Why French Wine is Still King of the Hill
With an annual production of seven to eight billion bottles per year, its no wonder France is the most famous and highest wine producing country in the world. There are a number of wine making regions dotted around France with some areas being dated as far back as 600 BC.
The wines produced today vary across the gambit of the pricing structure with both expensive and lower priced wines available worldwide. To keep its reputation as the top winemaking country, France has had to adapt and incorporate new manufacturing and transportation technology in its production process.
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 guidelines used to protect naming origins and winemaking for French regions is known as the Appellation d’Origine Controlee (AOC) system. The body in charge, sets down and enforces the rules in the AOE system which is also used to determine which winemaking practices and grape varieties are allowed to be used in the specific wine producing regions of France.
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.
Many of the most famous varieties of grape such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc and Syrah all originated from the wine growing regions of France. The expansion and colonization of a number of countries over the last few hundred years has seen these grape varieties pop up in many different countries around the world.
However, not only the grape varieties were brought over and with them came people with the knowledge of French winemaking techniques.
The long and proud record of French wine has built up a dreamy image in many peoples minds. It has remained a leader in grape varieties, wine sales and production for hundreds of years. To top it off, it has managed to continue to this day while still holding on 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.
Follow the link for more information on French Wines.
Tags: french wine, french wines, wine from france
This entry was posted on Sunday, June 7th, 2009 at 8:52 am and is filed under food and wine. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.