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How to Read French Wine Labels

Bonjour! Comment ça va?

As a Canadian, I was required to take French up until the ninth grade, but none of what I have retained is helpful while wine shopping!

If you’re in the same boat, consider this your handy guide to all the important terms to look for on a French wine label.

Region or Varietal?

Wine has been around for a very, very long time. Much longer than all the science that has gone into identifying different grape varietals. It is therefore very common for “old world” wine producers like France to name their wines after the region in which the grapes were grown, rather than the particular varietals.

Over time, these regions have defined their own individual classic styles that are recognizable around the world. They are characterized not only by the types of grapes that are used, but also by the production methods. Many of these are even ingrained in law.

This can make things considerably confusing for a Wine Baby just starting out, since you can’t just look for the grape varietal on the bottle.

Funny story: I once went to SIX different liquor stores to find a French bottle of Gamay. I must have picked up 3 dozen bottles of Beaujolais before I realized they were the same thing!!! Gamay is the grape varietal; Beaujolais is the French wine region where Gamay is grown.

We will dive into this more as we explore different wine regions in more detail, but for now, here’s a quick cheat sheet of the most popular ones:

• Red Bordeaux blends are usually built on a foundation of Cabernet Sauvignon (Left Bank) and Merlot (Right Bank)
• White Bordeaux blends are typically Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc
• Sauternes is a region within Bordeaux that specializes in sweet Semillon that has been affected by botrytis (noble rot)
• Whites from the Loire Valley are also made from Sauvignon Blanc
• Red Burgundy is Pinot Noir, and white Burgundy is oaked Chardonnay
• Chablis is a region inside Burgundy, and produces unoaked Chardonnay
• and of course, Beaujolais is Gamay!

An exception to this is Alsace, which has a much more German influence over both it’s labelling and it’s bottles. Here you will be able to find Gewurtztraminer, Pinot Gris, and Reisling. The varietal will be clearly identified on the label to help you out.

Location and Quality

The better the vineyard site, the better the wine.

There are so many factors that go into growing great grapes – the soil, the sunlight, the climate, the elevation… the list goes on. And when you’ve got great grapes, you can produce outstanding, age-worthy, legendary wines.

France recognizes this, and has a developed a very intricate system of ranking each site. This way you, the consumer, can truly appreciate the connection between the terroir and the wine. It gives it a sense of “place”.

Bear in mind that each region has slightly different rules and rankings, but in general, these terms can help you select the best bottles.

The best wines come from “AOCs”, or Appellation d’origine contrôlée. This system is coming up on 300 years old, and runs parallel to the European version: Appellation d’origine protégée (AOP). In English, these are called Protected Designation of Origin (PDO).

What does that mean? It means that the wine produced in those regions is held to a higher standard, with rules and laws around what and how it is produced.

Within the AOCs are even higher layers of quality that are vineyard site-specific.

• A wine labelled AOC can come from anywhere within that overarching region
• Then we have the Villages which are much smaller and more tightly defined
• A Premier Cru vineyard site has even more favourable positioning that help the grapes ripen more fully
• And finally, a Grand Crusite has the most ideal placement, and produces wines that are the most complex and age-worthy

Below the AOCs, at a much lower price tag, you can also find wines labelled Indication géographique protégée (IGP) or Vin de pays (VdP).

IGP translates in English to Protected Geographical Indication and is part of the European classification system. These wines come from very broad areas with much less strict regulations on production.

Vin de pays is a classification that is below the AOCs, but above basic “table wine”.

What are your favourite French wines? Share in the comments!