Jump to content

What is your favourite French wine and grape ??


Ron Bolus
 Share

Recommended Posts

Growing Cotes du Rhones in our small vineyard, I am somewhat biased towards that Appellation, and surely the Grenache is the grape of choice

[:)]

But, I'd be interested in others' views ----whether they are favoured by living in Gard or not [:P] [:D]

You lot in Provence are just gonna love laxing wyrical [8-)] about Mourvedre-----OK, I'm ready with counter-arguments [:P] [:D]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 122
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

 I like Cote du Rhone too. A wine of pretty consistent quality. I don't like Chateau Neuf though or any of the grands crus.

I love Chablis, I love Collombelle and some of the Vins de Savoies.

I know what I like and I drink rarely. Maybe half a glass with a meal or maybe just half a glass as a apero. Truthfully, the idea of just drinking wine on it's own, with no food sort of revolts me. I know people do, but I can't. Still I am happy enough to have a little little glass of any of the above with a special meal three or four times a year.

Do you know something, you mention the grapes, and we had several viticulteur friends, and occasionally they would mention the grape they grew, but of the rest of our french entourage, I never ever heard anyone  discussing 'the grape'. Not really a local thing as we had friends from all over France who lived near us. And like my husband, they were very keen on good wine, but the grape, nope, they didn't mention. I have found since I moved back to the UK, that friends here do discuss the grape, which I found rather odd when I first got back.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think there's been a typical French pretentiousness with regard to wine that's been punctured a bit by the new world growers' success in recent years. Before that, it was all just about terroir and appellation. I've noticed that now, there are an increasing number of French wines which do mention the grape variety.

I'm not a wine drinker. Or a drinker, come to that. With few exceptions, I actively dislike wine. The few exceptions aren't French, unfortunately.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

And I don't know wines from elsewhere, and found it hard to buy wine when we first got back, I hadn't got a clue as to how to chose. And frankly price isn't always the best way to judge either. Bit by bit I have got to grips with buying wine here, but am still having a few problems with the whites.

I may not drink the stuff, but in fact use a fair old bit in cooking, and I don't like cooking with plonk.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I read on another forum that many people find wines from Lidl very good. They keep a corkscrew in the car, buy a bottle, try it, and if it's good go back in and buy a case of it.

Not a practise I'd advocate though, it might escalate.

I like muscat.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was fond of Grenache too in my wine drinking days, even in rosé wines, and before I moved to the Languedoc I enjoyed the Cabernet Franc (not a variety found round here)

As for particular wine it is down to value for money, since I am sure there are many which might have been favourites if I had been able to buy them.

There is also the question of at which point in the meal and what with...

For full bodied reds

http://www.borielavitarele.fr/

Whites are less impressive here due to the heat, but Domaine de l'Hortus in Pic St Loup has a good one..

I also enjoyed Maury and Banyuls  (a wines a little bit like sherry)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We are spoilt here, living in the Minervois and cheek by jowl to the Corbières, both wine with different tastes .. and lots of good wines.

Sometimes I buy from a chateau (found a lovely white recently and shared a case with a friend), but must admit to usually buying what seems a wine at a good price from the supermarket... often Aldi (they have a nice corbières rosé which goes down a treat and is not expensive).

I can tell you very little about which grape varieties I like - I usually "suck it and see" and if I like it, buy more of the same.

I think a lot of rot is talked about wine ... grape variety, quality,. price, terroir etc.  Once drunk, it's gone.  If you like it, it's a good wine, if you don't, it's not - no matter what the cru,  the domaine, the quality or the price.  One of my vigneron friends does a lovely red, a very drinkable rosé,  but I cannot come to terms with his white, though he must sell enough of it as he continues to produce it.  Lovely chap though! 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote user="Clarkkent"]

Wine is wine is wine to me. It is not an important element in my life nor in my relationship with France.

[/quote]

Hear hear.

Funnily enough, in a time far away, I was having dinner at Taillevent in Paris (just so you know the calibre of folk I was with, not to show off) with, among others, a couple of international lawyers, French but based in London. They reckoned that London wine auctions were THE place to get excellent wines cheap, because most of the Brits bidding hadn't a clue what they were bidding for.  Now, I don't even know if the person who said that knew a lot about wine, nor indeed do I care. I do think the whole wine mystique thing is a bit pretentious and a bit snobby. Like all the tosh talked around wine tasting.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Lidl wine can be very good and is usually very reasonably priced.

As for me I know not a lot about wine but I do enjoy drinking it. Some wines definitely taste nicer than others.

I quite like to look at the labels on the supermarket wines, if the picture is nice then I'll give it a try.[;-)]

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I usually look through the range of 4 to 5 euros in price in the supermarket, and then narrow it down according to whether any of them claims to have won a gold or silver medal in some competition or other, or whether they have a lttle cardboard top-knot saying they are recommended by the Guide Hachette des Vins.

Works for me, and for my significant other...

Angela
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was predominantly a red wine man until introduced to Sancerre (sauvignon blanc). Ever since, it has been my favourite wine - pity it's not a bit cheaper though.

I am talking white only - I think the red Sancerre must be something of an "acquired taste".

Obviously, it depends on the occasion. If accompanying a meal, there's an element of matching the wine style to the food, although I think this tends to be taken a bit far by some.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

NormanH wrote the following post at 13/07/2013 17:15:

I imagine that this is a favourite breakfast treat  chez Les Oiseaux after a night on the nest...

http://nakedveglunch.blogspot.fr/2011/06/red-wine-baked-breakfast-bananas.html

Hmm, not as appetising as a standard banana, Norman...
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Betty,

Not to show off or anything (OK, to show off) we are members of the Wine Society in upper class (ha ha) Stevenage. They also have a showroom in Montreuil, which is fairly easy to get to from St Albans via the M25 (if it isn't blocked for some reason or other) to the Tunnel to Calais. They also do several nice dinners near Montreuil every year. Black tie, international businessmen, and all. La de dah! However, thier wine is too expensive for us and we buy at Auchan in Calais.

David

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Cen,

We used to buy boxes of seven bottles of Seven Sisters wine in a wine shop in Caen (Ouistreham) because we liked the labels with the seven sisters on them. When they went to boxes of six bottles for the same price, we stopped buying it. I kept seven labels and have them...somewhere.

David

Link to comment
Share on other sites

[quote user="dwmcn"]

idun,

Rubbish! Why waste good wine in cooking? I use my homemade elderberry wine to cook with, and drink the plonk.

David 

[/quote]

Taking the lead from any decent cook or chef, the received wisdom is that you should NEVER use "plonk" in food. If you are cooking with wine, cook with a wine you would drink, not some bottle of c**p you happen to have lying around.

I think your response to Idun is quite rude, as well as ill-informed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share


×
×
  • Create New...