Types of French red wines to choose if you are going to France on vacations. Wine tasting is one of the main things to do when you are visiting France. No matter which part of France you are going to travel – you will find variety of French wines in each of the region of France. There are special wine tasting tours arranged for the tourists in all the locations famous for winery production. 

Drinking wine is the ritual in France and we are going to share with you more about the types of wines and French traditions related to winery.

There is no secret that French wine is considered one of the best wines in the world. The highest quality, variety of wines and prices allow everybody to taste the types of wines in France. If you still wonder what to drink in France – try local wines! France is ideal place to taste wines and find out more about this beautiful country and winery production traditions. 

Types of French Red wines

Cabernet Sauvignon is grape out of which most of the red wine is produced. Cabernet Sauvignon is planted widely in the region of France and used for the wines production. It is highly valued for the amazing aroma and flavor.

This type of grapes originally was grown on the area of France and was exported around the world.  That’s also one of the most popular ingredient in Bordeaux wines.

The vineyards producing this type of wine are located on the banks of Gironde River, in the South West of France. This is also the region in France where Merlot and Cabernet France are among the most popular wines.

This type of wine goes well with smoked meat, hard cheese, beef and lamb. The wine has deep red color, you will notice cedar, black cherries and black currants when tasting this type of wine.

Another, slightly lighter type of Cabernet Sauvignon is Cabernet Franc red wine.

These types of red wines fit well with chicken dishes, lamb, beef, soft cheese and famous Mediterranean French cuisine. 

This is light red wine with a soft acidity, a bit sweeter, you will surely feel the flavors of the red berries in it.

You probably heard of Merlot – these types of grapes are rich in color and wine produced from Merlot is light, soft with smooth plum flavors. It can be blended with currants, cherries, blackberries and even chocolate. This is very common for Bordeaux wines, where the main distinctive feature is medium fleshy body and higher acidity.

Bordeaux wines

When choosing Bordeaux wines you need to know some basic useful information about division of wines into groups:

4 red wines:

1. Bordeaux and Bordeaux superior
2. Red Cotes de Bordeaux
3. Red Libourne or “Right Bank” wines
4. Red Graves and Medoc or “Left Bank” wines

2 white wines:

1. Dry white wines
2. Sweet white wines, which are subdivided into 57 of different wines with mosaic of taste and scent.

Annually about 700 million of bottles of French wines are produced in Bordeaux region.

Such red wine like Chateau Petrus and Chateau Lafite Rothschild are one of the most expensive wines in the world.

Sweet white Chateau d’Yquem, dry wine Chateau Mouton Rothschild, Chateau Cheval Blanc and Chateau Haut- Brion are among the most prestigious wines in the world.

Medoc, Graves, Sauternes are the regions famous for producing great wine. They are located on the left bank of Gironde of France.

Blayais, Bourgeais, Fronsac, Pomerol, Saint-Emilion are located on the right bank of Dordogne river.

Related:  Monument to Girondins in Bordeaux

Interesting facts about wines

• Wine is one of the oldest drinks in the world.
• In ancient Greece a special jug was used to mix wine and sea water.
• Trockenbeerenauslese German wine is one of the most unique ones.
• In order to collect the harvest for this type of wine and produce one bottle the producer can spend a whole day.
• Do you think that white wine can be produced only from light sorts of grapes? The answer is no, white wine can be produced from dark sorts type as well. The only difference is that they will need to take off the skin.
• The oldest wine was found on the territory of Germany, – the bottle was sealed in 325 BC.
• California is in the fourth place in the list of countries producing wines.
• Wines from France, Spain and Italy are in the top of the list.
• Since 1800 BC in Babylon there existed a set of rules according to which producers of bad quality wines were killed in the river.
• Most of the wines would lose the taste qualities and after 10 years get spoiled.
• Only three sorts of vineyards are used to produce real champagnes  – Chardonnay, Pinot Meunier and Pinot Noir.

We hope you will find the best types of French red wine that will become your favorite and every time you travel to France region there will be a reason to taste new types. Also, traveling to France gives you a unique opportunity to discover the nuances of wine production. 

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