Through the years, I’ve heard many a friend, client, or acquaintance say that they don’t normally buy French wines because they don’t know what to buy, or because they are too expensive.
Here are the 3 Top reasons why everyone should feel comfortable buying French wine
1) You don’t need to be an expert.
Just go somewhere with a good international wine selection and ask the knowledgeable salesperson to direct you to some affordable red or white or sparkling (depending on your preference) French wines. Give them pricerange.
Tip: Great areas for awesome cheap whites are: Loire (Sauvignon Blancs), Gascogny (aromatic bright whites), and Muscadet (also in Loire but made from Melon de Bourgogne or Muscadet grapes. Super light simple white that is classically paired with oysters)
2) France has a TON of inexpensive amazing wine.
Some of the best wines I drink are also some of the cheapest, and they are from France.
You can get a great little French white for as low as $10, and a great dry crisp Rose for a starting price of around $12.99 (I find $12.99 to be the starting point for ones I like more than 1/10 of) though I’m generally paying between $14-$20 for my favorite affordable whites and Rose wines. Fantastic French sparkling wines (look for ‘Cremant’) can also be purchased for between $14-$20.
Tip: When looking for easy to drink reds at a great pricepoint, stay away from trying to find a bottle from the more known areas like Bordeaux or Burgundy. These might be the most heard of areas in France but they also have the most expensive wines, and often limited production. Try for a bottle from the Southern Rhone (such as a Villages level Cotes-du-Rhone at around $15-$18), Costieres du Nimes (lots of grenache and syrah based blends of easy to drink reds at great pricepoints), or Corbieres.
For reds I typically stick to $12.99 (minimum) and up. Cheaper can be a crap shoot. With whites it’s possible to occasionally get something a bit less expensive than this (especially with very inexpensively made white wines such as Muscadet, Picpoul, Gascogne Blanc, etc.) but I do generally stick to $12 and up for whites. My favorite French whites are from the Loire region (Touraine Sauvignon Blanc, Vouvray Sec, Muscadet, Sancerre, Menetou-Salon, etc.) and I normally pay between $13-$30 for my favorite wines from this region.
3) They pair easily with almost everything
French wines are low in alcohol and high in acidity which means they are very easy to pair with foods. It doesn’t need to be a super specific pairing for these wines to shine. Drink them before for an aperitif (the light whites) and during meals
Examples: I can throw a Gascogny blanc and Rose out on the bar before dinner as aperitif wines and then also open up more bottles of the same wines during salad, seafood, or light fare courses
I put the easy to drink reds (such as a Cotes-du-Rhone Village level wine or something from Costieres du Nimes, Corbieres, or Cahors) out for the whole meal. They normally work with anything on the table because these are mostly unoaked simple wines without insanely tight tannins or a lot of complexity.
TIP: If you want a more complex, full bodied, chewy and tannic red, consider a higher price-range from $20-$35 and again, stay away from Bordeaux and Burgundy and look for red wines from elsewhere in France such as Vacqueyras, Rasteau, or Cahors (to name a few areas).
You get a lot of bang for your buck with wines from other areas in this price-range and can get some really fantastic, complex wines you are surprised didn’t cost more (and would cost far more for similar quality in the U.S).