why are we selling only french wines?

The French wine market is going through a tough time with the growth of New World wines that are 'manufactured' in high volumes to taste the same every year.

But the French are the masters of wine.

Their vineyards have been growing vines and producing vintages in some cases for several hundred years. French viniculture has great variety and a depth and breadth of both knowledge and production that is unrivalled.

 It is a huge market on our doorstep and this proximity helps to reduce the distance that the wine has to travel – the volume of “food miles” or in our case “wine miles”.

So, in this sense French wines are more environmentally friendly than wines from the other side of the world.

The French are also now reacting to the competition. They are starting to modernise, whilst retaining their traditional values and respect for the land.

The Independent newspaper tends to agree with us¹. They say, " France is still, overall, the origin for the best wine on earth."

For early drinking reds, they recommend "côtes du rhone, vin de pays from Languedoc and elsewhere in the south." For the whites they say "France is a potential treasure chest, from simple vin de pays....through superior muscadet "sur lie" and white côtes du rhone....." 

For drinking now or for medium term storage they say "France is the first place to look. Many of its best wines are made for ageing. Superior wines from (côtes du rhone, Languedoc) should go on your list plus the red wines of the Loire; cru bourgeois bordeaux: and burgundy...." For whites " France offers a lot - lesser white burgundy, white bordeaux....Good Sancerre also improves with a bit of age, though much is made for early drinking."

For longer term reds and whites..."France, once again, is the king." and "France has one major league treasure chest here: white burgundy....The best white rhone and some Alsace riesling will also do well over the long haul."