French Wine – Full Bodied with a Full History
France has the largest wine production of any country in the world, producing between seven to eight billion bottles every year. It comes as no surprise that France is covered in winemaking regions, each with a distinct style of wine.
The wines produced today vary across the gambit of the pricing structure with both expensive and lower priced wines available worldwide. With changing technology in both manufacturing and transportation, France has been forced to adapt to remain on top of the winemaking list.
In the recent past, the French have been very protective of their origins and wine naming conventions, and with good reason, protecting such famous names as Bordeaux, Champagne and Burgundy.
The AOC (Appellation d’Origine Controlee) system are the guidelines that are used to preserve the wine production and naming rights for all wine producing regions of France. The AOE system is enforced by a governing body, which determines the winemaking practices and grape varieties used in each region.
Another French term that is held close to the heart is “terrior” which is used to indicate the natural growing conditions of the vineyard, such as soil, temperature and slope of the land.
A good portion of the most popular gape varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc and Syrah all originally hail from the vineyards of France. The last few hundred years of exploration and colonization has seen the spread on both number and popularity of these grape varieties across the globe.
The spread of grapes across many countries also brought with it a number of winemakers armed with the knowledge of French winemaking techniques.
The rich history embedded in the French winemaking conjures up dreamy images of the roving vinewyards of France. It has managed to stay at the forefront of wine sales, grape varieties and wine production levels. On top of all of this, it has managed to retain the pole position while still adhering to its age old winemaking traditions.
It is for these reasons that France is still the flagship country leading the world in wine production standards.
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