WINE

"Fan the sinking flame of hilarity with the wing of friendship; and pass the rosy wine."Dickens.

One couldn't write about France without mentioning some of the many fine Châteaux that produce some of the worlds finest wines. The Dordogne has it's Bergerac reds, Pécharment and the sweet Monbazillac dessert wines.

Just over the border of the Dordogne and we are into the Gironde with its capital of Bordeaux. Just as Burgundy is so famous for its cooking as to be called the belly of France, so the Bordeaux region must be regarded as France's wine cellar. Five hundred square miles of vineyards, in the southwestern corner of the country, that has Bordeaux as its centre and its capital, produce on average one tenth of all the wines of France. No place in the world produces so much fine wine, from the luscious white dessert wines of Sauternes to the great reds of St Emilion and theMédoc. Around Bordeaux itself, and the south eastern area along the left bank of the River Garonne, is the Graves, where both reds and whites are grown. The whites, even when dry, have a hint of fruit and a good deal of body. The locals drink them with the splendid oysters of nearby Arcachon . To the south is the prettily wooded Sauternais, a region of light sweet white wines, sold simply as 'Sauternes' or 'Barsac'. Sauternais also produces great, lusciously rich, dessert wines sold under their Château names, such asCoutet and the famous Yquem itself. These are made from over ripe grapes that have been attacked by the fungus 'noble rot', which causes the water content to evaporate so that the grapes shrivel on the vine like sultanas, leaving a concentrate of sugar and flavour. The resulting golden wine is almost oily in its richness, with a remarkably intense fragrance and sweetness. The people who grow these great wines can drink them with the pate de foie gras of the district, on the principle that rich food calls for a rich wine. The district's other good white wines are overshadowed by the dry Graves and the sweet Sauternes.

In the same way, the many sound reds of both sides of the river are overshadowed by the great clarets of the Médoc, Pomerol and St Emilion. Many wine lovers consider that from these regions come the noblest red wines of all. At any rate, only the greatest burgundies can really be compared with them. The most famous clarets of all are those of the Médoc, especially the sixty or so 'classified' wines, each with a Château name it might be Lafite or Mouton, Margaux or Latour. But these constitute a sort of aristocracy of clarets, among a thousand or more named wines, many of them nature's gentlemen at least. Between all of them there is a sort of family resemblance with the usual minor differences that exist between members of the same family. The wines of Pomerol and St Emilion, for instance, on the other side of Bordeaux, are softer and fruitier, and arc closer to Burgundy, than the more reservedMédoc. They are quicker to mature, too, which makes most of them cheaper, because money has to be tied up a shorter time before they are ready to drink.

The links below will take you to web sites with more information on wines.

	Bordeaux
Best wine Cellars
	Decoding a wine label