If you think you love Chardonnay, you need to experience the wines of the Côte de Beaune. More importantly, if you think you hate Chardonnay, you need to try a good Côte de Beaune. The greatest expression of the grape lie in the vineyards along the limestone escarpment that make up the backbone of this region. The Côte de Beaune is home to both Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, but there is little doubt as to who’s in charge in the Beaune. This single region, and the amazing wines it produces, is the sole reason that Chardonnay has been able to take over the wine producing world in our time.

It’s a little surprising to hear that this most sacred of wine regions did not host its signature grape, Chardonnay, until the 17^th century. Before whatever happy accident brought Chardonnay to the Côte, the grape of choice was Pinot Gris. Certainly not a bad grape, it just has never been able to pull off the high-wire acid/body structure that is a great Chardonnay. The Côte de Beaune lies on the southern half of the Côte d’Or, and is home to many fine AOCs producing wine from Chardonnay. Two of the many noteworthy of these appellations producing white wines are Mersault and Montrachet.

If you want to sound very Frenchy and cool to your wine geek friends, make sure to pronounce it “moan-ra-shay.” Montrachet is both a village and Grand Cru. To add to that confusion, some of the Grand Cru in the Village of Montrachet attach the name to the end of their Grand Cru names; so we end up with Puligny-Montrachet and Batard-Montrachet. There is however, no confusion about the best Grand Cru in the area—it is Le Montrachet. The Chardonnay produced from this escarpment in the French countryside is the archetype of white Burgundy—and thus Chardonnay produced anywhere. The wines of Le Montrachet are intense and succulent with excellent acidity and structure and a long finish. Even if you can’t find the Montrachet, anything with the name Montrachet attached will be a great bottle of wine.

Though there are no Grand Cru vineyards’ in Mersault, the region is still considered one of the greatest in the whole Côte de Beaune. The wines here are Chardonnay and they tend towards a buttery, soft and rich style. The appellation produces some decent values—if you can find Mersault-Villages bottles, look for Les Charmes or Les Perrieres.

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The Loire River winds its way through north-central France. From its start near the center of the country all the delta at the Atlantic, vines are grown on its banks. The climate in the area is right on the edge of being to cold for vines to grow, and the river provides just a little extra warmth, which makes winemaking in this area possible. Grapes have been grown here since the Romans invaded, and, at one point in time, wines from the Loire were considered the best in the world.

The modern Loire still makes excellent wines, from dozens of AOCs along the length of the river. Because the area is so big, it’s often though of in three regions: the lower, middle and upper Loire. Within the upper Loire are two very famous wine producing areas: Sancerre and Pouilly-Fumé. Both regions lie at the far east end of the Loire, across the river from each other, with Sancerre on the west and Pouilly-Fumé on the east side.

Sancerre was one of the original areas of France to be awarded AOC status, which should be no surprise given its worldwide fame. The grapes of this region are the dominant Sauvignon Blanc and the lesser-used Pinot Noir. Though Pinot Noir is produced in this area, it’s almost always simple and light, Sancerre Rouge. The real star of the show here is the white Sauvignon Blanc. The grape takes well to the areas chalky soil and hillsides, which allow more light to penetrate the vineyards and allow cooler air to sink off the hillside vineyards into the valleys below. The wines produced in this classic French area were once seen only as easy-drinking bistro wines. However, a concerted effort to move toward quality wine production began in the 1970’s and the region re-positioned itself as a leader in high-quality white wine production. Today the wines are generally very dry, with intense aromas of nectarines and white berries.

Across the banks of the river from Sancerre lies Pouilly-Fumé. (If that name seems familiar it’s because Sauvignon Blanc from California has been re-billed as Fume Blanc) This AOC also grows Sauvignon Blanc and produces incredibly crisp, racy wines. The soil in the vineyards is noted for containing silex, a flint, which is said to give the wines a decidedly mineral-like aroma and flavor. The flint is also supposed to give the wine a certain “smoky” or “gunflint” aroma, which is thought to have christened the name of the region, as Fumé means “smoke” in French.

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The French like to name their wine producing areas, so, thinking goes it’s easy to understand the style of wine in a bottle, because wines made in a certain area should be similar (in grape, style, etc.) This was of course before the age of printed reviews and Internet posts on what to expect from certain bottles. Back then the wines of the southern Rhône developed a reputation for being powerful red wines—to the point that strong southern Rhône wines used to be mixed with Bordeaux wine when Bordeaux had a bad year. That practice is of course long gone, but the powerful red wines of the southern Rhône are still enjoyed across the world.

The southern Rhône is segmented into several unique areas based on local climate and soils, which have been granted their own appellation. The most famous is Châteauneuf-du-Pape—which deserves its own post—but there are several other AOC areas in the southern Rhône that produce excellent charismatic wines that have a tendency to be overlooked in favor of Châteauneuf-du-Pape. We’re going to look at four of them: Gigondas, Vacqueyras, Lirac and Tavel.

Gigondas isn’t really about delicacy. The wines are all red and are crafted to be powerful, tannic and in the best cases worthy of cellar aging. The region is located northeast of Châteauneuf along a little set of mountains called the Dentelles de Montmirail. Gigondas is mostly made from Grenache and only produces red wines. Look for bottles to be in the $15 to $25 range.

Vacqueyras is situated between Gigondas and Châteauneuf, but stylistically it tends to be much more like Gigondas. Vacqueyras was granted AOC status in 1990, but has produced wines for centuries. The output is almost all red wines, similar to Gigondas, very powerful, with lots of structure and less finesse. Vacqueyras is produced from Grenache, but uses more Syrah than Gigondas.

Lirac lies across the river Rhone from the famous Châteauneuf and can produce wines in a similar style. Lirac wines are made in a more blended style than Gigondas and Vacqueyras, which result in wine that is more subtle than the power of the Gigondas and Vacqueyras.

The grapes for red and rose are Grenache with Syrah, Mourvèdre and Cinsault and for the whites are Clairette, Grenache Blanc and Bourboulenc.

Tavel is a very unique AOC in that permits only rosé wine to be made. The wine is made from Grenache and Cinsault, with some Syrah and Mourvèdre. Those are all red grapes, which are gently pressed and kept with the red skins for a brief period of time to dye the wine a light pink color. Tavel wines were a favorite of Kings of France and are still a favorite around the world today.

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Sauternes producers were not always forthcoming about the real nature of their wines. The thinking was that people would not want to drink wine that they knew came from rotten grapes. That actually seems like a pretty reasonable assumption, nonetheless, no one in Sauternes these days is hiding their rotten grapes. At least not any which have been infected with the beneficial fungus, Botrytis Cinerea, otherwise known as noble rot. This particular little mold loves moist environments and attaches itself to the skin of the grape, then proceeds to remove the water from each grape. Thankfully the fungus leaves behind the sugars and acids in the grape, so, when the grapes are harvested and pressed, the resulting juice is very sweet and acidic.

Located in the Bordeaux area, the Sauternes AOC is about 25 miles from the city of Bordeaux, on the Garrone. The Sauternes region got a relatively late start in the sweet making game. There aren’t any recordings of anyone making sweet wine from botrytis affected grapes (otherwise known as botrytised grapes) until the 17^th century, well after the rest of Bordeaux had become an established wine area. Within the Sauternes AOC there are five sub regions, or communes: Barsac, Sauternes, Bommes, Fargues and Preignac, of which only Barsac is a separate AOC.

The magic happens where the Garrone meets a small tributary river called the Ciron. The little river Ciron happens to be cooler than the Garrone and the temperature difference creates a consistent mist in the autumn months. This mist promotes the growth of botrytis. Unfortunately, the conditions are not met every year, and in bad years Sauternes wine is not produced. Currently, about six out of every ten years give conditions that are favorable to botrytis and Sauternes production.

The fungus does very well on the thin skin of the Semillon grape. This grape is planted all over Bordeaux for dry white wine production, however it generally takes a back seat to Sauvignon Blanc in dry Bordeaux wines. The situation is reversed in Sauternes where the blend usually consists of about 80% Semillon, with the remainder filled out by Sauvignon Blanc and dash of Muscadelle occasionally thrown in for aroma. The wines of Sauternes are marked by many unique characteristics, one of which is the high viscosity caused by the fungus’ tendency to create glycerol in the finished wine. The aroma of Sauternes are generally described as peaches, apricots and honey; the wines have a full load of acid, which is necessary to balance the intense sweetness found in the wines. Sauternes can be an incredibly long-lived wine, with bottles showing the potential to age well for 100 years or more.

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It’s easy to overlook the areas of Burgundy that aren’t the Côte d’Or. Really, there is so much going on in the Côte d’Or, who has the time to focus on wines from down south? Much like the younger siblings of an all-star older brother may get left behind in the family discussions, the Côte Chalonnaise and the Maconnais don’t garner much attention for their output. And why would they? It’s not breathtakingly expensive, the area isn’t riddled with overlapping AOCs and communes with 14 vines inside of monastic stone walls. They just make good wine at a fair price, which seems like an excellent reason to give them some attention.

The Côte Chalonnaise lies just south of the Côte d’Or, in long north to south strip of land surrounding a central plain. The soils and the overall climatic conditions in the area are quite similar to the Côte d’Or, with the exception being that there is slightly less rain in the Côte Chalonnaise. The major geographic difference is that vineyards in the Côte d’Or lie on long, single hillside; where in the Côte Chalonnaise there aren’t significant slopes for the vines to grow. The area is more undulating and pastoral than it’s northern neighbor and consequently has many microclimates that affect the quality of the wine from the various subregions: Bouzeron, Rully, Mercury, Givry and Montagny.

Bouzeron is closest to the Côte d’Or, lying just south of Montrachet. The area grows both Pinot Noir and Chardonnay and these wines are generally bottled under the generic Bourgogne labels. The unique part of Bouzeron is that it is the only AOC in France for the grape Aligoté. The wines made from Aligoté tend to be a bit denser, more in the style of Pinot Gris than the Chardonnay which is the norm for the region.

Rully is located south of Bouzeron and is the most important area for production of sparkling wine in Burgundy—labeled Cremant de Bourgogne. Rully does produce a light and mostly simple Pinot Noir as well.

The most important name in the Côte Chalonnaise is Mercury. It not only produces the most wine in the area, but it also produces some of the best. Pinot Noir is the grape of choice here and can reach very good quality levels, helped in part by the mandated restriction on yields of grapes per acre. The wines of Mercury have a deep color, spicy notes of cherry and can at their best be on par with some respectable Côte de Beaune wines.

Givry grows almost exclusively red wines from the Pinot Noir grape. Though the area is quite small, it has seen a positive increase in quality in the last decade. The reds display a respectable tannic structure as well as currant and earth on the nose. Some can age well, but most are ready to drink within 5-7 years after bottling.

The last region in the Côte Chalonnaise is Montagny, an appellation that produces only white wines from the Chardonnay grape. The wines are noted for displaying full structure and crisp acidity. Styles can range from very full-bodied and oaky to quite lean and firm, all in all a very good representation of old world Chardonnay.

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Before the process of fermentation was fully understood, Champagne was called “the devil’s wine.” It earned this reputation for its propensity to explode without warning and cause bodily harm to whomever was around at the moment. The problem turned out to be the cold climate of the Champagne region itself. In the fall, when the wine was fermenting, the temperature often fell below temperatures that yeast would be active at. The wine producers thought the wine had finished fermenting and would bottle it. Only it hadn’t finished the fermentation process—there was still sugar and live yeast in the bottles. Then, when spring rolled around and the wine warmed up, the yeast began its process: eat sugar, exude alcohol and carbon dioxide. This left the wines with gas in the bottles…and caused them to explode without warning.

Thankfully, the Champagne producers got this process under control and eventually devised a complicated system of producing their sparkling wines that removed the yeast from the bottle and left no one injured. The folks in the Champagne district call this process méthode champenoise. The French are a little fussy when it comes to the names of their products, so they’ve fought quite hard to bar anyone outside of Champagne from using the term méthode champenoise. You’ll most likely see “traditional method” or “méthode traditionnelle” on bottles of sparkling wine that use the method, but aren’t Champagne.

The Champagne method starts in basically the same way that all wine production starts: pick ripe grapes, crush them, add yeast to the juice and ferment. In Champagne this initial process yields the base wine, which is blended with other base wines from different years or vineyard, this is the cuvee.

This cuvee is then put into the bottles and a small amount of yeast is added with it along with a little sugar—this called the liqueur de triage. At this point the wine is capped with pry-off caps (like on beer bottles) and put into a cellar to age. Champagne will age for 18 months to 3 years, during this time the yeast consumes the sugar and releases carbon dioxide—the bubbles. The time spent aging with the yeast in the bottle is called “aging on the lees,” and is hallmark of Champagne wines. (Yeast in a bottle is called lees) After the producer ages the wine for a minimum of 15 months, or more, the wine is ready to riddle.

The goal of the riddling process is get the (now dead) yeast cells to the neck of the bottle, so they can be removed. The riddle starts with the wines lying horizontally on special racks. Then, they are ever so slowly tilted upward, a little each day. Over time the yeast cells travel down to the neck of the bottle and the pressure in the bottle keeps them there.

The bottles are now ready for the final steps. First the neck of the bottle is frozen, which freezes the wine in the neck—this wine contains the yeast cells that need to be removed. Then the cap is taken off, the pressure of the wine shoots the ice-yeast plug from the neck of the wine. This process is called disgorging (dégorgement in French). The final step is the dosage; this must be completed quickly because the sparkling wine is now open and losing pressure. The dosage is a mixture of small amount of sugar and other secret ingredients that is added to the wine. Then the bottle is closed with a Champagne cork and a wire cage, and the Champagne process is complete.

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Aquatine, as the Bordeaux area is sometimes called, is broken up by two rivers—the Dordogne and Garrone—which converge to form the Gironde, a huge river that meets the Atlantic shortly after forming. Both sides of the Gironde are important wine producing areas, on the left are the regions Médoc and Graves, home to the classified growths of Bordeaux. On the right are several less famous, but still important appellations of St. Emilion and Pomerol, and while these are gaining in reputation, the Left Bank is the established king of Bordeaux wine.

In 1855 the French got together and rated the vineyards of Bordeaux. These classes, or growths as they’re called, were ranked from 1^st to 5^th. Hundreds were included, and the listing is still very relevant today. The ranking was monumental and the most prestigious placement of 1^st growth was given to only four estates: Château Lafite-Rothschild, Château Latour, Château Margaux and Château Haut-Brion. A fifth château was granted 1^st growth status in 1973, Château Mouton Rothschild. These are the elite wine estates of the Bordeaux and they all lie on the Left Bank.

The left bank is broadly broken up into the regions Médoc and Graves. Château Haut-Brion is the only 1^st growth in Graves, all the rest are in the Médoc. Within the Medoc, there are even more subregions, the most important are: St. Estephe, Pauillac, St. Julien and Margaux. These four areas hold the vast majority of 1^st and 2^nd growths in Bordeaux. It’s important to note that the classification system in Bordeaux classifies Châteaux, the producer, while Burgundy and the rest of France classify the actual land. These four areas lie along the Gironde and run roughly north to south in the order they are listed above.

While St. Estephe has no 1^st growths, it does have a good concentration of classified producers: Ch. Cos d’Estournel, Cos Labroy, Lafon-Rochet, Calon-Segur and Montrose. The soils in St. Estephe tend to have a little more clay and a little less gravel, and the wines tend to be more acidic, fuller in structure and less perfumed.

Just south of St. Estephe, along the banks of the Gironde is Paulliac. This is the most celebrated of regions, with three of the five 1^st growths found here: Latour and both Lafite and Mouton-Rothschild. The soils are the best, quick draining gravel and the land gently slopes down to the river. These are the consummate wines of the left bank: soft fruit with well-integrated oak, dry, seamless tannin and vigour to maintain and age for decades. Lafite tends towards finesse and Latour and Mouton tend towards power and strength.

Next door Pauillac is the region of St. Juilen, home to the most classed growths in Bordeaux, though no 1^st growths. The soils here also the highly desirable gravel and the best estates are closest to the river. The wines from St. Julien can vary depending on relative location; closer to Margaux, the wines tend to be smoother and closer to Pauillac the wines tend to be more powerful and robust.

Margaux is still farther south and is unique in that it extends well away from the river. The most famous Chateau is certainly Ch. Margaux, one of the original 1^st growths. The soils here are thinner, but still have excellent gravel coverage. The Margaux AOC is home to the most 2^nd and 3^rd growths in Bordeaux, the overall quality level of the appellation is very high. Margaux is said to make the most polished, fragrant and finessed wines of all the Medoc.

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If grapes could be said to have a homeland, an ancestral place of origin and power, then for Grenache this place would be the Rhône. Yes, there are many other grapes that grow in the Rhône, and, there are many places in the world where Grenache grows well. Still, the Rhône, with its multitude of communes and appellations is home for the Grenache grape. Here, it grows both red and white and is made into rose, red and white wines. There are many outstanding appellations in the Rhône, but there is one overall appellation that covers the whole area, this is the Côtes du Rhône.

The river Rhône enters France from the East and leaves it at the Mediterranean Sea. Along this north-south traverse, the river hosts many grape vines, and has since antiquity. The first efforts to protect the areas brand were enacted in 1737; in the form of branding the barrels with “CDR.” This effort was a first for wine regulation and eventually helped form the Appellation system that is used to this day in all of France, and most other European wine producing nations. Côtes du Rhône received full AOC status 200 years later, in 1937. the Côtes du Rhône AOC is one of the largest single appellations in the world, covering more than 80,000 hectares and producing more than 400 million bottles of wine.

Besides Grenache Noir and Blanc the Côtes du Rhône has an array of grapes growing in its area. In one AOC—Châteauneuf du Pape—there are 13 grapes allowed in the blend! The grapes that make the most sizable plantings are the red grapes Syrah (especially in the north), Mouvedre, Cinsault, Carignane; and white grapes Marsanne, Roussanne, Viognier and Clairette. All white wines must contain at least 80% of the aforementioned grapes; while all reds must contain at least 40% Grenache.

Within the rules of the Appellation Côtes du Rhône, there are several sub-levels of quality. The best are cru level, which are small areas with separate AOC designations, Gigondas and Lirac for example. Just below that in standing are the Côtes du Rhône-Villages, first with a named village (i.e., St. Maurice) and then with the generic “Villages.” Finally, all wines grown in the AOC area can be labeled as simply Côtes du Rhône.

There is such a range of styles coming out of Côtes du Rhône AOC—from white to red to rose to fortified wines—that a specific wine style is difficult to come by. Still, some general qualities of the wines can be assessed. The reds will range in color from light red, to dark red and even purple, the tannins are usually strong, but smooth and fall on the full-bodied side of the spectrum. The whites can range from dry to just off-dry and are generally on the bigger side for white wines, some can be quite floral and others very citrusy.

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Perhaps no other wine in the world has been able to cultivate an image quite as well as Champagne. The houses of Champagne spent the 19^th and 20^th centuries making their wine as synonymous with upward mobility, the affordable luxury product. They affectively tied their sparkling wines with moments of celebration in the minds of the world’s consumers. In a stroke of genius, they specifically advertised to women. In an age when this was uncommon, it reaped rewards in brand loyalty that last to this day.

It should come then, as no surprise that the Champagne producers of France feel a great need to protect this valuable brand. There are literally international treaties that the French have negotiated to stop anyone, anywhere outside of the bounds of the Champagne AOC from calling their sparkling wine product “Champagne.”

True Champagne comes from the Champagne region, located in north-central France. The vineyards lie near to the city of Paris and are one of the most northerly outposts of grapes in the world. The grapes used to produce Champagne are actually quite familiar to most wine consumers: Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, with a little of the obscure Pinot Meunier thrown in.

Champagne is usually a white wine, but Pinot Noir is a red grape…no? Well, yes, it is, but in Champagne production the Pinot Noir grapes are crushed very lightly and removed from the skins quickly so that no color leaches into the juice. Most Champagne is a blend of the three grapes, however a bottle labeled Blanc de Noirs will be made exclusively from Pinot Noir and Meunier and a bottle labeled Blanc de Blancs is made from only Chardonnay.

Champagne today is always a sparkling wine, though it was a still red at one point in time. The geography and climate of the area sparkling wine production the best choice for growers in the area. The cooler climate gives the grapes a high dose of acid and lower sugar content. The high acid is beneficial to balance the texture of the bubbles in the wine. Champagne is made by the process invented in the Champagne area called méthode champenoise. While the process is repeated throughout the world to produce sparkling wines, the name is protected and cannot be used on labels of wines that are not Champagne.

Champagne is produced in several levels of sweetness, from driest to sweetest: Brut zero, Extra Brut, Brut, Extra Sec, Sec, Demi-Sec and Doux. Most Champagne is a non-vintage wine. This is different than most still wines, and is why there is generally not a vintage on the label of Champagne. The Champagne houses blend their wines, using wines from several years to arrive at a “house style.” This process is designed to ensure that you’re favorite bottle of Champagne will taste the same, year-to-year.

Imagine if Coca-Cola or Budweiser tasted different every year…that consistency is what the Champagne houses are aiming for. Every few years though, there is an excellent vintage and the Champagne will be made from only that year’s wine. These special wines are called vintage Champagne and are aged for longer, then released with a vintage date on the label.

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Sometimes it’s hard to remember that the output of Bordeaux goes beyond the handful of classified 1^st and 2^nd growths, but in reality the whole Bordeaux area puts out more ¾ of a billion bottles of wine each year. Yes, the classified growths get the most attention, but there is a whole world of wine produced by Bordeaux that is outside of the big names. Most of the wines made in Bordeaux are red, but there are whites, roses, sparkling and sweet wines made in the area as well.

Wine in Bordeaux started with Romans planting grapes so that their soldiers would have wine while they were occupying Gaul. The next big moment in Bordeaux wine history was a marriage—between an English man and a woman from the Bordeaux area. This union meant that the area, then known as Aquatine, became the property of England (this was the 12^th century) The English liked the wines from the area and exported a lot of them back to England. The wines were tagged “claret” and the name has stuck to this day. Eventually the French took the region back, but the trade and vineyards were established and the region embarked on its long and rich business of making wine.

The Bordeaux area is quite vast and eventually it made sense to break it up into smaller regions, so that consumers would know what kind of wine they were buying. Today the subregions are further divide into 60 appellations, or AOCs. When thinking about the wines of Bordeaux the region is broadly divided into Left Bank, Right Bank, Entre-deux-Mers and the sweet wine areas of Sauternes and Barsac. The Left Bank refers to the left side of the Gironde Estuary and is home to all of the famous classified growths. The right bank is the opposite side of the Gironde, and while there are no classified growths the area is home to some of the best Bordeaux wines. You can think of the left bank as the “establishment” and the right bank as the “up-and-comer.”

Bordeaux wines are almost all blended, both reds and whites. The reds are a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc; with a small amount of Petite Verdot, Malbec and Carmenere, being allowed but not generally used. White grapes are predominantly Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon, this blend is used for both dry and sweet white wines.

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