Reply to post: cost of French wines

cost of French wines

Short answer: yes. Long answer: no.

TL.DR blurb :

Well, as a French national with a wide experience in international wine-tasting (hobby, not pro), most of the VERY expensive bottles are mostly prestige. However, there is a fundamental gap between how French people (and international experts) rate wines, and how French wine is sold to the hapless prestige-seeking anglosaxon crowd. In France you will absolutely not buy a "Merlot" or a "Cabernet" or anysuch, unless you're looking for a cheap cocktail mixer or a way to get drunk for cheap. You'll look for local "terroir" denominations, which are very specific and VERY seriously enforced, some spanning only a few hectares. Within these you'll look for a specific wine-maker. This winemaker will often offer you one or several "special" cuvées made of grapes from patches as small as a few hundred square meters, because the soil and sun exposure there makes the wine different (you may or may not like the difference; the choice is yours). When "seriously" buying wine, it is customary to go around the place and sample stuff from most of the winemakers in the area before making your choice. For the city-bound folks, relying on intricate stock-exchange-like guides is common.

Of course, then comes the price. Some Bourgognes and Bordeaux can be absolutely magnificent, but don't expect a low-price one to be any better than a random New World wine. In fact, in the low-price range, I would STRONGLY advise against Bourgogne or Bordeaux. If you MUST go French, look into the Loir (not Loire) valley, a lot of interesting stuff going there at the moment in the "light wines" category. And why not look into your own local production ? I hear the Adrian Wall is not the absolute north limit for winemaking anymore.

In short, there is no such thing as "a good wine". There are wines you like and ones you don't. There are times and moods, and wines to go with (If I was to cheaply woo a Tyne and Wear lady used to Newcastle Brown, I'd pull out an unnamed Merlot from southeastern France and some chocolate, for example -OK, don't push, I'm leaving already)