Wine is one of the most famous French masterpieces, along with the Louvre, the Eiffel Tower and Coco Chanel. The French are proud of their wine production, appreciate and adore it, and, of course, know how to choose dry French wine so as not to be mistaken. Some rules for choosing French wines will help you not to drown in the ocean of this aromatic and tart drink, worthy of true aesthetes and connoisseurs of taste.
To guarantee wine lovers a decent quality drink, the French government has created a special organization - the National Institute of Controlled Appellations (INAO), which ensures that the quality of wine is always at the highest level. Thanks to this organization, the problem of how to choose dry French wine is not for the citizens of France, they clearly know what to look for when buying wine. We also need to know these rules, which make it easier to choose French dry wine.
1. Pay close attention to the bottle of wine, its bottom should have a funnel, and not be even and smooth. A bottle of dry wine should only be made of green glass, and dessert wines are bottled in transparent white bottles. If you buy Burgundy wine, then the "shoulders" of its bottle should be sloping and smooth, but the "shoulders" of Bordeaux wines are steep.
2. Label. The most informative component for the correct choice of wine. Understanding how to choose dry French wine can be pretty easy by learning how to read the label correctly. It must contain the name of the wine, the name of the grapes, storage conditions, the name of the area of production or the name of the producer, vineyard and chateau. But the most important thing is the vintage of the grapes from which the wine is made. There should also be an inscription in French - "mis en bouteille par proprietaire", meaning that the wine was poured into the bottle by the owner of the wine production, it is he who is responsible for the quality of the wine in your bottle. The strength of the wine should be at least 12, 5%. In addition, for true aesthetes, the inscription VIEILLI EN FUT DE CHENE will say a lot, indicating that the wine was aged in an oak barrel and, thanks to this, acquired a unique aroma. And be sure to indicate the country of the wine producer - France.
3. The cork for corking wine should only be made of natural material - cork oak bark, not plastic. This is a sure indicator of the quality of wine, even if you are not well versed in how to choose dry French wine, then it is the oak cork that will show you the correctness of your choice.
4. Pay attention to the inscriptions on the label of the following words, allowing to determine the quality of the wine and its origin, whether the National Institute of Controlled Denominations of France guarantees its composition and affiliation:
- Vins du Table are table wines with a low price and a simple bouquet, often made from several varieties of grapes grown locally or abroad. The quality of these wines is good, despite their low price.
- Vins de Pays are good wines produced in a specific area and from certain grape varieties with a regulated strength. As a rule, these are wines of the provinces of Beaujolais, Bordeaux, Rhone, Champagne and Burgundy.
- VDQS - quality wines with strict compliance with the requirements for grape varieties, the quality of its harvest, terrain and strength. These wines may soon receive the highest category and rating.
- AOC (Appellation d'Origine Controlee) - the highest category of French wines, seeing this name you can be sure that your problem in choosing a dry French wine has already been brilliantly solved. These are wines produced from strictly regulated grape varieties, in a specific area, with the correct storage conditions and minimum wine strength.
Knowing the rules of how to choose dry French wine, you are unlikely to be able to buy a low-quality drink that can present you with an unpleasant surprise after opening the bottle.
