Wine

«The French are so proud of their wines that they’ve given some towns the same name as a great vintage.» Oscar Wilde

In many regions of France such as Burgundy , Bordeaux, Alsace, the Loire Valley, Languedoc-Roussillon, Provence and Beaujolais, wine is produced from locally-grown vines: wines such as Bordeaux, Saumur, Chinon, Cahors...

Every year wine-growers prune their vines in the spring so that in autumn, when the grape harvest comes, they will be picking best quality bunches of grapes from their vineyard. They press these to make grape juice.

This will then have to be processed to turn it into wine. First it is left to ferment in vats for several weeks following the recommendations of a wine-making expert (called “un œnologue” in French) whose exact methods are a closely guarded secret.

The wine will be red, white or rosé depending on whether or not the fermenting juice contains dark grape skins. The vintage year printed on the label will be the year when the grapes were harvested.

There are different shapes of bottles for different wines and the bottling itself is a painstaking process. The bottles remain carefully stored in the wine cellar (“la cave”) for several months or years depending on the vintage, before being marketed and drunk. Some wines have to mature for a long time at a constant temperature in order to develop their bouquet, that is to say their complex aroma and taste. In good restaurants it is the sommelier’s job to recommend or choose the wine.

All over the world people open a bottle of champagne to celebrate an important event. This golden-coloured wine was known as «saulte bouchon»(“jumping cork”) before being called champagne. The champagne vineyards produce 300 million bottles of champagne every year. It cannot legally be made anywhere outside a carefully defined area in Champagne.

Like beer, wine contains alcohol. It must always be drunk in moderation, as the law requires, especially when you are driving. The police are stopping more and more drivers for breathalyser tests. Motorists and motor-cyclists must realize that they run a much greater risk of having an accident if they have drunk more than 2 glasses of wine. It’s well known that alcohol makes you sleepy and slows down your reactions.