An Australian Defending French Wine

"France produces the finest wines in the world. That is my thesis. Moreover it does so in a volume and variety that no country can even think of rivalling....only Germany with its Riesling, Italy with its Sangiovese and Nebbiolo, and California with its Zinfandel can offer serious additions to France's list of first-division grape varieties."

That's the view from an opinionated, even rude (yep he has been known not to speak highly of Australian fine wine), but respected Englishman (Clive Coates). Yet France produces oceans of plonk too. (France produces a lot of wine, together with Italy about 40% of the world's wine, whereas Australia, South Africa and Chile combined don't even produce 10%).

There are three areas where French wine is commonly misunderstood (not just by Australians):

1) It is French so it is supposed to be very good - why isn't it ?

Simply because France also produces tonnes of bad wine, and many bottles suffer further after being shipped half way round the world.

2) It's light.

Australian wines in this decade are pretty alcoholic (it varies according to fashion cycles). Many of the fine wines of the world are not so high in alcohol (though a minimum level of alcohol is not a bad test of whether the grapes were ripe or not). Look beyond this and the best French wines are terribly concentrated in flavour (not lush, sweet) and can make many Australian wines seem watery (if alcoholic) by comparison.

3) It's expensive.

Yes lots of French wine is over-priced, either because it is fantastic yet famous, or because it is poor but still not super cheap because it is French (and imported). BUT so is so much Australian wine, too many small wineries now think they should get A$30+ a bottle for a shiraz if they've gone to the slightest bother with it. There are a lot of boring bottles of Ozzie wine that still have high price stickers.

France does produce some great bargains too - at varying price points.

In summary, more poor wine than Australia, but more great wine too, and even more bargains (but harder to get over here).

Fine Wines of Europe are a serious Australian retailer of french wines. Dan Murphy's, somewhat surprisingly, stock a small range of decent bordeaux.