Will the proposed new AOC system simply be French grade inflation?

Hey SalB, there’s already a new quality standard in French wine, to stand above the current AOC system : it’s called Bourgogne.

Now here’s how it works : there are vins de Bourgogne above, and there’s the other crap below.

Easy to remember, isn’t it ?

🙂

CRC

I refuse to believe this without a taste test. Can you ship me a case?

Oh sorry, we don’t ship Bourgogne. We’d rather keep it for ourselves 🙂

And that is why a) it’s harder to find Bourgogne in wine stores in the US than any other kinds of French wines b) Americans think French wines all come from the Bordeaux region c) and therefore, some of them may claim that Cali wines are better than French wines. Well DUH !

🙂

CRC (typing these line while enjoying a Passetoutgrain 2000 and chewing on a slice of Reblochon).

Hello All,

Did we mention that there was no showing off and taunting allowed in these forums?

Did we also mention that the penalty for not following the Forums’ etiquette is as such: ‘one case of the finest Burgundy wine available’.

Don’t worry. You don’t have to ship it, we’ll send someone to pick the case(s) up. Just leave them at will call 😉

FC

May I have a Reblochon with my case of Burgundy? Pleeeeeeeeeeeeease.

Francecom : where was there any showing off or taunting ? I just saw mere statement of facts here. You know, kinda like : the rose smells and looks better than the dandelion.

SalB : sure I’d love to send you Reblochon, but how would it make it through the dreadful FDA canine brigade ??

CRC

crc95: I subscribe to the view that you have to continually train the palate. France makes choice selection a challenge because of the great quality and variety. Then they compound the complexity by offering so many delightful cheese selections to experiement with. I haven’t made up my mind yet as I have so much more research to conduct. You are right about the FDA, though. We need a new President. Donerail

Donerail, I know you need a new Prez and I subscribe to that idea, but to my recollection the Dreadful Canine Brigade was already there when the Chimp hadn’t showed up yet — and hadn’t learnt how to spell "FDA".

You are probably gonna hate this if you keep a well-trained palate, but once in Washington Dulles airport a woman with a white uniform and yellow pastic gloves threw away one big glass jar of cassoulet au porc that I (apparently) was illegally attempting to smuggle into the US.

Now, I just don’t declare this stuff anymore and play hide-and-seek with the FDA hounds, but hush on this 😉

CRC

HI ALL:

i’m back from France! I’ve been back all week, but work has kept me away from the forums.

If you would like to know HOW to get around the canine units for meat and cheese, just drop me an email. I will be glad to share my expertise, as I’m known to smuggle in smoked meats from the Jura, specifically Malbuisson. Of course I also smuggle in lots of conte cheese.

I have a carry on bag that can hold about 10 bottles of wine, and I use it on every trip. The flight attendants never catch on until I’m on the plane and the bag is too heavy to store in the overhead. Naturally I have a luggage rack that i conveniently roll around the airports and which is never given a moment’s thought until it comes time to LIFT the carry-on

Welcome back. I’m not sure announcing on a public forum that you smuggle is in your own best interest. Many of these posts are picked up on a Google search (and probably other searches as well).

So . . . where did you go? What did you do? What did you eat? Where did you eat? Don’t keep any secrets. Let us know all the news before Uncle Sam does a Google and arrests you!

To get back to the origional question, I really don’t think the
french could actully "rate" their wines on some kind of scale system. (Could you imagine the arguing at that meeting). I would like to maybe see some sub-catagories within the vin d’pays ranking. Maybe somthing along the lines of qualitswein mit pradikat.
Vin d’pays wines in the states can be very good or very bad(Algerian?). I was once told by a wine wholesaler the best way to buy french wine is by the reputation of the shipper. If you like a certian wine, try other types brought in by the same shipper, chances are you will like them too.

maxpower, That is very interesting. When we’re at the store and faced with a bunch of unfamiliar wines, that’s exactly what we do . . . check the shipper. Our thinking was that we liked one of his wines so perhaps we’d like another. It never occurred to us that it was a valid method for choosing a wine. I feel much better about it. They certainly haven’t all been good, but choosing blind wouldn’t have gotten us any better results.

SalB/Maxpower: I found that a trip or two to California wine country was a good way "to go to school" on wine. You get to understand the nuances of Napa versus Sononma versus Midcoast, etc. (le terrior) And there isn’t as much variation that is caused by weather/temperature/rain. Once somewhat proficient with California a person might be ready to take on the wines from La France. Plus reading books and trade magazines help a lot as well. It is a magnificent quest. And I know I have a long way to go. I also know I am not going to dare open my 1996 Pommard for another 6 years. Donerail

donerail, Our oldest daughter lives and works in the Napa Valley area. She’s an engineer and has quite a few clients that are wineries. She’s gotten quite a wine collection as thank-you gifts. She’s becoming a connoisseur but, I’m afraid we aren’t. Unless it’s a major celebration, I won’t pay more than $15 for a bottle of wine. That doesn’t get you any of the great vintages. We just figured it would be lost on us so why bother. Bad attitude, but we can afford to go to France more often with the money we save.

We do love to go up and visit and occasionally taste at the wineries. I’m much fussier about my coffee than my wine. Napa is quite a trip for you!

SalB: I envy your daughter. We’ve been out to California wine country twice and we plan on going again so. It really is quite interesting as there are somewhere around 600 wineries and many (if not most) offer wine tastings for free or for a nominal charge. We would visit about 5 vineyards per day. Our favorite wines seem to come from grapes from the Russian River area. The Cullinary Institute Greystone)is also a great attraction and educational as well. Further north in Washington there is an $11 Columbia Crest cabernet (2000) that was ranked in the top 100 of the world by Wine Spectator. Its also a nice area for Marketing buffs as I am sure your daughter can attest. Those experiences gave us the confidence (and a fair amount of knowledge) to go forth and take on French wines of Burgundy, Savoie, and the upper Rhone. And we have only just begun and my knowledge isn’t nearly as great as I thought it was. Donerail

Yes, donerail, Napa is really fun. Have you visited St. Supery Winery? They have a little wine museum and a sniffing section where the different scents that are always discussed in wine can be smelled. That helped me more than anything. It gave an immediately identifiable smell. Outside, in season, they have different wine grapes planted and you can walk through and pick and taste the different grapes. You do have to be there when they are ripe, but that’s fun too.

I only drink one glass of wine a day so I don’t get to excited about tasting and choosing "the best" wines. If it’s a bad wine, I can tell and won’t drink it, but other than that, almost any good wine is okay with me as long as it isn’t sweet and it goes well with the food. I’ve never cared for sweet wines.

We’ve had the Columbia Crest Cab and enjoyed it. They sell it in our local supermarket. California has great supermarkets! For some reason I thought it was from Oregon . . . oh well.

Our daughters both have CIA tee shirts . . . Culinary Institute of America! Local joke!