Which Country Produces the Best Wine?

France, in a walk.

Too bad I can't afford the best stuff. Or even the middling stuff.

don't really know that much about wine but i'd probably say france. my dad buys a lot of south american & spanish (our family background) so i'm partial to those, especially chileans & malbecs. but france is just prob on a whole other level

my wife's family pretty much exclusively drinks italian wines and i've had some really good ones w/ them

CHISINAU -- Moldova's new government has refuted media reports that the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) summit held in Chisinau last week was successful because of visits to the country's famous wine cellars, RFE/RL's Moldovan Service reports.

The Moldovan Foreign Ministry issued a press release on October 14 that lashed out at television reports claiming the success of the CIS summit held on October 8-9 "was in direct proportion to the amount of wine imbibed by the [foreign leaders] in the Cricova cellars."

It was unclear which television station had made such claims. But in the past Moldova, a proud wine-making country, has regularly taken foreign dignitaries on tours of its famous wine-cellars. The largest of these cellars run for several kilometers underground and are shaped as small "cities" with paths named after different kinds of wines and liquors.

The new Moldovan government has promised transparency and austerity in running the country after almost a decade of Communist Party rule.

The CIS groups Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan. Several CIS member presidents did not attend the summit.

france. then italy.

not sure about the best, but i drink spanish wines the most, follwed by domestic

i need to drink more spanish wines. i like spanish wines. every store around here is inundated with wine from chile and australia, but good spanish wine i have to dig for.

france, then a tie between US, Spain, Italy

spanish definitely way up there on the bang for your buck scale. i have no trouble finding them out here in california

This is much harder than a beer poll because the price differentials mean most people won't have had the chance to try the best that these countries have to offer. France is probably the answer I'd give but tbh at the cheaper end of the scale some of the South American and Aussie wines are far better than their equivalently priced European cousins.

germany has all that bad-ass riesling.

okay, i'll say something nice about the u.s. they make some great meaty beaty big and bouncy reds, lemmetellya.

Spain, then some sort of order of Australia/Chile/Argentina/South Africa. This is all based on reds, I'm not a huge white wine drinker.

Ugh, Bulgarian wine :-(

having been poor in america and poor in france, I'd rather drink the cheapest american wines than the cheapest french wines. still voting for france, but...

"at the cheaper end of the scale some of the South American and Aussie wines are far better than their equivalently priced European cousins"

i'd say the same about some u.s. plonky plonk. good deals to be had.

gonna shout out south african wines but am not a big enough wine drinker to cast a vote here.

China?????????

xpost

Yeah Scott I'm sure. (I would've mentioned South Africa too but forgot.) Only really had yr Paul Masson's tho so unqualified to pontificate.

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/china/091012/chinese-wine-production

France
Italy
Spain
Germany
Austria
Portugal

United States
New Zealand (not on list)
Australia
South Africa
Argentina

le premier challopseur

mw about to be escorted to the nevada border tbh

I'm not terribly fond of California wines, usually; they're usually not made for my palate, they're foten made with high-falutin' scientific methods that substitute specific flavor profiles (that I don't like) for terroir and they're alwasy too expensive. I have had loads of wine in my time and excellent exposure to it through friends in the industry or sommeliers or people like my neighbor who's studying for her Master of Wine qualification. In any case, gustibus disputandum non est.

I associate American wines with the unpleasant taste of hard candy or 'peachiness' and HAAAAAATE peach anything, except the fruit itself.

France, then Spain/Italy, then Chile (when in America) Lebanon good but not on list purely for Chateau Musar.

Meaning CM is goooooooooood.

My favorite wine is a South African petite chenin.

Ive never had a bad (or expensive) bottle of wine from Spain, and Ive drunk a ton of it. Good call on Austria above, too.

France, Italy, Spain, Chile for me. I would like to drink more wine in the countries they are made in, because I've always noticed quite a difference between the kind of fare you get in the Chilean domestic market and what you buy in Britain. I'm no great oenophile so can't explain it particularly clearly but the general difference is that the domestic stuff is a bit more rough round the edges in a way which appeals to me.

I guess that France should be the right answer, but TBH I'm too cheap to fork over the euros to buy those good French wines. My wine drinking probably breaks down to something like this:

US - 50% (mainly CA, but also WA, OR, and NY)
Argentina/Chile - 30% (I drink a lot of Malbecs)
Australia/NZ - 10%
Spain/Italy/France - 10%

I'm not really sure how to vote.

Which country produces the 2nd best wine would be a good discussion, France is a lock for best and I can't imagine any serious argument otherwise.

best sauvignon blanc i ever had was NZ. wish i could recall the vineyard. have had one or two LOVELY ones from Greece. wish i knew more. and i dunno what "best" means but i'm partial to Rhone wines - Chateauneuf, grenaches, etc., in general, but for value i'd say Italy and Spain,

There's definitely room for argument for top wine producer between France and Italy and even Spain.

I buy a lot of very reasonably priced wines from Gascony and Languedoc, whites especially, that aren't part of the traditional 1856 classification. There's a LOT of hsit coming out of France trying to compete with the shit coming out of everywhere, but there are also lots of innovators and mavericks. Most of what I buy, from anywhere, is less than $15.00 a bottle. Thre are great Gruners from Austria, Spanish Albarinos, Portuguese Vinho Verdes, etc... For cheaper reds, I usually go French, Italian or Spanish, though.

France, Italy, Spain, and the United States have the best of the best. Portugal, Germany, and Austria are the next tier in my opinion. Some German wines are the best in the world. Some Austrian riesling producers are top flight, and Portugal has fantastic wines. Chile, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa have some amazing wines too.

I'm voting France - giving the edge to the greatest estates of Alsace, Champagne, Rhone, Bordeaux, Burgundy, Languedoc, and Bandol. Italy - a very close second. U.S. and Spain tied for third. All of the best wine countries have too many plonk producers and insipid, industrial swill a plenty, though.

Spain has the best bang for buck in humble opinion.

This is really a taste thing. My father in law judges his wines by price tag, which almost invariably turns out to be a HORRIBLE way to do it. We went to his place with a relatively inexpensive syrah (2005 Zaca Mesa 8 Barrel, fyi), and he had some highly ranked French thing that was just gross. Poorly aged, and the wine that you could taste, was not really good.

Ours earned stellar reviews at the table, and I'm sure earned me a few less points in his book.

I voted US.

Ugh, Bulgarian wine :-(

― ailsa, Wednesday, 21 October 2009 18:51 (2 hours ago) Bookmark

...is not all that bad, and often a bargain.

If money no object though, France wins this by a mile.

I took the question to mean "best" and not "best I can afford".

i really need to get to know french wine better. i've spent the last 10 years mostly drinking italian and spanish, with some south american, because it's easier to find that stuff cheap than french wine (or so it seems to me), and also because french wine seems more daunting in lots of ways. so, of what i actually drink, i'd say spanish. but i'm willing to believe that's not the "real" answer.

(in my haphazard experience, i definitely prefer mediterranen reds to californian or australian -- there's less of the fruit-bomb stuff, which is not my thing.)

meditteranean

Get some Cotes du Rhone, typsy.

have had some great nz Sauvignon Blancs

better q is: what wine do i get tonight for 15 or less

yeah i love cotes du rhone, that's right up my alley. grenache is maybe my favorite grape. (that or sangiovese.) but i'm no expert on it. needs further exploration.

I like earthy barnyard wines what do I get

Voted Argentina, which in my price range is the right answer, I think.

Can anyone recommend some good French wines under $20? I'm totally clueless as to what's good and affordable.

better q is: what wine do i get tonight for 15 or less

If you like highly drinkable dry-yet-fruity white wines and can find the Ken Forrester Petite Chenin from South Africa, get that.

xposts

chianti classico is a good bet for earthy.

Why is New Zealand not on the list (great Sauvignon Blancs and some very nice Pinots)? I'm going to be "patriotic" and vote United States although I suspect that France is probably the best. Lately 75% of what I drink is either from South America, Spain or Australia.

http://winetasters.blogspot.com/2008/06/ken-forrester-petit-chenin-stellenbosch.html
http://www.wineloverspage.com/wines/tn.phtml?id=782

it's top producers in quantity I think

France in a walk for me. I am presently in Nancy having had a terrific dinner tonight with champagne and lots of wine from Lorraine (in particular, an excellent pinot noir). Life is very, very good.

I am in MN and it is raining :(

Nancy and Lorraine are both going to be very upset with you if those aren't town names.

i like italian wine

haha yeah Nancy is a town in Lorraine, in the east of France

Earthy barnyard - search for the Mourvèdre grape - Cotes

Cote du Rhone

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Judgement of Paris bitchez

i've tried several different hill of grace vintages, so had to be patriotic and vote austraya.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/assets/graphics/french-wine

still can't get my palate around wine

maybe if they made coffee flavored wine

Not a supertaster, I take it.

I am! I took the test

"Question 8: Do you find broccoli deeply unsettling?"

goddamnit how did i miss this poll

**drinky-drinky motion**

;_;

Gewurztraminer, so France (esp. Alsace) or Germany (but German Gewurztraminer is often too dry).

http://www.worldbeverage.net/images/gewurztraminer.jpg