Virtual Taste of France – Stop 8: Champagne

While Champagne is often incorrectly used to describe any sparkling wine, the first important fact about this region is that “while all Champagnes may be sparkling wines, not all sparkling wines are Champagne!” Located in the northeast of France, the Champagne wine region is the closest of all French winemaking regions to Paris (about 100km, […]
Virtual Taste of France – Stop 7:Loire Valley

The Loire is France’s longest river, rising in the Massif Central in the south east and flows for just over 1000km total first north through Orléans, then west to the Bay of Biscay at St. Nazaire, just past Nantes. Like most wine growing regions in France, the Loire Valley owes its long history of viticulture […]
Virtual Taste of France – Stop 6: Languedoc-Roussillon

Located in the south of France, Languedoc-Roussillon is France’s largest wine producing region and is well placed for the world title, reaching from the border with Spain in the southeast to Provence in the east. Languedoc is the biggest area with Roussillon making up about 10% of the total area.) While Languedoc-Roussillon’s reputation traditionally has […]
Virtual Taste of France – Stop 5: Côtes du Rhône

Located in the south east between the cities of Vienne, 30 km south of Lyon and Avignon, the Rhône valley extends over 200km and is home to what are possibly some of the oldest vineyards in the country. Wine-making in the region dates back to almost 2,500 years to when the Greeks founded the city […]
Virtual Taste of France – Stop 4: Beaujolais

Following on from Burgundy, the next stop on our Virtual Taste of France is neighbouring Beaujolais, located immediately to the south. The Beaujolais wine-growing area is relatively small and runs along the western bank of the Saône river from just south of Mâcon to the city of Lyon. It is dissected into northern and southern […]