France
Alsace
Alsace is the only classic French wine region that has built a reputation on the concept of varietal wines. The region produces rich dry white wines with beautifully focused fruit. The wines are equally well suited to food as they are to drinkin on their own.
Champagne
No other vine-growing region can challenge Champagne’s claim to produce the world’s greatest sparkling wine because no other area resembles this viticultural twilight zone where the ivne struglles to ripen grapes each year. In order to produce a truly great sparkling wine in the classic brut sense, the grapes must be harvested with a certain balance of richness, extract, and acidity, which can be achieved only through the long-drawn-out ripening process that occurs when the vine is grown on a knife edge between success and failure. The Champagne terroir, which includes a cold, sometimes mean, northern climate and lime-rich chalk soil, is the key to the wine’s intrinsic superiority, yet if such an area were to be discovered today, modern wine experts would quickly dismiss it as unsuitable for viticulture, thus economically unsound for winemaking.
Loire Valley
In winemaking terms, the Loire valley is best imagined as a long ribbon with crisp white wines at either end and fuller wines of all types in the middle. It is the home of Sauvignon Blanc, the only wine area in the world that specializes in Cabernet Franc and, in truly great vintages, makes some of the most sublime and sumptuous botrytized wines.
Sancerre
Sancerre is first and foremost an isolated hill that rises up in the middle of a serene landscape bathed by the soft light of the Loire river.
The oldest part of the town, built like an amphitheatre on the south-western slopes of the hill towers up to a height of three hundred and twelve meters, dominating the landscape and offering a magnificent panorama.
There is much controversy surrounding the origins of Sancerre. Certain historians attribute it to Julius Cesar, others to a Saxon settlement that is said to have been established during the reign of Charlemagne. It is however certain that its history goes back to the beginning of the Middle Ages, before the year 1000 and that a Castle was erected on this privileged site.
As far back as the XVI century, in 1513 to be exact, the local records mention the Mellot family, whose life even at that time was governed by the seasons of the vine and the production of wines of excellent quality.
Bordeaux
Bordeaux is an area in an almost perfect viticultural situation on the west coast of France and benefits from the ultimate marketing tool – a chateau-based classification system that was established almost 150 years ago.
Without its lush vineyards and the illustrious names of the great chateaux, there would be little to thrill the traveller in Bordeaux’s flat countryside. The most impressive fewature of the landscape is the architecture of the famous Crus Classes chateaux. These grand chateaux have a remarkable range of architectural styles that span seven centuries. Some so-called petits chateaux can be equally grand.
There are more than 22,000 vineyard proprietors working 100,000 hectares, producing over 44 million cases of Bordeaux wine every year. Of these 22,000 properties, no less than 7,000 are chateaux and domaines producing wine. Yet the reputation of this great wine producing region has been built upon the quality of ess than one percent of this number, and only three percent of the vast volume of wine produced is classified as Cru Classe or Grand Cru – the highest ranking status for a Bordeaux wine.
The Chateau System and Merchant Power
Prior to the concept of chateau wine estates, the land was worked on a crop sharing basis. This feudal system slowly changed from the late 17th centery onwards. As the bordelais brokers developed the habit of recording and classifying wines according to their cru of growth (which is to say their geographical origin) and the prices they fetched, the fame of individual properties developed.
The 19th century saw the rise of the merchant or negociant in Bordeaux. Many of these were of Engilsh origin, and some firms were established by Scottish, Irish, Dutch, and German businessmen. The best chateau wines were not consumed by the French themselves; they were the preserve of the British, German, and other northern European countries. Thus foreign merchants had an obvious advantage over their French counterparts. Yearly, in Spring, these negociants took delivery of young wines in cask from the various chateaux and matured them in their cellars prior to shipping. They were thus responsible for their elevage, or upbringing, and became known as nogociants eleveurs eventually becoming the middlemen found in every aspect of wine trading. In many instances a foreign buyer found it easier and more convenient to deal through a negociant than directly with the wine producer and often had no alternative, since a number of chateaux were owned by, or were exclusive to, certain negociants.