What’s in a Label: French Wines

Many wine drinkers, especially in the US, develop their individual preferences based on grape varietals. This information is routinely displayed on US wine labels and for that matter, most wines produced in the new world. This makes it easy to select wines that best suit your palate.

This frame of reference can be rendered useless when attempting to decipher wine labels from France, the top producer in the “Old World.”  Perhaps, you’ve experienced this while attempting to choose a wine at a high-end restaurant. Thankfully, the skilled assistance of a wine steward or wine professional can alleviate this anxiety whether in a restaurant or retail store.

In a perfect world, we would prefer to be considered an educated consumer, rather than the proverbial “lamb to the slaughter.”

Therefore we are faced with the question “why?” Is it just safer to avoid French wines—which, while iconic, are often expensive? Why haven’t the French fallen in line with the New World wine labeling? Wouldn’t they sell more wine?

Not withstanding inherent “language” challenges, it’s worth exploring French wines.  Despite seemingly non-consumer-friendly-labeling, France remains the largest wine producer and exporter in the world, based on 2014 figures.  There are reasons for their ranking and reputation.

Delving into this iconic world of French wines can prove intimidating.

(See also: thick, leather-bound wine lists in a white tablecloth restaurant.)

The scope of French wine production is vast. It encompasses a multitude of famous growing regions including, but not limited to: Alsace, Champagne, Beaujolais, Bordeaux, Burgundy, the Loire Valley, and Rhone Valley.  Quality wines produced in these regions will include an AOC (Appellation D’Origine Controllee) designation on the label.  AOC level wine labels will often feature even more granular information on its place of origin.  As a rule, the more prestigious the wine, the more specific the origin information is on the label.

Conspicuously absent is reference to grape varietals.

If there is a common theme to AOC wines or other quality European wines, it’s the importance of place or terroir.

Terroir is the environment in which grapes are grown and wines are made.  Its components include climate, soil type, elevations, and aspect of the vine plantings in relation to the sun.  In the minds of the French, this is the key determinant in the quality and character of a wine.

Winemaking in France enjoys a long history.  Wines were produced for their local consumption, meant to drink and typically to accompany food.  Vinification techniques were largely trial-and-error.

Production of wines for outside markets was rarely a consideration, given limited transportation options, suitable “packaging” technology, and the ability to preserve wine for distant markets.

Over many centuries, the wine business in France evolved.  Rules were established via regulatory bodies to both protect the sanctity of production regions and enhance reputations of wines through specific viticulture practices.  This, in essence, created brand recognition based on terroir.

Embedded in many of these regulations is a list of approved grape varieties, which are native to a specific terroir.  

Fortunately, many of these approved varietals are native to French growing regions and correspond to grapes popular with US wine consumers.

The following is a snapshot of the most recognized French wine regions and some of the key “approved” grape varietals as a point of reference:

A word of caution: while the above grape varieties share identical names as those familiar to US wine drinkers, that is often where the similarity ends.

A Pinot Noir from Bourgogne, for example, is representative of its terroir and will present quite differently than a Pinot Noir from the Russian River in Sonoma Valley, CA.

This example, as with other Old World vs. New World comparisons, is a function of different approaches to winemaking. In Europe, and certainly France, it’s a strict reverence to the terroir and its proper representation in the wines produced.  In the New World, a greater emphasis is made on viticulture and vinification techniques to best express the masterful vision of the winemaker.

As you may see, there is no easy translation tool when trying to develop a comfort level with Old World wines versus the relative ease of US wines.

Do you need to spend a year in France memorizing places and names?  It can’t hurt, but not necessarily practical.

While perhaps a frustrating aspect of building wine knowledge, it’s what makes the world of wine exciting and never monotonous.