Additionally, sweet white blends of Semillon, Sauvingnon Blanc and Muscadelle as well as dry white blends of Sauvignon blanc and Semillon are also produced. There are 57 individual appellations in Bordeaux and 9 defined A.O.C. districts, five major: Medoc, Pomerol, St.-Emilion, Graves and Sauternes, and four lesser: Premieres Cotes de Bordeaux, Cotes de Bourg, Cotes de Blaye, and Entre-deux-Mers.

French Wine Region Bordeaux

Wines identified in Bordeaux can either be labeled by a proprietary name or the Chateau (vineyard with attached house), but all will list the A.O.C. designation (appellation). Each district also manages a separate and unique system of quality classification to identify those wineries considered of the highest quality.

Remember, this is just a quick reference. This topic is deep and you could spend a lifetime emersed and still not know everything there is to know about French wine. But, this should be helpful. I will dig deep into each sub-region in later articles.

Medoc

Situated on the left bank of the Gironde estuary, Medoc is considered the “800lb gorilla” of Bordeaux with a disproportionate amount of France’s notable wines coming from this district. All A.O.C. controlled wines from Medoc are red and are blended with more Cabernet Sauvignon than Merlot.

Medoc utilizes a chateau ranking system categorized in 1855 by quality (referred to as Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855) into five “growths”. The first growth, or Premier Cru (1st Cru) signifies the highest quality Chateau in Bordeaux. of which only five exist. Additional classifications may also include (in order of quality), Grand Crus, Grand Crus Bourgeois and Crus Bourgeois. This method of classification is no different than a hotel being ranked in quality as “four stars”.

The most notable chateaux are Chateau Lefite-Rothschild, Chateau Latour, Chateau Mouton-Rothschild and Chateau Haut-Brion (Haut-Brion is actually located in the Graves district south of Medoc).

There are eight appellations within Medoc; Medoc (means northern area of Medoc), Haut-Medoc, Margaux, Paullac, St. Julien, St. Estephe, Moulis and Listrac. There are six inner appellations to Haut-Medoc listed in the Appendix of this training guide.

The Region of Alsace

French Wine Region of Alsace

Located on the northeastern border adjacent to Germany and Switzerland, Alsace produces wine based primarily on Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Pinot gris and Muscat.

The wines produced by this region will be labeled by the appellation Alsace or Alsace Grand Cru. The primary difference being the Alsace Grand Cru designation dictates the vineyard source to be from a “top-class vineyard” with a lower yield (insuring greater grape concentration).

Riesling and Gewurztraminer account for over 40% of the Alsatian (al-say-shen) wines produced and as a whole, Alsace accounts for nearly 20% of the wine production of France.

• Alsace Riesling: Most notable for its “bone dry” and austere taste with scents of the classic Riesling including apple and lemon, as well as the occasional petroleum.
• Alsace Pinot Gris: Richer than its Riesling counterpart, tons of fruit, luscious flavor with scents of candied fruits.
• Alsace Muscat: Huge floral scents, fruits like apricot on the nose but the taste is “bone dry”.
• Alsace Gewurztraminer: Tons of spice, candied fruit and nuts on the nose with a velvet texture and tastes of pineapple, apricot, sometimes even ginger with higher amounts of residual sugar.

Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée (A.O.C)

Established in 1935, the A.O.C. defines and enforces the standards that tie a product to a specific geographic area. Although the A.O.C. has authority over numerous products (cheese, produce, etc.), it is its role in the production of French wine that is of the greatest interest.

As of late 2007, every major wine growing region in France has an A.O.C. classification (Languedoc-Roussillon area just recently received the Coteaux du Languedoc designation). Within each wine growing region, individual appellations have been established. An appellation is nothing more than an indicator as to the grape source of the wine as well as other factors influencing production including defined varietals, yield, growing practices, and alcohol content.

In summary, there are multiple wine growing regions defined and each defined region has a list of appellations providing even greater detail as to the regional source of the wine. Although there are many factors that make up each appellation, the single most important factor is the definition of the land from which the producing grape was grown.

Naturally, some appellations define a much broader area than others. As an example, Burgundy has the greatest number of appellations. A wine labeled as the appellation Bourgogne means the grapes could have been grown anywhere within the defined wine growing region of Burgundy. Conversely, a wine labeled as the appellation Le Musigny means the grapes were grown within the Grand Cru classified vineyards of the Chambolle-Musigny village within the heart of the Cote de Nuits district of Burgundy between the altitudes of 260m and 300m above sea level. Thus, some appellations define a more narrow area than others.

Aside from the geographic location, there is an additional definition of the appellation that is equally important and that is the grape used to produce the wine. Every appellation provides a definition of the grapes to be used for both red and white. This is where French wine becomes its most confusing for most people. Simply put, New World wine producers tend to label wine by the grape (Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot noir, Chardonnay, etc.) while Old World wine producers label by the physical land mass on which the grape was grown as a defined appellation.

So, in order to know what type of wine is in the bottle in question, you must know what makes up the defined appellation, period. There is no short cut to this understanding. Every wine growing region produces a particular range of wines and many variances exist within each region.

Additionally, each wine growing region maintains its own classification system for quality as well as differing methods for winery identification and labeling. It is this variance between regions that makes it so important to study each wine growing region separately as to insure proper understanding.