All about French Wine

I get it now, guys. I have a basic understanding of French wine.

You know how you find a bottle of French wine and you have no idea what's going on? It's not because it's in French (probably doesn't help the situation), but it's because it's in this weird coded language that you need to understand in order to figure out what's inside the bottle.

This is why Matt and I paid a visit to Shannon via her company, From Vine to Wine while we were in Lyon.

Shannon is actually a California girl- grew up in the Napa region, surrounded by wine, decided she loved wine, and up and moved to France. She also married a Frenchman, which made it much easier to stay in France and truly enjoy wine even more.

Anyways, even though I originally signed up for the regional tasting, upon our arrival Shannon said we'd probably be better off getting an overview of all French wines. Matt and I agreed, since our biggest frame of wine reference was of the Italian variety. That and the Champagne region of France, which is small in comparison to the other wine regions.

This and more is what we learned!

So basically, what appears on the bottle is the vintiner for the wine, and based on this, you should know where the wine is coming from. Location, location, location. Based on where the wine is coming from, you should THEN know what kind of grape is being used.

This is the overly simple version. When you start thinking about it, you go wait- how am I supposed to just KNOW that? And the truth is, you're not. You just learn. Or bring your phone with you into the store and Google search.

The top foil also contains clues- apparently the green stands for appellation d'origin controlee (AOC), or something about having a geographic indication, and the blue is for vin de pays (VdP) and vins de table (VdT), both of which allow the contents to be from different areas in France, as long as they actually come from inside France.

Still with me?

Shannon also had these spiffy maps and posters up in her tasting room which Matt and I must have, including a periodic table of wine. Oh man, she really brought out the nerd in me that day.

Here's the setup we had. Note the yummy sausage and cheese. Not pictured- a basket full of crusty bread. Mmm... oh hey, she put our names on the chalkboard, too!

Do you know what is going on here on the chalkboard? No? Better call Shannon so she can explain it all.

I seriously found this all fascinating. I really liked the classroom environment, especially since I could sip and take notes. Definitely a great way to learn.

Since she knew we would be driving, Shannon also suggested that we visit one of the producers that we tried, so the next day we had a great tasting at M. Chapoutier and walked out with even more wine.

Here we are at the store, filling out our selections...

Oh wine, you tasty thing, you! I'm glad that I started to demystify French wine during this trip. It really makes it all taste better when you "get" it. We even felt confident getting some boxed wine!

Happy sipping!