Check out any wine shops and there is a fair chance you’ll notice that things have changed a bit on the wine menu over the last five years. Firstly there are new wineries and grape varieties coming out of the woodwork all over this wide, brown land, giving us a greater range to choose from than ever before.
The second is that alongside these new local wines is an expanding range of imports from countries such as New Zealand, France, Italy and Spain. The trend started when the first excellent Sauvignon Blancs from Malborough first arrived here about 20 years ago and has been going strong since. This has resulted in Australian wine imports doubling last year, indicating how customers are more than wiling to try more wines from abroad.
Chief among the nations now sending wines to our shores is the great wine making country of France.The French continue to make some of the greatest wines today, much like they have since Roman times.
While there have previously been issues with many overpriced and inferior wines coming from France, the last decade has seen great development in quality across the board.
So when you’re ready to start exploring French wine, here are some tips to get you started. French wines are generally labelled by the region where they have been made rather than the grape variety, but don’t let that put you off because the local laws determine which grapes can be used in certain wines. For example red Bordeaux can be made from a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and or Petit Verdot.
Generally, French wine has quite a different style to Australian wines, often with a drier quality with less overwhelming flavour, made to be consumed and matched to food, containing less alcohol and often have a oaky taste.
Below is a starting point for exploring some good French wine which are easily found at your local independent bottle shop or larger stores such as Dan Murphy’s and Vintage Cellars.
• Côtes du Rhone (Grenache-based red wine)
• Alsatian Riesling
• Sancerre (Sauvignon Blanc) of Chablis (Chardonnay).
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