Famous Wine Regions in France, Research Paper Example

When we talk about wines the immediate household that comes to our mind is France. France is among the leading producers of wine globally in 2014 producing approximately 46.6 hectoliters. Taste of wine is important in the wine industry, which is the reason regions matter in the industry. Alsace, Champagne amongst other regions similar to them has done a great contribution to France wines industry. With the assistance of the special regions producing wines, France has emerged to be the most vital wine producer globally. The wine production in France is the second biggest export sector, which directly or indirectly hires over 58,000 people in different regions. It is the agri-food sector that has the largest surplus and the sector remains the second-biggest surplus in overall, after aerospace and on top of chemicals and perfumes industry.

Alsace, which is situated in the eastern part of France, is generally taken as a crucial white-wine region. Thus, the weather in this region is more like semi-continental climate that means that in winter, the region is normally dry and cold, whilst hot during the summer. Colmar City is an excellent place for producing vin d’Alsace since it has a sunny microclimate. In reality, it is the second driest city located in France. Normally, the yearly rainfall at this place is about 550 mm. Alsace is an ideal region to produce Rieslings. In fact, some of the global best dry Rieslings come from this region. Alongside Riesling, they as well grow Gewurztraminer, Pinot Gris, Pinot Noir, Pinot Blanc, as well as Muscat. By the way, the region is as well the only region, which produce mostly varietals that recognized by the names of the grapes used in France. Due to Alsace’s location and some historical perspectives, vin d’Alsace someway demonstrates a Germanic influence. For instance, the bottles they used for bottling Alsace wine is a customary bottle layout, which Germans use for bottling Riesling in several regions (Gonzalez, 2011).

Furthermore, being considered as the pride of people of France, Champagne is popular for its luminous wine. During the last seventy years, the region, where Champagne is situated was once an ocean. Because of the earthquake, sediments of belemnite fossils were forced up to the surface and become something referred to as belemnite chalk terrain. The belemnites have the capacity to absorb the heat originating from the sun and release it progressively in the night that makes Champagne region become one of the most appropriate regions for producing sparkling wine for the world. The other reason why Champagne wines are popular around the world is Champagne’s location. In addition, as wine region and being quite proxy to the capital of France, the wine business is easily developed. Nonetheless, the climate in this region is not for grapes to ripe completely since the yearly temperature difference in Champagne region is approximately 50⁰ F (Baxevanis, 2007). Opportunely, the presence of forests does a great contribution towards stabilization of temperatures in the region and maintains moisture in the soil. Possibly, Champagne wine will not be so famous without the help of these forests. And the cool temperatures (where the temperatures of Champagne is normally 66⁰ F in the growing season) also generate high degrees of acidity during the process of resulting grape that is responsible for the outstanding flavor of dazzling  wines. Alongside dazzling wines, Champagne too produces some still wines (Johnson, 2006).

Nearly many people understand that France has been taken as the leading wine producing nation around the world for several centuries. There are some reasons that support this argument. There is the aspect of the historical perspective that France has dominated the wine industry for many years. France began making wine as early as 6 BC. They have accrued vast experience in planting grapes, as well as manufacturing wines. Grape varieties, like Pinot Noir, Chardonnay, and Syrah come from France, therefore do several winemaking practices. That someway confirmed the reason why France wine is popular because Frenchmen are doing an excellent job in wine making. Another rationale why France is popular is because there are several laws and regulations in France to maintain the high-quality wine. For example, Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée system, which was established by Frenchmen, is considered as one of the oldest rules to control the wine quality. The other systems, like QWPSR are designed after it. The expression “Appellation” is at the present as well being used by several other nations across the world. Therefore, these two are the most vital reasons why French has been considered as the most momentous wine producing nation globally (Zanni, 2004).

Finally, France has profited majorly from its outstanding terror. Regions, like Alsace and Champagne offers a unique circumstances for wine making that makes France wines taste so different. The strict laws governing production of wine warrant the high quality of France wine similar to Frenchmen’s wealthy experience in wine making.

References

Baxevanis, J. J. (2007). The wines of Champagne, Burgundy, eastern and southern France. Totowa, N.J: Rowman & Littlefield.

Gonzalez, G. A. (2011). Playing with wine: A ridiculous look at the world of wine. Apache Junction, Ariz: Laugh Line Pub.

Johnson, H. (2006). A life uncorked. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Zanni, L. (2004). Leading firms and wine clusters: Understanding the evolution of the Tuscan wine business through an international comparative analysis. Milano: F. Angeli.