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Chateauneuf-du-Pape Wines Why do I love Chateauneuf-du-Pape Wines? The first French wine I ever ordered with dinner was at a small French restaurant in New York. I was spending a short fall vacation with a fraternity brother, seeing as many Broadway shows as we could afford. The restaurant was his favorite, and when it came […]

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Riesling Wine: Tasting From France and Germany Readers will recall that my fondness for the Riesling wine of Alsace began at Riquewihr, when I enjoyed cool Sylvaner wine in a chilly cave of the Hugel firm one sweltering August. Riesling wine has another pleasant association for me, when my family first shared my enthusiasm for […]

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Graves Wine Region in France: What Red Wines to Try The great wines of the Medoc are well known, in large part because of the celebrated 1855 Classification. Other regions of Bordeaux, gauging the success of that famous classification, have in this century added their own. St. Emilion and the Graves are famous examples. In […]

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Discover Nuits-Saint-Georges Wine Following the Vosne-Romanee region to the south, the Nuits-Saint-Georges portion of Burgundy is the last region of the Côte de Nuits, for which it provides the name. It is not a large region, barely 750 acres, and of that total, some 360 acres are in production for the famous premier cru vineyards ...

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Bordeaux wines and wines from the Burgundy region give those who enjoy great wines good reason to travel to France—to savor wines from two of the greatest wine producing regions of the world. Each has its partisans, but many wine lovers enjoy them equally, while bearing in mind that they are very different regions, with […]

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The Best French Wines I’ve Ever Tasted I still remember my first enjoyable taste of French wine. I was a teenager, on a bicycle tour of Alsace, and it was a stifling August afternoon. We cycled through the mountainous region and then onto a scenic valley, finally reaching the impossibly beautiful half-timbered town of ...

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St Estèphe wines, from the northernmost segment of the Médoc region which is north of Bordeaux, are well known by wine connoisseurs. It is a pretty region, ranging along the river, and it is rife with history. These wines are said to be deeper than neighboring Pauillac, perhaps because the region has more clay subsoil […]

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Fine dining doesn’t end at the dessert course. If Armagnac or Cognac is being served, your guests have a further treat in store. But have you tried festive French fruit brandy, another range of after dinner drinks, to savor with your coffee? Fruit brandy (often called eaux-de-vie) are colorless and full of flavor. They are […]

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Decant red wine either to aerate a young wine, or to get rid of unwanted sediment in a mature wine. The latter is the more elaborate procedure. It was at a professional wine tasting many years ago that I became aware of the art of wine decanting. A bottle of fine St. Julien wine from […]

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When pairing French wine with seafood, let’s look at the rules, and then let’s break them.  Normally you serve white wines with seafood or poultry, and red wines with beef and other red meats. But fish varies in flavor. Some are light and others are more substantial. How the fish is cooked, and with what […]

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With warm weather now here, the barbeque season has begun. It’s also time to enhance your dining pleasure with some tasty French wines. This is not the season for complex, layered wines. Now you want flavorful, fruity wines that complement the dinners you are preparing outside on the barbeque. French Wines for Your Barbeque The […]

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This week a notice appeared from Sotheby’s for fine quality Burgundy wine including Chambertin, announcing the availability for both the 2009 and 2010 vintages. These are said to be excellent vintages, the 2009 at this point showing fine fruit while the 2010, as might be expected in such a young wine, shows more structure. ...

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Many fine wines are produced in Southwest France, an area that includes Bordeaux and regional appellations. One does not exhaust the possibilities of fine wines by listing Bordeaux favorites. There are wines to suit every price range—from the very pricey Château Margaux, to regional country wines. Yet, in this vast region, reasonably ...

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We’ve had a look at the wines of Margaux, then the wines of St. Julien. Let’s continue our leisurely drive north in the Médoc near Bordeaux, and discover Pauillac. Pauillac, like Beaune, Pomerol and Riquewihr, is now a world famous wine destination, its fame far exceeding what one would expect from the small rural village […]

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The special event, a family wedding, can be enhanced with careful planning. And carefully selected French wines, while not as essential as the ring itself, can play a role in creating a memorable occasion. You’ll want to make appropriate choices from the standpoints of affordability and flavor. What foods will you be serving at which ...

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Many dinners are enjoyed with a single wine, which matches the main course.  You can go one step further and offer a French wine pairing for each course to set the stage for a memorable meal.  For example, you could offer guests a glass of Chablis with their hors d’oeuvres, and it is natural to […]

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