Kosher French Wine: Bordeaux, Provence Rose and What to Buy
French wine has a reputation for being the complicated shelf - the one where the label tells you a village name instead of a grape, and you are expected to already know what that means. It is not actually that hard. There are four things France makes that are worth your money, and once you know which is which, the labels stop being a puzzle.
Why the label says a place, not a grape
An Australian shiraz says shiraz. A French bottle says Margaux, or Sancerre, or Cotes de Provence. That is because France decided long ago that where a wine is grown matters more than what it is grown from, so the place name is the promise on the label and the grape is left unsaid.
In practice you only need a handful of translations. Bordeaux means cabernet and merlot, blended. Sancerre means sauvignon blanc. Cotes de Provence means dry pink wine. Cotes du Rhone means syrah and grenache. That is most of what is on our French shelf.
Bordeaux - the reds
Bordeaux is the biggest part of kosher France by a long way, and it covers an enormous price range. The wines are blends of cabernet sauvignon and merlot, structured and firm when young, and they are the classic bottle for a meat meal. If you want the long version we wrote what Bordeaux wine actually is separately.
Under twenty dollars. Chateau Les Riganes at $16.99 is the one we sell most of - soft, easy, and it does not need to be decanted or thought about. Gaspard Bordeaux Reserve at $15.99 is a touch firmer.
Twenty to fifty. This is where Bordeaux starts to taste like the thing it is famous for. Chateau La Courtiade Bordeaux Superieur at $23.99, and Barons Edmond & Benjamin de Rothschild Haut-Medoc at $34.99, which is the bottle to bring when you want the label to be recognised.
Fifty to a hundred. Chateau Royaumont Lalande de Pomerol at $46.99 is merlot-led and plush rather than firm - the friendlier side of Bordeaux. Chateau La Tour de By Medoc at $68.99 goes the other way, cabernet-led and serious.
Above a hundred. Chateau Giscours Margaux at $129.99 is a classified growth and the most searched-for bottle on this shelf. Chateau Pape Clement at $399.99 is the top of the range, and it exists for anniversaries and sheva brachos rather than Tuesday.
The whole shelf is at Bordeaux and French red wine.
Provence - the rosé
If France only got one thing exactly right, it is dry pink wine. Provence rosé is pale, dry, and tastes of red berries and citrus peel without a trace of sweetness - the opposite of the sweet blush wines a lot of people expect when they see a pink bottle.
Our range runs from Chateau Josephine at $12.99 and Domaine de L'Allamande Cotes de Provence at $18.99 up through Whispering Angel at $29.99, the bottle most people have heard of, and Chateau Maime Cotes de Provence at $39.99.
At the top, Chateau Sainte Marguerite Fantastique Cru Classe at $64.99 is one of the few classified rosé estates in Provence, and Chateau Minuty M de Rose at $59.99 is the other name you see on good lists. Everything pink is at French rosé, and we compared across countries in the best kosher rosé.
The whites
Fewer bottles, but the good ones are very good. J. de Villebois Sancerre Blanc at $42.99 is the benchmark - Loire sauvignon blanc, sharp and flinty and mineral, the white to serve with fish. Chateau Magrez Fombrauge Bordeaux Blanc at $74.99 is the richer, barrel-aged style.
Cheaper down the shelf, Carrement Sauvignon at $19.99 gets you most of the way to the Sancerre idea, and Les Riganes Semi Dry White Bordeaux at $15.99 is the one to reach for if your table likes a little sweetness. The rest are at French white wine.
What to actually buy
A weeknight bottle. Les Riganes at $16.99.
Shabbos with meat. La Courtiade at $23.99, or the Rothschild Haut-Medoc at $34.99 if there are guests.
Something pink for a warm afternoon. The Allamande at $18.99. Spend up to the Maime at $39.99 if it is a present.
Fish or a dairy meal. The Villebois Sancerre at $42.99.
A bottle that has to impress. Giscours Margaux at $129.99.
If you want to compare France against the other classic shelves, we have the same guide for Italy and Spain. And if you have ever wondered why some of these labels say "Grand Vin" across the top, that phrase means less than it sounds like.
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