Who is popular today?

France has over 400 wine regions, so it’s no surprise that many of the wines we know come from the more famous areas. But that means there are many more delights to discover
Louis Latour Grande Ardèche Chardonnay, IGP Ardèche, France 2018 (£13.99, or £11.99 as part of a mixed case Louis Latour Agencies) In what was a fine example of a humblebrag avant le lettre, Charles de Gaulle once asked, “How can you goven a country which has 246 varieties of cheese?” He could equally well have made his point with wine: France has more than 350 wine regions with a protected Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée or Protected Designation of Origin and a further 70 in the looser, broader Protected Geographical Indication. That’s enough AOCs to try one a day for a year with a couple of weeks off for good behaviour, before making a start on the PGIs for a couple of months. So it’s not surprising that many French wine regions are destined for obscurity. Still, the lesser-known names have their share of good wines, and often at a better price than more glamorous addresses: Louis Latour’s chardonnay from the Ardèche, for example, is stylish, balanced and comparable to wines from the producer’s home in swanky Burgundy.
Mas des Brousses Chasseur des Brousses, Saint-Guilhem-le Désert IGP, France 2018 (£12.95, stonevine.co.uk) The vineyards around the Puy de Dôme volcano in the Auvergne in the Massif Central were an important part of France’s vast everyday wine production a couple of centuries ago. These days, the Auvergne’s most noted puy product is the region’s vegan caviar (aka puy lentils). But I’m a big fan of the wines made by the local wine co-operative from their vines grown on largely volcanic soils. There’s something of Beaujolais, perhaps a hint of Burgundy, in the slinky Cave St Verny Pinot Noir, IGP Puy de Dôme, France 2018 (from £9.50, thewinesociety.com; leaandsandeman.co.uk; theatreofwine.com), a really characterful combination of juicy red berries with a sappy, thirst-quenching quality. From more familiar wine country down in Languedoc’s Hérault department, the Saint-Guilhem-le Désert IGP is no less obscure to most British drinkers. But Chasseur des Brousses is a wonderfully light (12.5%), fragrant, and spicy red mix of Bordeaux and Rhône varieties. Continue reading...