French wine

French wine is seen as the traditionally better if not the best wine in the world. It is therefore often used by winemakers as a frame of reference for the quality of their own wine. Best of Wines, a specialist in exclusive wine, has been importing French wine since 1907, especially from Bordeaux and Burgundy, as these traditionally produce (some of ) the most beautiful wines.

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Robert Parker 95

The best French wines

French wine is seen as the traditionally better if not the best wine in the world. It is therefore often used by winemakers as a frame of reference for the quality of their own wine. Best of Wines, a specialist in exclusive wines, has been importing French wine since 1907, especially from Bordeaux and Burgundy, as these traditionally produce the most beautiful wines.

Thus, the best French wineries come from Bordeaux and Burgundy, although more and more premium quality comes from the Rhone, Loire and Alsace, among other places. And that translates into consumer demand; both red and white French wine is extremely popular. The grape variety is also becoming less important when one opts for exclusive wine. The combination of the chosen wine and the accompanying dish, the wine-food combination, is now also playing an increasingly important role.

And besides the white and red French wine, there is of course also the sparkling French wine: the Champagne.

Best of Wines: Specialist in exclusive French wine

Best of Wines is a specialist in exclusive wine. We look for the best wines worldwide and include them in our collection. Besides wines from Europe, there are wines all over the world that can compete with the best wines from Europe, even though their so-called fine & rare wine culture is of much more recent date. Nevertheless, the wines with the most beautiful terroir characteristics come from France, particularly from Bordeaux and Burgundy. And that is recognised globally: regions such as Cote de Nuits, Cotes de Beaune, Chablis, Pauillac, Margaux, St. Estephe, St Julien, Pomerol and St Emillion are very well known.

Wine estates such as Chateau Lafite Rothschild, Chateau Margaux, Chateau Petrus, Chateau Cheval Blanc, Domaine de la Romanee Conti, Joseph Drouhin, Louis Jadot, Faiveley and Liger Belair have a worldwide market.

French grapes and food pairing

Best of Wines has been working with French wine since 1907. Often we are asked for some culinary suggestions, which is mainly translated if we can tell you what the perfect dish is to drink the wine with. We certainly have these recommmendations and you can always come to us for advise on food pairing. We regularely have themed dinners with our team, making sure to create perfect wine-food combinations. Making these pairings is relatively easy to do good, but extremely hard to do perfect.

The most important guidelines for food pairing can easily be found on the internet. If you have a good piece of meat, you should go for a Cabernet Sauvignon, combine poultry with Pinot Noir, with more elegant meats you should drink Merlot, and combine salmon with Chardonnay. This is still very general however, because also the style of the wine makes all the difference. A Chardonnay that has been aged on wood will be full-bodied and complex, but when you drink a Chablis you will experience more freshness and minerals. These two Chardonnays will combine with completely different dishes. Also, a Bordeaux is a blend of multiple grape varieties, these basic rules hardly apply on a Bordeaux wine.

The most important rule when combine wine and food, is that both should be balanced. The one should not dominate the other. 1 + 1 should not be 2, but 3 when looking for the perfect combination. Both the wine and the food need to enhance eachother, so the food will become better with the wine, and the wine will become better with the food. Best of wines can always offer our expertise to help you find the perfect combination with your dish. Because we have - nearly without exception - drank all wines we have, we know exactly what a wine can offer and what will be the perfect match.

Grapes in wines from France

In France, the following blue grape varieties are widely used: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Carmenere, Pinot Noir, Syrah, Grenache, Cabernet Franc, Gamay,

Furthermore, the following white grape varieties are widely used; Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Semillion, Viognier, Marsanne, Rousanne, Muscat, Chenin Blanc.

The best red French wines are generally made from Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Pinot Noir and Syrah. The best white French wines are generally made from Chardonnay and Sauvignon Blanc.

Champagne is made from Chardonnay, Pinot noir and pinot minor. It is striking that a large proportion of blue grape varieties are used in the making of Champagne. It is a white wine but by directly pressing the blue grape varieties a white wine is made without a red or pink tint. Only with rose Champagne are the blue grapes not pressed directly.

The French Appelations

Each country can enact its own legislation on wine. These include requirements for:

The origin of the wine, the region. If a particular area has very good climatic conditions and/or specific soil (terroir), then it may be a quality characteristic that a wine comes from a particular region.
The grape varieties used. For each area, requirements can be made on which grapes can be cultivated in order to obtain an appellation. Not all grape varieties produce the best results in a given area.
The yield per hectare. The maximum number of hectolitres per hectare shall be fixed.
The minimum alcohol content.
The techniques used in the vineyard and on the chateau. In France, for example, it is not allowed to be irrigated in the face of (extreme) drought. If they do, the grapes may not be used in the wine that the appellation carries.
The inspection of the wines. All wines that receive an appellation must be approved analytically (in a laboratory) and experimental (i.e. by tasting).

In France, wine is divided into three categories:

Appellation Origine Contrôlée (AOC). The wine comes from a certain area. Specific requirements are placed on the making of wine.
Vin de Pays. The wine comes from a certain region, but it is much less demanding than with the AOC wines. For all types of Vin de Pays, the area of origin must be indicated on the label.
Vin de Table. The wine does not come from a specifi ek area (so it can be a mixture of wines/grapes from various areas) and the legal requirements are less stringent than with the Vin de Pays. This is usually a very simple wine.

The distribution in the three main categories mentioned above applies to the whole of France. The main category Appellation Origine Contrôlée is again divided into a number of subcategories. These may vary by wine region.

French wine

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Mommessin

Chateau de Parnay

E.Guigal

E.Guigal

E.Guigal

M. Chapoutier

Chateau Haut-Brion

Chateau D'Yquem

Karel de Graaf

Joseph Drouhin

Domaine Figeat

Domaine Tempier

Jean-Claude Ramonet

Joseph Drouhin

Joseph Drouhin

Joseph Drouhin

Joseph Drouhin

Joseph Drouhin

Joseph Drouhin

Joseph Drouhin

Pierre-Yves Colin-Morey

Louis Billard

Aubry

AF Gros

Helene Beaugrand

Rene Engel

Pierre Girardin

Domaine Lamy-Pillot

Maison Stephan

Domaine de Montille

Domaine de la Grange des Peres

Stephane Ogier

Agrapart

Domaine Tortochot

Andre Goichot

Yves Boyer-Martenot

Pierre Girardin

Pierre Girardin

Domaine de la Creuze Noire

Philippe Gonet

Louis Latour

Meo Camuzet

Mugneret-Gibourg

Pierre Girardin

Faiveley

Nicolas Potel

Chevigny-Rousseau

Chateau Les Fiefs de Lagrange

Domaine Jacques Prieur

Chanson Père & Fils

Domaine de Belliviere

Andre Blanck

Bouchard Pere & Fils

Domaine de la Grange des Peres

Domaine de la Grange des Peres

Chateau Branaire Ducru

Chateau Rauzan Segla

Chateau L'Enclos

Claude Dugat

Claude Dugat

Domaine Berthaut Gerbet

Domaine Fontaine-Gagnard

Hubert Lamy

Aurelien Lurquin

Domaine de la Grange des Peres

Francois Lamarche

Domaine Saint Patrice

M. Chapoutier