# Can someone explain the French wine categories? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 3, 2004, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-the-french-wine-categories/253353 "2004-07-03T06:14:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2004, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-the-french-wine-categories/253353/21 "2004-09-10T23:41:23Z")
One small distinction needs to be made – you can buy a Burgundian Pinot Noir, so labelled – but what is called “Burgundy” is (generally) a fortified wine (as is most Port) – where the alcohol content is raised above the “normal” Pinot Noir level by some sort of special processing. ---
**Author:** ![Ass\_For\_A\_Hat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ec9cab/32.png) [@Ass\_For\_A\_Hat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ass_For_A_Hat)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2004, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-the-french-wine-categories/253353/22 "2004-09-11T01:41:37Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > what is called “Burgundy” is (generally) a fortified wine (as is most Port) – where the alcohol content is raised above the “normal” Pinot Noir level by some sort of special processing. This sounds very, very wrong to me. Can you provide any support for this assertion? While I’m not a Burgundy expert, none of the Burgundies I’ve ever tasted came anywhere close to resembling a fortified wire. Flipping though my edition of Karen MacNeil’s _The Wine Bible_, I see no mention of fortification in Burgundies. She mentions that some producers engage in chaptalization…putting additional fermentable sugars into the fermentation…but that this is in no way standard practice. This process is also decidedly not fortification…adding alcohol to the fermentation. ---
**Author:** ![Crandolph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7cd45c/32.png) [@Crandolph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crandolph)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2004, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-the-french-wine-categories/253353/23 "2004-09-13T05:26:15Z")
[QUOTE=hawthorne] To use an Australian example… [QUOTE] [Eric Idle voice]Real emetic fans will also go for a Hobart Muddy, and a prize winning Cuivre Reserve Château Bottled Nuit San Wogga Wogga, which has a bouquet like an aborigine’s armpit.[/Eric Idle voice] ---
**Author:** ![Mathochist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c89c15/32.png) [@Mathochist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mathochist)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2004, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-the-french-wine-categories/253353/24 "2004-09-13T05:48:23Z")
> [@Crandolph](#): > > [Eric Idle voice]Real emetic fans will also go for a Hobart Muddy, and a prize winning Cuivre Reserve Château Bottled Nuit San Wogga Wogga, which has a bouquet like an aborigine’s armpit.[/Eric Idle voice] In case some of you don’t realize, this is a joke. Wogga Wogga doesn’t age their “reserve” _nearly_ long enough to achieve a proper axillar bouquet. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2004, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-the-french-wine-categories/253353/25 "2004-09-13T06:39:58Z")
Tichtich. It’s “Wagga Wagga”. What \*do \*they teach in schools these days? ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2004, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-the-french-wine-categories/253353/26 "2004-09-13T13:50:23Z")
That’s not a wine for drinking, it’s a wine for laying down and avoiding. But seriously, I did drink a “Woop Woop Verdelho” from Australia a couple of weeks ago, what’s with you Aussies and these silly name? As to French appelations, within Bordeaux there are five main districts: Medoc, St. Emilion, Pomerol, Graves and Sauternes. These are often sub-classified (example: Haut Medoc). Within Bordeaux there are many vineyards, usually referred to as Chateau, which means castle or house, but house in a grand sense. The Chateaus in Bordeaux are broken down into Crus, or “growths”, the _Premier Crus_ being Château Lafite-Rothschild Pauillac, Château Margaux (Margaux), Château Latour (Pauillac), Château Haut-Brion Pessac-Lèognan (Graves) and Château Mouton-Rothschild Pauillac. The region overall is known for it’s clarets, which are normally a Cabernet Sauvignon, blended with Cabernet Franc and Merlot. But Graves and Sauternes are both more well known for their whites. Graves are generally Sauvignon Blanc blended with a small amount of Sauvignon Gris. Sauterenes, which are sweeter, are made of Semillion, Sauvignon and small amounts of Muscadelle. ---
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2004, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-the-french-wine-categories/253353/27 "2004-09-13T21:25:42Z")
> [@Excalibre](#): > > Yep, same for the Douro Valley Demarcated Region that produces Port. Now, these regional names are enforced by the EU, correct? Which is why Italians and Germans won’t claim to produce Champagne, while California does. Is my understanding correct? Yes. Champagne and other French wine names can legally be used as names in the US for [generic types of wine.](http://www.winepros.org/consumerism/generic.htm) A lot of US wineries won’t do this, though- they call their sparkling wine “sparkling wine”. I tend to think that wineries that won’t call their US-made sparkling wine “champagne” are more likely to make a better product than those that make “California champagne”. I seek out and eagerly drink sparkling wines from California labeled as “sparkling wine”, but I avoid “California champagne”. Maybe this is snobbery on my part, but I think that the wineries that make “California champagne” are engaging in at least mildly deceptive practices, so I avoid them. > [@DanBlather](#): > > A California “Burgundy” would also contain pinot noir. Probably not, actually. From the link above: > [@winepros.com](#): > > The knockoff wine names had nothing to with the originals beyond economic envy and a desire for consumer recognition. These copies rarely followed the varietal requirements, viticultural methods, production limits, nor winemaking techniques of the originals. Especially if it’s a cheap box wine called “burgundy”, it’s unlikely to contain much if any pinot noir. It might just be the same color as French burgundy. Not that there are no good box wines, either- there are, but usually not the ones that call themselves “burgundy” or “chablis” or another generic name. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-someone-explain-the-french-wine-categories/253353.md?page=1)