Although I love wine from every corner of the globe, my long time favourite producer is France. I love the diversity, the combination of modern and traditional production techniques and the fact that the wines go so well with food. You can have Champagne with canapés followed by an Alsace blend with the fish course, a red Burgundy with beef wellington, a nice wee Sauternes with tarte tatin and a claret with the cheese board. Just make sure you also have a Sancerre to go with the brie and the goat’s cheese. And you could always round off the evening with a large glass of Armagnac. Although, please drink responsibly. France really does have it all.
Ever since the new world wines exploded on to our shelves and dinner tables, France has had to raise its game in terms of range and quality. They had been the only choice (aside from Hock) in the seventies, and some producers had become complacent. As soon as we had more choice, we started experimenting and would occasionally replace Bordeaux with a Western Australian Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot blend, and white Burgundy with a rich Californian Chardonnay. It was a brave new world.
France reacted by introducing more modern techniques and improving standards in the vineyards and wineries. They didn’t want to lose their crown.
If you haven’t considered French wine in a while, try one of these beauties this weekend.
Sancerre Clos des Bouffants Domaine Roger Neveu 2018 (Majestic, £14.99). This is a classically styled Sancerre at a very decent price. It’s lovely with a goat’s cheese tart at lunchtime.
Cotes du Rhone Belleruche M. Chapoutier 2018 (Majestic, £9.99). The Belleruche is super value for a very well-made blend of Syrah and Grenache which are two of the building blocks of Chateauneuf Du Pape.
Cave de Lugny Macon-Lugny les Charmes 2017 (Waitrose, normally £13.49, currently on offer at £8.99). I’m deliberately recommending amazing wines at great prices to ensure you try something French with dinner tonight. The Macon will be on offer until 10th September…make sure you don’t miss out. It’s an unoaked Chardonnay that goes very well with scallops.
Cote de Nuits Villages Bertrand Ambroise 2015 (Waitrose, £29.99). Bertie is one of my favourite Burgundy producers. He doesn’t fine or filter his wines, so expect big flavours and pair this one with game. Cheers!
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here