Sep 02 2010
Drinking French Wine From Aussie Menus
Check out any wine shops and there is a fair chance you’ll notice that things have changed a bit on the wine menu over the last five years. Firstly there’s much growth in the Australian wine industry with new wineries and emerging grape varieties coming out across the country, giving consumers a larger range of wines to select from.
The second is that alongside these new local wines is an expanding range of imports from countries such as New Zealand, France, Italy and Spain. This trend began when the first lip-smackingly good Marlborough Sauvignon Blancs from New Zealand hit our shores 20 years ago and has been growing ever since. This has resulted in Australian wine imports doubling last year, indicating how customers are more than wiling to try more wines from abroad.
Chief among the nations now sending wines to our shores is the great wine making country of France.Some of the finest wines wines across the globe come from France, as it’s been throughout modern history.
While in the past there have certainly been problems at the lower end of the scale, with many French wines overpriced and inferior to a glass of decent Aussie Shiraz, the last 10 years has seen a great leap forward with quality at all levels higher than it has ever been before.
So if you want to take a dive into the world of French wine, here are a few tips. French wines names normally come from the region where they are produced as opposed to their grape variety, but don’t be hindered by this as French local laws determine which grapes are used in which wine types. Eg Red Bordeaux can be produced with a mix of Cabernet Franc, Malbec, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and or Petit Verdot.
Generally, French wine has quite a different style to Australian wines, often with a drier quality with less overwhelming flavour, made to be consumed and matched to food, containing less alcohol and often have a oaky taste.
Below is a starting point for exploring some good French wine which are easily found at your local independent bottle shop or larger stores such as Dan Murphy’s and Vintage Cellars.
• Côtes du Rhone (Grenache-based red wine)
• Alsatian Riesling
• Sancerre (Sauvignon Blanc) of Chablis (Chardonnay).
