French and Italian wines are the only names that strike us when we think of some of the finest wines the world has to offer. The countries offer some of the best, rarest and most expensive wines with a rich history.

It’s a preconceived notion that wine drinking is an integral part of French history. The country offers some of the best climates with a variety of terroirs for the harvesting of grapes and making a benchmark in creating some of the best spirits in the world. Every year, France and Italy compete for the title of the world’s leading wine producer. Seventeen out of twenty-two regions produce more than 3,200 wines over an area of 835,805 hectares!

Exploring The French Wineries & Vineyards

Château Lynch-Bages, Bordeaux

Bordeaux, along with Champagne and Burgundy–belongs to the three fundamental pillars of French viticulture and is a must-visit destination for wine lovers. Château Lynch-Bages is a French winery in a 19th century mansion and is surrounded by nearly 250 acres of vineyards in the famous Bordeaux region. Red wines are the main highlight of the area and when visiting you can try the Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Cabernet Franc. The region has been producing wines since 1749 and with an in-house museum, visitors can go back into time of making wines and manual crushing of grapes. The property also has a four-star hotel and a Michelin-star restaurant where visitors can enjoy a superb meal with an aged wine.

Château Soucherie, Loire Valley

Set on a rise overlooking the Loire Valley and rows of Cabernet Franc grapes, the region is most known for its white wines. The team at Château Soucherie manually handles nearly every part of the grape growing process, meaning their wines are less processed and every bottle has that je ne sais quoi quality of being made by experts, not machines. This is a winery that has long been held within the same family and the grand surroundings make this a wonderful place to enjoy a glass of wine. There are also rooms available in the chateau if you want a rest from driving and fancy sampling a little more of the chateau’s produce.

Domaine Weinbach, Alsace

Domaine Weinbach has been producing wine in this location for over 1,000 years, and the terraces are the same terraces that held the wine produced by the Capuchin monks here as far back as the ninth century. Located in the Alsace wine region near the German border, the Domaine Weinbach winery is just outside of the charming town of Colmar, or about an hour south of Strasbourg. It’s one of the only regions in France where wines are named for the varietal as opposed to the area where it’s located, and the Riesling and Gewürztraminer varieties are among the most popular. The grapes at Domaine Weinbach are all organic, so you can be assured you’re enjoying some of the best of the Alsace.

Château Gaudrelle, Loire Valley

Located in France’s Loire Valley, is one of France’s best vineyards. The Loire Valley is famous for its incredible food, style, and of course, wines. Located right in between northern and southern France, Chateau Gaudrelle takes you through a complete tour of the vineyard on the side of the Vouvray Cliffs. The picturesque views of perfect lines of grapes and colonial architecture make just seeing the property worth the trip.

Burgundy

Stretching from Auxerre and Chablis in the North to Beaujolais and Macon in the south, the most expensive wines come from Cote de Beaune and Cote de Nuits. The rich, flavoursome whites are made from Chardonnay while the delicate, ethereal red is from Pinot Noir. Winemaking in this place started in the 1300s, and it started with the monks. The word “Burgundian” has been used to mean the high-quality taste of wines and excellent wine area. The wine regions of Burgundy include locations such as Châblis, Côte de Nuits, Côte de Beaune, Côte Chalonnaise, Maconnais, and Beaujolais. The wine of Burgundy is extremely complex, and therefore often very expensive.

Champagne

Located in the North East section of France, not far from Belgium and Luxembourg. Due to the climate, you can expect lighter, dryer and crisper wines than the sweeter varieties found elsewhere in France. When we think of wine from this area, they immediately picture sparkling white and rose wines ideal for celebrations. Well, that’s correct no other place produces it apart from this place. The rest are sparkling wines. There are strict practices in place, and they must be followed. These restrictions and rules have made this area very popular. The best wines in this region are made with Pinot Meunier, Pinot Blanc, and Pinot Noir grapes. While many vineyards in the world produce sparkling wine, it can only be labelled as “Champagne” if, in fact, it was produced in the actual Champagne region. It’s close proximity to Paris makes tours of Champagne another favourite area to do excursions to. While the most famous wine of Champagne is Champagne itself, you can actually also find Pinot Noir and Chardonnay in the Champagne region as well.

Cognac

Wine isn’t the only beverage produced in the vineyards of France, and any lover of spirits has to try cognac at the House of Rémy Martin, one of the most iconic brands of this luxury drink and located right in the city of Cognac itself.

Only brandies produced in this region and following the specific guidelines for production can be considered “cognac.” 80,000 hectares in size, the Cognac vineyards extend over three départements: the Charente, the Charente-Maritime and the Deux-Sèvres. Famous as an after-dinner liqueur, Cognac is also frequently used to flavour dishes and desserts.

Tour De France

The much-awaited 107th edition of Tour De France that was scheduled to take place from June 27th will now take place from 29th August 2020 and will end on 20th September 2020 covering 3,470 km. The race would start from Nice and finish in Paris and as any other major sporting event, Tour De France was also scheduled to be cancelled due to the pandemic. Cyclists participating in this major event pass through some of the most breath-taking places with different terrains like hill stages, mountain stages, and some flat stages with rest days at Charente-Maritime and Isère. The final stage of Tour De France covers 122 km from Mantes-la-Jolie to Paris (Champs-Élysées) and a total of 22 teams are set to grace the event.