Apart from perfume and fashion, France is the most fascinating food. Gourmets, of course, have fine wine. French wine is the essence of French cuisine.

If the most special thing about the French nation is its admiration for individualism, then three things can best reflect this strong national character: wine, coffee and cheese. When the French taste these three things, they absolutely insist on personal taste. Although his brand advertising is vigorous, I have my own love and no one can change it. This is called personal style. Therefore, such a hexagonal country, big or small, has the largest variety of red wine and cheese flavors in the world. French President Jacques Descartes was asked to comment on his seven years in power when interviewed by reporters after he stepped down. He replied, "I think I have done a good job in governing a country with thousands of kinds of cheese." Generally visible.

In order to deeply understand such a complex wine culture, considerable efforts must be made. I absolutely dare not claim to know. All the knowledge about wine comes from Mr. Lin Yusen and his famous representative works: Encyclopedia of Wine and French Dictionary of Wine Translation. I have known Mr. Lin in Paris for five years and benefited a lot. Mr. Lin Yusen is the first person to study wine.

Donee

Why do French people like to drink wine? This is a seemingly simple question, but it is difficult to explain it clearly in a few words. Tracing back to the origin of wine in the western world, there is a historical record of Jews growing grapes to make wine from the Bible. Let's look at a chapter in the Song of Songs in the Old Testament:

May you kiss me with a kiss! Because your love is sweeter than wine. Your scent is pleasant, and your name is fragrant, so the girls are worshipping you. May you pull me to run with you! King, may you lead me into your inner room; We will all rejoice in you and praise your caress sweeter than wine; No wonder all the girls worship you! Jerusalem girl! Although I am black, I am beautiful, just like Kidal's tent and Salma's tent. Don't blame me for being black, it was the sun that tanned me. My mother's son was angry with me and sent me to guard the vineyard; I also have my own vineyard, but I didn't guard it. My darling! Please tell me: where do you herd sheep? Where do you herd sheep at noon? Don't let me wander among your partner's sheep alone!

Song of Songs is the most beautiful poem in the Bible. It seems that the talk between men and women is actually full of infinite reverence and love for God. Israel claims to be God's chosen people, so they describe their relationship with God with the love close to their lovers. Of course, it is not our responsibility to explain the Bible. From this passage, we can at least see that there was an agricultural tradition of growing grapes and making wine from grapes in the Middle East two or three thousand years ago. France is an important Catholic country. I don't know if you have noticed that until today, the Pope always uses French in his public secular speeches, which shows the importance of France in the Catholic world. Therefore, of course, the French have read the Bible and know the meaning of wine in Catholicism. At the last supper in Dou Fuyin in the New Testament, Jesus gave his disciples a cup with wine and said, "Drink, all of you!" Because this is my blood, the blood of the New Testament ... "Wine is the holy blood of Jesus, so it is sacred to Catholics. Of course, not everyone has religious feelings when drinking wine today, but the habit of two thousand years has long been ingrained.

This is a historical origin, but without the sanctity of wine, it is futile to want to drink but can't find grapes to make wine. So natural environmental conditions are very important. France is fortunate to have the most suitable climate for grape production. This condition has enabled France to dominate the global wine production for centuries, and because of this advantage, the French wine-making culture has been improved. Going back to the individualism mentioned at the beginning of the article is the key to making France have so many different kinds of wines. The soil in different wine producing areas is different and the climate is slightly different, but the taste of wine is subjective, so the more you say my wine is strange, the more I will do differently from you. This is a psychological motivation. From the Royal Valley to a friend's house, don't expect the wine from Dragon Valley to appear on the table. It is human nature that hometown is always the best, isn't it? For centuries, the insistence on subjective taste has made the characteristics of each producing area more obvious, and the derivative branches after continuous improvement have become increasingly complex, forming a lively scene of a hundred schools of thought contending today.

Nevertheless, in addition to extreme subjectivity, there are some basic objective standards, otherwise there would be no title of sommelier and no standards of wine quality. In terms of producing areas, France has seven wine producing areas and five so-called producing areas. Before introducing the producing area, let's look at the relationship between wine and its dishes.

A variety of wine and food combinations.

Dry liquor

Dry white wine has a refreshing taste and belongs to high acidity wine. It is most commonly used as an aperitif or as an appetizer with mussel seafood such as oysters. The main course can be served with light steamed, grilled fish or boiled seafood, while the stronger one can be served with simple chicken or pork. Cheese can be paired with goat's milk cheese with high acidity. This wine is quite easy to go with food, and it is quite suitable for people who like light dishes or have a light taste.

Concentrated dry black liquor

Chardonnay liquor, as the representative, is fermented and cultivated in oak barrels, with sweet but not sweet taste, rich and round taste, diverse aroma and rich flavor. Delicious lobster, fresh scallops and crayfish are the best companions. The main course can be served with fish or poultry with sauce, both of which are heavy-flavored dishes. It is an interesting way to match dishes with wine. But this wine is not suitable for light dishes.

Sweet white spirit

There are many kinds of side dishes, which can also be used as an aperitif, with foie gras, blue mold cheese, or dessert (except chocolate dessert).

Light red wine

Can be paired with simple dishes, such as light food in summer, lettuce salad, white meat and so on. Mediterranean dishes seasoned with olive oil and garlic are also quite suitable. Rose red wine has no strong characteristics, so it is often used with dishes that are difficult to match, such as dishes with a lot of vinegar or garlic.

Light red wine

For example, beaujolais. This wine can be paired with simple foods such as aspic and sausage made of liver and meat sauce, or white meat such as pork and veal, as well as visceral dishes and light cheese. Every year 1 1 month, when new wine comes on the market, you can always see conspicuous signs in restaurants of all sizes in Paris. For gourmets, this is the most anticipated moment of the year.

High tannin red wine

For example, Bordeaux's fine red wine belongs to this category, which can be matched with carefully prepared red meat dishes. Fierce game with strong flavor and rich sauce is one of the most attractive choices in French catering.

champagne

Flavors are diverse and suitable for many different dishes. Champagne with white grapes as the main raw material is light in taste and mainly fruity, so it is a very good aperitif. Aged champagne can be paired with exquisite fish dishes or aged dry cheese. Champagne made of red grapes has a strong taste and fragrance, which is suitable for caviar and seafood. As for pink champagne, it tastes richer and is most suitable for game.

region

French red wine has seven major producing areas, including Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne, Alsace, Loire Valley, Phone Mountain and languedoc/roussillon, among which the soil with mild climate is rich in iron.

The suburbs of Bordeaux, France are subdivided into several producing areas, which are generally distributed in the Estuaire de la Gironde river basin. Not only the output is large, but also a large number of high-quality red wines are produced, which is known as the "world wine treasure house". There are five most famous producing areas in this area, and there are about 9000 wineries in these producing areas. We can find five famous wineries to introduce to you.

Five major wine producing areas in France

Introduction of producing areas (according to the classification system of excellent Bordeaux wines in 1855)

Medoc (32, 1 10 acre) (only produces red wine)

Pomerol) 1.803 acre (red wine only)

Sanmillan12,676 acres (red wine only)

Graves) 5992 acres (producing red wine and unsweetened white wine)

Sauternes)3499 mu (only producing sweet white wine).

Five famous liquor stores in France

Margaux Winery (located in Meiduo District)

Latour Castle (located in Meadow District)

Mouton-Rothschild Castle (located in Meadow)

Lafite-Rothschild Winery (located in Meadow)

Upper Briant Castle (located in Graf)

Medoc red wine

Murdoch is the representative producing area of Bordeaux red wine, producing excellent and high-quality wine. Upper Medoc is located in the southern wine region of Murdoch. It includes several very famous regional production cooperatives (communes), such as St-Estéphe, Pauillac and Margaux. Many world-renowned wineries are located in these regional production cooperatives, especially Boyack and Margaux. The price of wine is as high as several thousand dollars, and there are about 70 villages in this area. Another famous village is Saint Julian and Saint estay. There are 6 1 super wineries in this area, and four of them rank among the top five wineries.

The five most representative producing areas in Bordeaux and six important sub-producing areas in Upper Murdoch are from north to south.

2,875 acres in Santa estay Fe.

Pauillac has 2,667 acres.

St. Julian) 2084 acres.

Listrac) 1, 53 1+0 acres

Moulis 1, 185 acres.

Margo) 3067 acres

Pomerol (Pomerol)

This region is the smallest among the top wine producing areas in Bordeaux, and its wine production capacity is only 15% of that of Saint Emilion, which makes wine not only rare, but also expensive. Although there is no formal classification system, there are about 13 super wineries in this area, but there is no complete legal classification system to list them, among which Pétrus winery has always been regarded as the first super winery.

Saint Emilion

The alcohol consumption in this area accounts for about 30% of the whole Murdoch production area, and it has the most beautiful rural scenery in France. The formal classification system was a century later than Murdoch's, and it was not formally classified until 1954, and 1986 was revised. Among them, Cheval-Blanc winery of Ausone enjoys a special position in the classification of Premiers Grand Crus, and the following * * can be compared with Murdoch's top wineries at all levels.

Graves

From 1987, the good producing area in the north was divided into another legal producing area, called Pessac Leognan. The most famous winery is Chateau Haut-Brion (already seen in the grading system of 1855). In the grading system of 1959, there are about 12 other wineries that produce good Graff red wine.

name

Generally, the wine label will indicate seven contents, such as winery, producing area, certification of producing area, year, grade, brewer and wine loading place. The quality of a bottle of wine can be clearly seen from the arrangement and combination of various conditions.

The quality of producing area depends on natural conditions. Because Bordeaux is a gravel land, rich in iron soil and mild climate, it breeds sweet and delicious grape varieties.

A.O.C is equivalent to that approved by the local inspection bureau, not necessarily every bottle of wine. In addition to getting older, we should also consider the climate of the year and the harvest of grape varieties to determine the year. Generally speaking, because wine will mature to the best flavor after bottling, the best year is five to ten years, which is different from whiskey and brandy. The annual harvest of climate-related grape varieties is good or bad (sunshine time, average temperature, etc. ).

The grades of high-grade red wine on the label are as follows:

Premium wine, first-class wine.

First-class wine premium (1er)Cru

Premium wine

Second-class wine

Some or just write Grand vin, without subdividing grades. These wines, regardless of grade, are generally middle and upper grade wines. Some wineries have won prizes or been recognized before, but the wines produced now may not be classified.

It is best to put the wine in the castle (winery). Some wine merchants will buy cheaper wine for sub-packaging or mix different wines in beautiful bottles, which can attract consumers and reduce costs. The quality of these wines is less guaranteed, so it is best to recognize the words "Misen Boteille au Chateau", which means "wine in the castle", not other wine merchants. The signature of the brewer also means that the quality of the wine is guaranteed?

Origin certification

A.O.C is a series of complex and special control systems, which strictly stipulates the grape varieties used in various legal producing areas, the origin of grapes, the planting method and the yield per unit area, the brewing method of wine and the alcohol content. So as to ensure that the wine in the bottle has the flavor of legal origin. This measure stems from various speculations. Some unscrupulous wine merchants took the opportunity to market the wine crowns in poor producing areas in the name of good producing areas (before the occurrence of pests, these producing areas may not grow grapes, but grains), which not only deceived consumers, but also damaged the rights and interests of wine merchants in good producing areas. Therefore, under the pressure of these wine merchants, the French government began to implement the wine producing area control law. However, the progress of the above control is very slow, and the prototype of the current control law did not appear until 1920s. The earliest control standards were originally used to limit the upper limit of production area to maintain product quality, and some were directly adopted because they had been recognized.

The so-called A.O.C, whose full text is called d 'Origin Control é e, can be translated into legal origin control. The word "controlled producing area" should be remembered, because A.O.C., which accounts for 25% of all French wine production, is the highest-grade wine in France. The word "controlled producing area" will definitely appear on the label of A.O.C., but the difference between the two words is the name of the legal producing area, such as Bordeaux controlled producing area or Latacher controlled producing area. Wine must meet the requirements of a certain producing area before it can be listed and sold in the name of the region. The projects controlled by the legal production areas are similar, and the basic provisions are as follows:

-exact place of origin: that is, the grapes used in a Bordeaux C-class wine must be produced in Bordeaux.

-Grape varieties: Each legal producing area has its own grape varieties that can be used, which can be a single variety or a combination of multiple varieties.

-Grape planting methods: including planting intervals, ways of branches and leaves before pruning, etc.

-Limit of alcohol production per unit area: The alcohol production is inversely proportional to the alcohol quality, so it is necessary to set an upper limit to limit the alcohol production.

-Brewing method: Sometimes it also includes the rules of wine aging.

-The minimum alcohol content of wine: In fact, this is also related to the maturity of grapes, because alcohol comes from the sugar in grapes, and the two are directly proportional.

-Must pass the tasting evaluation of a committee composed of experts.

Production cooperatives in these areas can become independent A.O.C, such as the area controlled by St. Julian; ; In other words, Saint Julian is a better legal producing area than Medoc.

In addition to A.O.C wines, there are other classifications of French wines:

Yi Zheng delimité s de qualité supé rieure (V.D.Q.S) is at a lower level of A.O.C The new classification of Yizheng de Pais controls the wine producing areas and production methods, but it is not as strict as table wine in legal producing areas and excellent producing areas. Yizhengde table belongs to the most common wine grade, without indicating the origin or variety, and the price is low. Restaurants usually serve in bulk in glass bottles.

1855 classification system

1855 At the Paris World Expo, wine agents in Bordeaux were asked to grade Murdoch's wines according to their prices. Brokers agreed because the organizer promised not to continue this grading standard, so the grading system in 1855 was born. This grading system is mainly divided into three parts:

-Mass control

-except for the big legs.

-Middle class. In fact, this is an additional grade of Meadow's 1855 grading system. Although the quality of these wineries is not bad, they do not meet the requirements of 6 1 for evaluating the price and quality of wineries. The grading system of 1855 is well-known in the industry, but many things have changed since then. Some wineries no longer exist, and some vineyards have doubled their output due to mergers and acquisitions in other adjacent parks. This situation is permitted by law. Some famous top vineyards, such as Margaux Winery, did not have enough money and time to invest in the manor. The quality and price of wine have declined. 1977, after a Greek family, Nuo Ze Pross, bought Margaux Winery for16 million dollars, they invested a lot of money and effort, and the quality of the wine once again returned to the first-class level. Gloria Castle in Saint Zulian did not exist when there was a hierarchy of 1855. Henri Martin, the mayor of Saint-Zulian, bought many second-class vineyards, so the wine it produced was of high quality, although it was not included in the grading system. Today's brewing technology is also an important consideration, which is much better than that in 1855 because it makes better wine. Some wineries classified in the 1855 classification system should be downgraded and some should be upgraded. These are all personnel changes in the winery itself, but they also affect the whole production activities and the industry's evaluation of its products.

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