the grand red wine regions of france

ok well languedoc or gtfo but from these three, bordeaux

i think i agree w/bordeaux. rhone has many obvious pleasures but i think maybe you grow out of rhone a bit.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

the rhone has perhaps the greatest variety of all of these since it is almost two separate regions, the north with its continental climate & preponderance of syrah and the considerably warmer south with a lot of grenache & many others.....bordeaux is a large region too but its variety is longitudinal so not quite so pronounced

i was thinking of this thread in terms of affinities for certain types......& i think it just about works, despite the internal diversities

burgundy is the closest to a pure 'type' but it's a lot more temperamental and expensive to investigate, whereas you can safely buy ~relatively~ inexpensive things from medoc, st emilion, st joseph, vacqueyras etc

think i will vote for the rhone, for no reason, which is the only reason

I'm a Northern Rhone dude. Gimme a Cornas that tastes like black olives and I'm happy.

right!

i have had some fairly cheap syrah from northern chile (in the andean foothills) that has very pronounced olives/licquorice etc

maybe you could think of this in terms of which region has the fewest emulators/competitors in the new world or elsewhere in europe, in which case the varietals and qualities of bordeaux have probably been more successfully reduplicated/reimagined than the other two, burgundy especially (however good other pinot noir wines might be)

i think i'd agree with that

There are other regions which make decent and recognizably different reds that I like, but for the purposes of this poll, I'd actually say Rhone, since I'm not willing to pay the kind of money that makes Burgundies or Bordeaux special.

I have also migrated away from the canonic tannic reds towards lighter or at least fruitier reds like Gamays (Brouilly for example) and Cabernet Francs (Bourgueil and Saumur or Chinon).

i think the next french red wines i want to try are the rather tannic irouleguy and bandol (don't think i have had the latter, certainly not bought it anyway)

and bandol

Red or rosé? If you ever go to Provence, you end up drinking a lot of Bandol.

the latter

i have never been to provence and i don't think provence needs any more visitors from england, especially at this time of year

*the former* oy

I love grenache/garnacha, so Cotes du Rhone is pretty much my jam as far as French reds go. I have had some very good burgundies and bordeauxs, but I really don't know enough about them. Keep meaning to explore, but I love the dusty Mediterranean varietals so much that I keep going back to them.

I really don't drink that much red wine anymore, generally preferring whites and rosés since I don't react to them as much as to reds. I do still love a good red with a meal, though. Have any of you ever tried Coriscan Patrimonio AOCs? Made from a grape called Niellucio which may or may not be a local Sangiovese.

Also, new word for the day: ampelography!

Super useful page for the ampelographer:
http://www.wineloverspage.com/wineguest/wgg.html

I don't think it has been updated since 2007 though.

PS - I can't decide amongst the three :(

Have any of you ever tried Coriscan Patrimonio AOCs? Made from a grape called Niellucio which may or may not be a local Sangiovese.

I have not, but now I want to. Sangiovese's another one of those dusty grapes I love.

do you like Primitivo too? have had both good & bad Primitivo's but when I'm drinking red wine (which is rare, reflux & all) those or a Zinfandel are my first choices

never bought corsican wine either though it is being more heavily marketed in the uk (from a position of near-invisibility not so long ago)

ampelography is great word

i like reading on wikipedia about how zinfandel is near-identical to some obscure grape from istria &c &c and various other things dna analysis can trace

do you like Primitivo too?

Not really a big zin fan, tbh. I like my wine somehwat low- or mid-level in alcohol.

gamay is not a favourite of mine but the other day i saw a half price moulin a vent so what the fuck, i'm hoping it convinces me and even if i don't like it i can be happy it was at a good price

it's supposed to be the heaviest and most substantial beaujolais which is an intriguing 'sveltest nfl lineman' sort of parodoxical status

do you like Primitivo too? have had both good & bad Primitivo's but when I'm drinking red wine (which is rare, reflux & all) those or a Zinfandel are my first choices

I've had the same mixed experience with Primitivos, but the good ones are delicious.

And I hate to nudge the thread off track, but does cutting out reds really make a difference to reflux? I'm a newcomer to GERD, and I hate the idea of dropping red wine but maybe I should...

bordeaux because I can handle the prices when in the olde world, when I'm in the usa yeah I tend to stay away from French wine altogether alas

just spent a few weeks on the french riv enjoying rosés but I don't drink them elsewhere, feels "wrong"

Funny, 'cause I drink French rosés here in California all the time and while the Provence ones aren't as cheap as they used to be, the Loire ones still have a lot of good value.

I oughta give them a try then!

in spain now, enjoying the hell out of the cold vino tintos; had one I loved last week for 50 eurocents a glass!

have we polled "the grand European wine countries" yet?

Spain has a load of really excellent wines

Sort of, Euler

Which Country Produces the Best Wine?

yeah I'd really just poll France v Spain v Italy but not right now, too busy with Asturian cidra tbh

asturias is virtually the only part of latin southern europe where wine is not the primary alcoholic beverage

euskadi has lots of cider but it also has txakoli and part of rioja

had the aforementioned vino tinto in euskadi, my new favorite part of europe, & not just for the wine (& pacháran!) though that helps!

asturias is virtually the only part of latin southern europe where wine is not the primary alcoholic beverage

the great thing about Asturian cider is that it's only 2% odd - the exhilarating effect being briefly like champagne, and that brief effect being topped up thru the night.

I had some Basque cider that was the driest, sour-apple-est thing I've ever had--extreme, but liked it a lot.

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

RIP grand vin

http://www.finewinegeek.com/tn/2011-05-20_BB_everything_Leo/2011%2005%2020_0056.jpg

And I hate to nudge the thread off track, but does cutting out reds really make a difference to reflux? I'm a newcomer to GERD, and I hate the idea of dropping red wine but maybe I should...

made a big difference to me back when my reflux was at its worst - red wine was a guaranteed antagonist. though some of the difference was probably because I'm not likely to knock back a whole bottle of Chardonnay. I still barely ever drink wine if I have any work to do, it just antagonizes the hell out of my throat.

gamay is not a favourite of mine but the other day i saw a half price moulin a vent so what the fuck, i'm hoping it convinces me and even if i don't like it i can be happy it was at a good price

― Selena Gomez is very Neotenous for Caucasoids (Nilmar Honorato da Silva), Tuesday, 23 July 2013 19:05 (Yesterday)

just opened this and it's very good, all is forgiven gamay

i <3 gamay... but get the feeling it might not get that much respect?

I was about to say that I would've voted for Burgundy just because it technically includes Beaujolais and I can drink Beaujolais all day long. Gamay is like a secret weapon for somms. My preferred cru is Morgon followed by Fleurie. I have so much Bordeaux that I just never want to drink. Rhone would be a close second in this vote. Mmmmm charcuterie, bacon fat, black olives. So much more versatile than Bordeaux. And Ch D Pape (white and red) now has some lovely well priced bottles that are crowd pleasers.