French Wine
History of French wine can be traced back to 6th century BC when Greeks settled in the southern part of France and started the cultivation of grape vines. This practice continued during Roman period. In the 4th century AD, St. Martin of Tours while spreading Christianity was also instrumental in popularizing cultivation of grape vines in France.
During the middle ages, the monasteries used to own the best vineyards and were the producers of better quality wines. This practice was prevalent till the French Revolution, when many of these vineyards were confiscated.
Till 1850, very little French wine was exported and most of whatever was produced was being consumed within the country. Only some amount of wine from Bordeaux region was being exported. After the introduction of the railways, export of French wine increased exponentially as the cost of transporting wine became quite low.
Presently, France has got more than 800, 000 hectares of vineyards, making it the second largest country in this regard. The country produces around 7-8 billion bottles of French wine amounting to 50-60 million hectoliters by volume. In terms of wine production, France is one of the largest producers of wine in the world along with Italy.
Some of very world famous varieties of grape like Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Sauvignon Blanc and others are grown extensively. Their region of production like Bordeaux, Burgundy and Champagne generally classifies French wine produced. These varieties of French wine are very well known all over the world.
French wine is produced from various ranges from quite cheap variety to some of the costliest wines. They are available in all common styles of red, rosé and white, dry, semi-sweet and sweet, sparkling or fortified. Fortified wine made in France is not very well known out side the country.
As already stated earlier, various varieties of grape are grown in France. Some of these varieties are well known all over the world. Each of these grapes is generally associated with a particular region of the country. For example, Cabernet Sauvignon is grown in Bordeaux. Some of these varieties are associated with more than one region, e.g. Chardonnay in Bourgogne and Champagne and Sauvignon Blanc in Loire and Bordeaux.
Blending products of a number of grape varieties traditionally make many of the French wines. Also, more white wine is produced than red wines.
Largest amount of French wine is consumed locally. But, for the last 40 years French are drinking less wine. Also, consumption of French wine in various other countries like Italy, Spain and Portugal is also going down. Presently, this is a cause of worry for French wine industry. This has caused some of these wines are being distilled to produce industrial alcohol.
This entry was posted on Monday, December 14th, 2009 at 11:46 am and is filed under Wines. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.