are quite rare.

The printed disc is a record that tax has been paid on the bottle, which in turn allows it to be transported within the country. Without that disc, you cannot legally transport the wine unless you have a separate piece of paper from the seller declaring that tax has been paid on the quantity of wine you have (in bottles, cubitainers or whatever).  Don’t lose this paper as you will need it if, for example, you subsequently bottle it yourself and transport it again.

There is no need to get obsessional about this but the douanes do perform random checks: no disc or no paper equals tax evasion which, despite being a national sport, is fraud and treated as such.

Jean-Jacques     

Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée (AOC)

AOC. What does it mean? Of what value is it?

Well, whilst Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée (AOC or sometimes simply AC) as a legal issue began in 1935, its origins in spirit go back to the 1800s, when the more discerning of wine producers attempted to get recognition of their products and to eliminate the fraudulent use of wine names and origins that was then widespread to present plonk (pinard or piquette, in French – neither word is complimentary) as something apparently special.

Trouble is, the AOC system is immensely complex and although the principle of origin, or area, is the most important issue, there are numerous other associated aspects which differ from one AOC to another, such as the grape variety that can be used, the maximum production per hectare, whether the harvest must be by hand or can be done with machines and whether the wine can be red, white or fizzy. In the end, you just have to learn!

For example, Saumur AOC white wine can only be made with chenin blanc grapes, and red with cabernet franc. One of the big Saumur sparkling wine makers makes an excellent brut (dry) fizz from pure chardonnay grapes but because of the AOC rules, it has to be sold as a vin de pays, with a blue tax label! It is, however, excellent and beats many cheap AOC Champagnes hands down.

Which brings me to the subject of quality: does AOC guarantee quality? Is a vin de pays necessarily of lower quality than an AOC? The simple, if politically incorrect, answer to both questions is a resounding ‘no’. I shall tell you why next time.

                                                       Jean-Jacques