The more blog posts I've been writing, the more I realised there's only so much I can chat about wine when I don't know a lot about it. Which has led me to focus more on the history of wine (and cocktails) as I'm a bit of a history nerd and find it fascinating. This will be the first in the series of history of wines and why not start with the most famous wines of all, the French.
France is synonymous with good food and good wine, and is home to some of the most famous regions (anyone heard of Champagne?) Popular belief states that Romans bought the French wine but according to Science.org there is archeological evidence to show that the French Celts were making some sort of wine long before the Roman invasion. Although it seems the Romans thirst for wine meant production of the good stuff was ramped up, meaning more planting was needed in conquered areas predominantly in the south but gradually moving north. They also bought with them their own wine-making methods, the origins of the modern day production techniques we see today. Although no doubt it wouldn't taste that similar to the class of wines we're used to.
The Romans definitely gave French wine production a kickstart but thanks to a law in the 880's it was kicked up to second gear. This 'chaume' allowed Farmers to approach landowners with uncultivated land and offer to plant it for them, commonly then growing vines. After a certain amount of time the profits from the vineyards were split between land owner and farmer, creating an abundance of grapes and wine. (J Robinson; The Oxford Companion to Wine.)
The trade market began to grow, with area's close to rivers and the sea such as the Loire and Bordeaux flourished with international trade. Europeans quickly began demanding the French wine exports and there were even basis for historical agreements such as the Auld Alliance. This was an alliance between the French and Scots which amongst other things guaranteed the Scots an almost free flowing in port of wine from France.
Then came the age of enlightenment, known for creating a new level of intellectual thinking on areas such as science, politics and of course, wine. This included the University of Dijon in Burgundy sponsored students to research methods on how to better improve the quality of the wine. Although wine as we know it wasn't created until Jean-Antoine Chaptal produced a paper called 'Traite theorique et pratique sur la culture de la vigne.' His researched suggested adding sugar to the wine would increase alcohol production and improve taste, a technique now known as Chaptalisation and with that the modern day wine was born.
French wine experienced a golden age in the mid 1800's, culminating the 1855 Bordeaux Classification which still lives on to this day. If you haven't heard of it before, this is a system developed to show the prestige and quality of different vineyards in Bordeaux. The pinnacle of which was the Premier Cru given to the villages of Haut-Brion, Lafite Rothschild, Mouton Rothschild, Latour and Margaux.
Sadly after this golden era came a crisis point, with many of the vines dying from unknown biological diseases. This is what caused many of the vines to be 'saved' and taken off over the Atlantic to areas in California and South America. From there 'New World' wines were born, eventually rivalling the native French wines.
Luckily for us, the French invested heavily in researching and investigating the problems caused by these diseases and eventually production managed to stabilise again. Now French wine again enjoys it's reputation as one of the most prestigious wine countries in the world.
The context and history of wine making in France, does in my opinion shed light on the reason as to why French wine is famous today. The history, the passion and of course, the romance all builds into the story of prestige which French wine enjoys. Who doesn't love the idea of spending time outside of a gorgeous Chateau drinking a glass of vino?
So there you have it, a short history of wine in France. one of my faves - the people, the food and the wine. If you love your wine, checkout our selection of wine prints and posters here.