France is, to some extent, the homeland of wine and has historically been the leading wine country in the world and thus also set the standard for wine growing and quality. It is only within the last 100 years that the French have had competition from the rest of the world. Today, France is fighting with Italy to be the largest wine country in terms of production.

Fun facts: 36,700,000 hectoliters of wine are produced annually, corresponding to 6 billion bottles, on 8,600 square kilometers of vineyards (Zealand + Lolland-Falster) in 13 wine districts !!!

The most important wine regions include Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne, Rhône and Alsace.

It is often the regions that determine which grapes may be used in French wine production and therefore it is often not clear from the bottle. Thus, in Bordeaux Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot are dominant, while white wine from Burgundy is produced on Chardonnay and red wine on Pinot Noir. In the Rhône, it is often blended wines of Syrah, Grenache and Mouvedre. As far as Champagne is concerned, please refer to our blog on this page.