French wine tasting reccos

A friend wants to have a wine tasting using only French wines up to around $25/bottle. Red, white, roses, whatever...what are some of your recommendations? BTW, they have to be generally available, not from some chateau that makes one or two cases/year and are available only if you're a family member.

I guess the group might influence choice.

If for wine geek types, then emerging wines from South of France (Languedoc-Roussillon especially) would be good, as would lesser seen appellations.

If for more general audience, then some clearly typical wines would make sense. For instance a
- village Beaujolais
- Cotes du Rhone
- Alsace Riesling
- Loire Muscadet
- Chablis
- Southern Red (e.g. Cahors, Madiran or VdP d'Oc)

Typical examples would be easy to come by (e.g. Duboeuf for Bojo, Guigal for CdR, Trimbach for Alsace, etc.).

I've not included Champers, (Red) Burg or Bdx, as good examples may stretch the budget, but if you're happy to balance the cost, these would be instructive to include.

Sorry if this is all a bit general

regards

Ian

Larry,

I've planned many wine tastings over the years and always find them to be a great way to learn more about wine and meet great people. You are approaching this task properly by asking for recommendations. I suggest you take the information from Forum members to your local wine merchant and review the list with him/her. Don't limit your final selections to wines on hand (unless the tasting is only 1-2 weeks away), because distributors may be able to deliver some of the more interesting wines in 2-3 weeks.

Here is a list of specific wines in your price range that I have used at tastings I delivered in the past year, or which were brought to tastings by members of our tasting group:

Sparkling Wines
NV Jaillance Cuvee de l'Abbaye Brut Cremant de Bordeaux ($14; a sparkling Semmilon from one of the largest sparkling wine producers outside of the Champagne region)
NV Maison Vergnes Le Berceau Brut Blanquette de Limoux ($12; my favorite, value-priced non-Champagne sparkling wine from southern France)

White Wines
2004 Domaine de la Pepiere Cuvee Eden Vieilles Vignes Muscadet ($13; a lovely white wine from the Loire Valley; note that any Muscadet from Pepiere will be great)
2004 Guilbaud Freres Le Soleil Nantais Muscadet Sevre et Maine ($14; another great Muscadet from the Loire Valley)
2005 Francois Pinon Vouvray Cuvee Tradition ($15; a lightly sweet Chenin Blanc from the Loire Valley)

Rosé Wines
2005 Les Vignerons de Tavel Prestige des Lauzeraies ($18; a beautiful wine from Tavel, one of France's best-known Rosé producing areas)
2006 Prieure de Montezargues Tavel ($20; another great Rosé from Tavel)
2005 Chateau Grande Cassagne Costieres de Nimes ($10; a widely available, value-priced Rosé from the southern part of France, just southwest of the Rhone Valley)

Red Wines
2005 Catherine & Pierre Breton Bourgueil Galichets ($20; Cabernet Franc from the Loire Valley)
2002 Vieux Chateau St. Andre Montagne St.-Emilion ($25; from our tasting group's Right Bank Bordeaux tasting)
2002 Chateau Siaurac Lalande de Pomerol ($20; from our tasting group's Right Bank Bordeaux tasting)
2002 Chateau Haut St. Brice St-Emilion Grand Cru ($25; from our tasting group's Right Bank Bordeaux tasting)
2003 Chateau Marsau Bordeaux Cotes de Francs ($23; from our tasting group's Right Bank Bordeaux tasting)
2003 Chateau Ripeau St-Emilion Grand Cru Classe' ($22; from our tasting group's Right Bank Bordeaux tasting)
Our tasting group met in November for a southern Rhone red tasting. I posted those results several weeks ago: http://wineloverspage.com/forum/village/viewtopic.php?t=12600

Dessert Wines
NV Renardat-Fache Bugey Cerdon Sparkling Rosé ($17; a lightly sweet, sparkling pink gem from the picturesque French Alps, made from organic Gamay and Poulsard grapes)
2003 Les Clos de Paulilles Banyuls Rimage ($19 for 500ml; dark and warm and altogether comforting, Banyuls is a classic match for all things chocolate)

Good luck. Be sure to post the results of your French wine tasting.

-- Clark

[Jenise]

Larry,

France makes so much wine that "generally available" is a difficult area to define--what's generally available in New York is less so in Los Angeles and even less so other places in between. Albuquerque? No idea. Which labels are available all depends on which distributors have a foot hold and what local demand is/has been created for. For example, I get a really good selection of Rhone and Loire wines in my area, but Bordeaux? Zip. There are no Bordeaux distribs working here, and because the general population isn't used to the wines there's little demand for them. Unthinkable as that is to me.

What I'd do if I were you? I'd go to the website for Louis/Dressner Imports and ask Joe Dressner if there's a retailer in Albuquerque who handles a lot of his wines. If there is, that guy can be counted on to have fairly excellent taste in great value French wine, because that's what Joe does (the Renardat-Fache pink bubbly Clark wisely reccomends is one of his wines, for instance), and your friend should do all his shopping at that one store. The retailer can reccomend from supplies on hand better than we can from a distance--we'd be real lucky to reccomend a wine you'd actually find without naming the supermarket brands everyone carries like Perrin, La Veille Ferme and Larose Trintaudon.

larry - we have no idea what is available in your particular area. why not do as jenise suggests OR visit a couple of good retailers and note some of the wines and provide us a modest size list - maybe the ones they recommend. then we could chime in if we've had them.

[Jenise]

larry - we have no idea what is available in your particular area. why not do as jenise suggests OR visit a couple of good retailers and note some of the wines and provide us a modest size list - maybe the ones they recommend. then we could chime in if we've had them.

That's a good idea, too, David.

A friend wants to have a wine tasting using only French wines up to around $25/bottle. Red, white, roses, whatever...what are some of your recommendations? BTW, they have to be generally available, not from some chateau that makes one or two cases/year and are available only if you're a family member.

In this day and age, sub-$25 is gonna be tough - right off the bat, you can forget about the good stuff from Bordeaux, Burgundy [to include even Chablis, unless you're really, really lucky], and the Northern Rhone.

In the Southern Rhone, you can forget about CNdP, but you could do the Cotes du Rhone and probably Gigondas [as well as the neighboring AOC of the Languedoc].

Personally, I'd try to concentrate on like varietals [but from possibly different regions and different winemaking styles]: For instance, a tasting with two or three [Cru] gamays from Beaujolais opposite two or three gamays from the Loire [e.g. the Puzelat brothers] would be a lot of fun.

Similarly, a tasting with two or three Roses from the Languedoc opposite two or three Roses from the Loire could be very instructive.

Likewise, Sauvignon Blanc from the Loire -vs- Sauvignon Blanc from Bordeaux/Entre Deux Mers [but there you would have to do a little research to make sure that e.g. your Loires aren't Chenin Blanc and your Bordelais aren't Semillon].

Etc etc etc.

Don't forget Alsace for lovely white wines in your price range....Schoffitt is a terrific producer that is pretty widely distributed..but there are lots of others too.

Some of the '05 Bourgognes from Burgundy are well priced and very tasty.....Bouchard is one that I have enjoyed recently. And there should be some Chablis in your price range too.

Thanks, Clark, et al., with the specific reccos. I've passed them on to my friend. We have very well-stocked wine stores here and I'm sure we'll find some of the wines suggested. My request for "generally available" meant those labels that would not be as rare as hens teeth.

If it isn't too late, let me add to the list almost any 2005 Bordeaux. This is a really great year, and based on a decent sampling, the quality is there in your price range.
Also, since the subject is french wines, how about a Loire Vouvray, and wine that is almost unique to France and well within your range.