Wine
French wines are made in a way that other countries just can’t seem to duplicate. There seems to have been extra care sealed into every bottle of French wine. This thoughtful consideration adds a unique quality to the fine French wines that continue to lead today’s wine market. During the initial process, French winemakers will crush the grapes as soon as they are delivered to the cellar. The winemakers can extract the most flavor from every grape, and the result is a French wine rich in flavor and certain to please the palate. The next step is to transfer the crushed grapes, or “must”, to specialized tanks for fermenting. The fermentation process is a necessary step in making fine French wine. Without fermentation there will be no alcohol, resulting in simple grape juice and disappointed buyers.
The addition of yeast, sugar and chemicals is not required in making French wines, as these elements occur naturally in French grapes. A change to the chemical balance of the grapes takes place during fermentation. This change is what lends the unique body and flavor to French wines. Optimal fermentation is reached when the must is kept at a steady temperature of 25 to 30 degrees Celsius. Smooth processing during this stage also requires proper ventilation. With these conditions in place, the winemakers can lay the foundation to create the French wines that have earned their places among the finest in the world.
The maceration process is the next step in the making of classic French wine. The wine takes on a rich color and body during this step. The color of wine is developed from the peel and natural tannin of the grape. The amount of “body” is determined by the amount of time the wine spends in maceration. Longer maceration will result in a more full-bodied wine, and many of the better French wines will take several weeks of maceration to reach their full potential. The final processing stage is known as raking. All solids are removed, and more than one type of wine can be created from the mixture during this final phase. The pulped that has been “raked” from the wine can be squeezed to create pressed wine, or used in its natural form as free run French wine.
French wine varies from the most common types that you can find virtually everywhere that sells wine, to the rare vintage, which can be very difficult to come across. If you are seeking one of the more rare types of French wine, your best chance would be to use the Internet. Wine lovers agree that wines of exquisite quality have been created by vintners located around the world. However, whether it’s the grapes of France or the careful methods used to process the grapes, few can quite match the unique quality of a fine French wine.
There are many different types of wines which can lead to some confusion on which to choose for a particular meal or occasion. The information offered here should help clear things up a little.
In many cases wines will be named for the place where they are made such as Champagne while others are named for the grapes the wines are made from like Chardonnay or Merlot. Some get their name from other better known vineyards which are slightly similar such as Chablis and Burgundy. How a wine comes by its name is also influenced by local laws and traditions especially in Europe.
Below are the three main categories:
Regional Wines come first. These wines are primarily European and have a long history of distinctive wine making governed by strict regulations that determine which grapes to use for a particular wine and location. These laws and rules come from hundreds of years of experience using different grapes and fermentation methods which have resulted in knowledge of what will work best for a specific location. Almost all French, Italian, and Portuguese wines are classed in this category with regional names such as Bordeaux, Chianti, and Burgundy.
Variety wines or varietals are next, so named from the grapes from which they are derived. Many countries now allow for wines to be named in this manner though it is still helpful to know about the local variations and local laws. For example, in California a wine need only consist of 75% of a certain grape to be able to use that name while in France it must contain 100% of that specific type of grape. The countries in the “New World” tend to be more relaxed with their regulations and also will label their better wines with these varietal names while the “Old World” European countries tend to use this for their everyday table wines like Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon.
The generic wines are the last and are more common in the United States than other countries and for reasons explained above are virtually unseen in Europe. These wines have no regulatory labeling and no content or place of origin requirements so an American wine that is a sparkling wine may be called Champagne even though it is nowhere near the quality of the wine of that name coming from the Champagne region of France. Some other examples of this are Chablis, Burgundy, and Port. This generic naming can be confusing for the uninformed; the best advice is to go with the French made or other European wine where you are assured of the higher quality.