{"id":2821,"date":"2024-12-03T16:07:05","date_gmt":"2024-12-03T16:07:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=2821"},"modified":"2024-12-03T16:08:02","modified_gmt":"2024-12-03T16:08:02","slug":"france-isnt-california","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=2821","title":{"rendered":"France Isn\u2019t California"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>If you\u2019re an American who enjoys going on wine tasting trips, there are many places to go in your own country, but unquestionably the premier destination is California.&nbsp; On the other hand, if you are looking to have a wine tasting adventure abroad, the first place that generally comes to mind is France.&nbsp; At a very elementary level, the experiences are the same.&nbsp; You visit a winery or a tasting room; they pour you some wine; and you taste it.&nbsp; The resemblances end there.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/france_wine.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"268\" height=\"259\" src=\"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/france_wine.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2822\" style=\"width:332px;height:auto\"\/><\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\"><em>Map courtesy of About-France.com.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>California\u2019s wine regions extend from Temecula in the south, through the Central Coast, to Napa and Sonoma counties and up to Mendocino and beyond.&nbsp; Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay are king and queen, thought there are sections that specialize in Pinot Noir, Zinfandel and Syrah.&nbsp; While there is some regional variation, each winery offers a range of wines from different grapes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In France, almost every sector grows its own distinct grapes, <em>by law<\/em>.&nbsp; Whatever variation you\u2019ll find in a given winery is different levels of quality of wines from the same grapes.&nbsp; So, if you\u2019re used to wine tasting in California, here are some tips for tasting in France.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Choose regions with the type of wine you like<\/strong>.&nbsp; This is as simple as choosing between red and white wine.&nbsp; Let\u2019s say you\u2019re starting in Paris.&nbsp; Go east for Champagne and further to drink Chardonnay in Chablis and even further for Riesling in Alsace.&nbsp; If you want reds, head to Burgundy in the east (where there\u2019s plenty of Chardonnay as well) or south to Bordeaux or Provence.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Don\u2019t just go to the most famous regions<\/strong>.&nbsp; There are so many high quality winemaking regions in France that if you bypass Chablis for white wines and go to the Loire Valley south of Paris, you\u2019ll do quite well with Vouvray and Sancerre.&nbsp; If you go to the Southwest or Languedoc for red wines, you won\u2019t taste a premier cru, but you won\u2019t face the crowds and the costs either.&nbsp; Think of it as wine tasting in Santa Barbara instead of Napa Valley.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Most places don\u2019t have seated tastings<\/strong>.&nbsp; At the same time, you will often need reservations to visit wineries in Bordeaux or Champagne.&nbsp; In much of France, you can just pull up to a vineyard and ask the person in the tasting room (often the owner) to taste their wines.&nbsp; If you can remember the olden days in California\u2019s premier wine areas, much of France\u2019s wineries are like what that was, but not anymore.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>If you stick with a sub-region, wineries are fairly close to one another<\/strong>.&nbsp; In California, even if you stick to a specific AVA, say Russian River within Sonoma County, you\u2019ll do a lot of driving.&nbsp; If you just do Pommard or Pauillac, you won\u2019t need to go very far from one ch\u00e2teaux to another.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Oh, yeah, they speak French<\/strong>.&nbsp; If you do, too, then visiting is a breeze.&nbsp; These days, most French people can speak at least a little English so you can get by.&nbsp; A lot can be accomplished by pointing and smiling.&nbsp; Frequent use of the words <em>s\u2019il vous plait<\/em> and <em>merci<\/em> is a good idea.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you\u2019re an American who enjoys going on wine tasting trips, there are many places to go in your own country, but unquestionably the premier destination is California.&nbsp; On the other hand, if you are looking to have a wine tasting adventure abroad, the first place that generally comes to mind is France.&nbsp; At a &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/?p=2821\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">France Isn\u2019t California<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2821"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2821"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2821\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2824,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2821\/revisions\/2824"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2821"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2821"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/powertasting.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2821"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}