A flippant expose of the country and people hosting this year’s Paris Olympics. Senior correspondent Mike Osborne takes a full-bodied taste of French wine.
We are half way through the Paris Olympic Games and Australia is doing well on the medal tally, so let’s celebrate. Champagne perhaps?
“I drink Champagne when I’m happy and when I’m sad. Sometimes I drink it when I’m alone. When I have company I consider it obligatory. I trifle with it if I’m not hungry and drink it when I am. Otherwise, I never touch it – unless I’m thirsty.”
This famous saying by Lily Bollinger, head of Bollinger Champagne from 1941-71, has done as much to celebrate and elevate “Bollie” as Patsy and Eddie’s champagne-fuelled adventures in the cult British TV comedy Absolutely Fabulous.
Even famed English playwright Noel Coward famously quipped “Why do I drink Champagne for breakfast? Doesn’t everyone?”
Champagne or a cheeky red with your morning croissant is de rigueur in some cafes in France where wine is not a drink but a religion and a vital part of daily life.
If you want to start a fight, start arguing with your waiter about what is the best French wine.
Regions including Burgundy, Bordeaux and Champagne will tell you their wine is not only the best in Europe but the best in the world. And they’ll defend it with their lives.
In 1395 the Duke of Burgundy, Philippe The Bold, was so in love with Pinot Noir that he outlawed Gamay, labelling it a “disloyal grape”. He considered it so inferior to his preferred pinot noir that he banished the grape variety and demanded all plantings be uprooted and burned.
Philippe The Bold claimed to be trying to protect Burgundy’s reputation for producing high quality wine but was more likely trying to protect the value of his 200 hectares of Pinot Noir vines.
This single act of wine bastardry created the Burgundy myth and the prestige and price that goes with it. Meanwhile the humble but delicious Gamay grapes – used to make wines including Beaujolais and Brouilly – were taken a bit further south where they now grow and flourish.
Almost by accident Philippe created the Bourgogne or Burgundy wine region and France’s first wine appellation – under which wine was known from its place of provenance rather than its grape variety.
And so began the fierce French love affair with quality wine from numerous terroirs, or places with specific dirts and climates, that produce distinct and individual flavours.
Some 300 years after Philippe the Bold, another fan of the Pinot Noir grape called Dom Perignon, a Benedictine Monk from the Abbey of Hautvilliers in the Champagne region, perfected the process for sparkling wine.
When King Louis XIV died in 1715, his Champagne-loving nephew Philippe Duke of Orleans became regent of France and popularised the region’s vintages within the French court.
Other wine makers around the town of Reims in Champagne – including houses like Moët & Chandon, Taittinger, Louis Roederer and Billecart – leapt on the bandwagon using Pinot Noir and a variety of other grapes such as Chardonnay and Pinot Gris.
After the French Revolution, Napoleon Bonaparte also did his best to promote Champagne’s fame. ”I can’t live without champagne,” he reportedly said. “If I win, I deserve it; in case of loss, I need it.”
The other great French wine region is Bordeaux, famous for its rich, heavy reds made mainly from Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Cabernet Franc wines.
Perhaps its most famous winery is Chateau Lafite Rothschild in the Pauillac appellation of the Medoc region, whose Premier Cru Classe reds sell for thousands of dollars per bottle and the wine contains notes of truffle, spice, cedar, tobacco, and red berries.
But you have to be patient – they taste best after ageing in the bottle for a minimum of 15 years. The region also produces White Bordeaux made of Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, and Muscadelle.
There are hundreds of other quality French wine styles in a booming industry that dates back to 6BC when Greek settlers colonised Southern Gaul, followed by the Romans who were responsible for planting most of the vines in all the major French regions.
The French wine industry is worth about 15 billion Euros ($A25 billion) with more than 850 million hectares under cultivation producing about 8 billion bottles each year. Two thirds of the grapes are red and Rose varieties, while 45 per cent of the wine produced is vin de pay or table wine, with the rest coming from high-quality appellation controlled regions.
And the industry is continuing to develop, change and grow with Rose wines from the Provence region of France now extremely popular worldwide as a light and flavoursome summer and lunch choice.
My favourite French Rose comes from the Sancerre region in the Loire Valley 200km south of Paris. Sancerre produces delicious reds and whites but its Rose is darker, heavier and drier than the sweet and light Rose style wines from the Provence region north of the Riviera. Santé!
Editor’s Note – No grapes were harmed researching this story but a lot of wine was tasted.
NOTE – This is the latest in a series of “Frivolous facts about France for Olympic bon vivants”. You can read other Frivolous Facts stories by clicking on these topics: Art, Architecture, Language, French Heroes, French Inventions, French Olympic History, French Pacific, French Athletes.
Michael Osborne has been a journalist for more than four decades including 35 years with the national news agency Australian Associated Press, rising from junior reporter to Editor.
He was AAP Editor for 11 years and served four years as Head of Sport and Racing. He was also posted to London and Beijing as AAP’s Bureau Chief and Foreign Correspondent.
He has worked at six Olympics and five Commonwealth Games, covered tennis grand slams, golf majors, international cricket, rugby world cups and numerous sporting world championships. He also co-ordinated and managed AAP’s teams and coverage at three Olympic Games in Athens 2004, Beijing 2008 and London 2012.
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