French wine – what secrets can the bottle tell you?

The ink spills almost like wine in writing about wine, its production processes, its types, its species, and its flavors….

Therefore, this review is dedicated to a related and related, but completely different topic – registration, management, grading. What is table wine, and what is AOC wine, why are there corks and why “plastic” corks, and what the hell does it say on the bottle label?!

Wine in France

There are countless types of wine and they can be divided into four main groups – red wines, white wines, rosé wines (some are also called “gray wines”, in French – Gris) and sparkling wines (fermented). This is the most common division for consumers, but there are also other divisions, such as division according to the sugar level per liter of wine, regardless of color – very dry wine (almost no sugar, Dry, Sec – up to 0.5% sugar), dry (up to 1% sugar, Off Dry), semi-dry (1-2% sugar, Medium Dry, Demi Sec), semi-sweet (2-4% sugar, Medium Sweet, Doux)* – and many more divisions according to various characteristics. It should be noted that measuring the percentage of sugar and defining the degree of dryness of wine varies from country to country.

Within each group of wines there are many types of grapes – the raw material – and it is quite common to mix different types of grapes to achieve an interesting, tasty and pleasant blend of wine, red or white. A varietal wine is a wine that contains at least 85%, or more, of one type of grape. Most often, the wine is made from a mixture in one ratio or another of two, or more, types of grapes – this is the role of the winemaker in the winery.

The most common grape species in Europe, Vitis Vinifera, is actually a grape native to the Mediterranean basin, from which the first wines known in history were made. It was only in later centuries that botanists discovered other grape species in North America (Vitis Labrusca, Vitis Rupestris, and others) that were not known in the Old World.

Within the grapevine species, there are varieties and families and subfamilies of grapes from which wine is made – these are what create the essential differences between the different types of wine. Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Chenin Blanc, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, Merlot, Grenache, Syrah, called Shiraz in New Zealand and Australia, or Petit Syrah in California and Israel, also called Durif – and many others. In France alone, there are about 56 different types of grapes, white, red or grey.

In 2015, 3430 wines were reported in France, from 1434 different types of wine produced in 144,000 small and large wineries throughout the country, not including home wines for personal consumption, which are not even registered as a product of the census – a very common phenomenon in wine-producing countries, and not only in France. How do you navigate this amount of products? How are they classified? How are they called and how do you distinguish between them?

Is sleeping good?

They say old wine is good wine. Is that true?

The truth is that very few wines improve with age, and even then only up to a certain age. When is a wine old? Is it old? 5 years? 20? 60? No one can say, because aging is not planned in advance. Experts, with great experience, can taste a wine that is in the process of maturing and say with a great deal of accuracy whether it is destined for greatness, and sometimes they will even try their hand at guessing in how many years it will reach its peak.

At that time, the winemakers will determine whether the vintage that year is good, excellent, average, or poor. With a high degree of success, it is possible to determine in advance which years the wine harvest will be good and suitable for long-term preservation. If their determination proves itself after a few years, this year will go down in wine history as a particularly successful year, and in the history of wines France (and in other countries as well) it is customary to note and define a list of wines that were particularly successful in certain years. For example, 1844, 1899, 1921, 1945, 1959, 1990 are considered to be years of excellent vintages, among other wine years (Millesime).

A very common custom is to purchase a bottle of good wine on a special date, and save it for a one-time occasion: often couples drink a bottle of wine on their wedding anniversary that was dated on the date of birth of one of them, or toast a bottle from the wedding anniversary (60 years of marriage), and other such examples and customs.

The vast majority of average wines produced using the standard process are good for a few years, after which their taste begins to deteriorate, even if they have been stored in good conditions. Wines intended for long-term storage (Special Reserve) undergo a particularly careful filtration process and are stored in a separate part of the wine cellar where they will undergo special treatment – ​​temperature control, room ventilation, etc.

The French maintain very detailed lists of wine years (Millesime), which include grades (from 1 to 20, like the grading system in French schools) for the various wines, according to region and type of wine. Of course, the list does not include all wines.

In France. The ranking of the list takes into account the factors that affect the quality of the wine, and with the exception of the winemaker, they are the same, whether it is the weather, the type of soil, the slope of the mountain, the amount of precipitation, etc., the same factors that the French include in the concept of “terroir” – a word that no one has been able to translate into another language, and it simply passed as it is.

Phylloxera

Phylloxera is a microscopic, pale yellow insect that grows only on the vine. During its life, it lays colonies of eggs on the vine – on its roots and on its leaves – from which the next generation of phylloxera will be born. The eggs suffocate the vine by blocking the root capillaries that transport food and water to the grapes.

British botanists who arrived in North America in the mid-19th century discovered a number of grape varieties unknown in Europe and brought them to the Old Continent to try and diversify the old grape vineyards, unaware of the hidden traveler in their midst. In 1850, a phylloxera epidemic broke out in Europe, spreading throughout the vineyards on the continent and almost completely destroying the vineyards in France.

The British entomologist Charles Riley (1843-1895) discovered that the American grapevine, Vitis Labrusca, was not affected by the disease and came up with the idea of ​​transplanting it onto the European grapevine to curb the epidemic – for which he was awarded the French Legion of Honor, France's highest decoration. Phylloxera broke out again

In the winter of 1972, it mainly affected vineyards in England, without reaching the continent itself.

Wine preservation

Two options for preserving wine: Preserving in a barrel allows the wine to mature while monitoring the wine. In contrast, preserving wine when it is already bottled, after stopping the fermentation and maturation process of the wine.

Barrel preservation

The wine is kept in the wooden barrels before being bottled. This process usually has several advantages, the most important of which is the winemaker's close monitoring of the wine's development. Since the wine's formation and maturation process continues in the barrel, the winemaker can taste and examine it every day and at any time, and stop the process as soon as he feels that the wine has reached a certain maturity and will not develop further. The maturation process stops as soon as the wine is bottled and sealed with a cork.

Contact with oxygen in the air is greatly reduced to a process called micro-oxidation – a slow penetration of oxygen through the wooden wall that “softens” the wine and refines its flavors. The main disadvantages of this method are the storage space required for the barrels and the lack of control over what is happening inside the entire barrel (the volume of a standard wine barrel is 225 liters, and its average price is about 600 euros).

Bottle preservation

The process of wine formation, fermentation, has already ended and now it is just aging. To do this, the wine must be of excellent quality already on the day of bottling, the starting point of the aging process, and as mentioned – not every good wine is an excellent wine. In addition, the preserved wine is in a closed bottle, and the winemaker has no way of knowing what is happening inside it, let alone tasting or correcting anything. Every closed bottle is a long-term gamble, with no clues along the way.

A side effect of preserving wine bottles for the long term is their high price. A bottle of Mouton-Rothschild 1945, sold at auction at Sotheby’s in 1997 for €22,650, would have been worth much less if there had been a few thousand more bottles left of the 74,422 produced that year. The problem is that beyond a certain age – and a certain price – no one dares to open the bottle to taste what is inside. Meanwhile, many unique bottles of wine become “collector bottles” – bottles of wine for collection only and not for consumption, and from that point their price increases rapidly, without the possibility of checking the quality of the wine.

France's wine regions

Wine is produced almost throughout France, but it is distinguished by 7 main wine regions (but not only), names that have already carved out a place of honor for themselves in the world: Bordeaux, Loire, Alsace, Bourgogne, Provence, Cotes-du-Rhone and Champagne – the latter became famous mainly because of the champagne produced exclusively there (sparkling wine produced in another region is not allowed to be called “Champagne”), but “regular” wines are also produced there.

Bordeaux

Almost synonymous with wine, especially the heavy, classic red wines. The status of wines Bordeaux It grew and became famous worldwide, in part, due to its proximity to the sea, which allowed the city to develop as a large wine port through which everything passes.

The region's wineries produce some of the world's finest and most expensive wines – the two most expensive bottles of wine ever sold at auction, Mouton-Rothschild 1945, €1945 (sold at Sotheby's, 22,650), and Chateau Yquem 1997, $1787 (sold at Sotheby's, 1787, probably from Thomas Jefferson's wine cellar) – originate from the Bordeaux region.

Loire

The contribution of Loire region For world culture, besides its famous palaces, are the rosé wines and of course the whites, which are among the most excellent whites. The Loire region does not have “great” wines like those of Bordeaux, but it does have good, even very good, rosé, red and white wines. The “Rose d'Anjou” wine has returned the crown to a type of wine that was rejected for unclear reasons.

Unlike the average Israeli, the French wine drinker knows that rosé wine is not “half white, half red,” but a wine in its own right, yet rosé wine was a second-rate wine for many years. And not even another, unnecessary word about the whites of the Loire Valley. Anyone who hasn’t experienced a chilled glass of Sancerre doesn’t know what wine is!

Alsace

It is possible that the combination of the intense cold in winter with the heat of summer, the temperature differences typical of the Rhine Valley, cause the special taste of the local grape.

This is the first region – and the only one currently permitted to do so – to market its wines under the name of the grape, rather than the winery. It is famous primarily for its white wines, including dry, fruity and particularly aromatic ones such as Riesling, Pinot Gris and Gewurtztraminer.

Burgundy

One of the oldest wine regions in France, and in the world. The region specializes in red wines, often heavy and dry, with an above-average alcohol content. Burgundy region Exporting well-known names to the world that will make any wine lover stop in their tracks. The bottles from here sell for high prices at every auction and are considered the most expensive wines in the world, sometimes even more so than those from Bordeaux.

The auction held every year in the city of Baune, the wine capital of the region, is known throughout the world, where wine merchants and collectors from all over the world come to leave huge sums of money. Nuit-Saint-Georges, Meursault, Chassagne-Montrachet, Gevrey-Chambertin – these are just some of the names that shake every vein in the soul of a wine lover.

Provence

Despite being the southernmost region in France, hot and humid, rosé grapes were well received in this region, and the region's wineries became particularly famous for their grey wines - rosé wines that are stronger than regular rosé and Côte-de-Provence (Cotes de Provence) is famous throughout the world.

Its subvarietals are “Gris de Gris” and “Gris Noir,” stronger and more colorful rosé wines, with dark peach and apricot hues.

Côtes-du-Rhone (Cotes-du-Rhone)

Considered the “poor boy” of French wine. Its wines are simple and its flavors are unsophisticated. The region’s wines are usually marketed under the general name of the region “Côte-du-Rhône”, without highlighting one winery or another. For the French ego in matters of wine, this is almost a slap in the face, but this should not be understood as meaning that the wine from here is bad – far from it.

The advantage of this area is that you can enjoy good wine at prices that suit every pocket. In an average supermarket, the price will reach 3 or 4 euros. However, in recent years, the status of these wines has increased, their quality has improved significantly – and their prices have increased accordingly!

Champagne

A region famous for the sparkling wine it produces, but it also has other wines. France's detailed system of wine laws states that only sparkling wine produced in the Champagne region may be called "Champagne", due to the many imitations in the world. And despite everything you've seen in the movies, the correct way to open a bottle of Champagne is to gently extract the cork by pressing left and right. Another thing: Mr. Nietzsche's debate about the appropriate glass. Wide and low, or tall and narrow. Professional sommeliers (=wine waiters) recommend a wine glass - not too wide (the bubbles escape quickly...), not too high (the bubbles tickle the nose...)

The law and wine tradition

Dieu n'avait fait que l'eau. L'homme a fait le vin.                      

Victor Hugo, Writer

 God created only the water. Man created the wine.

Victor Hugo, writer

In general, France dictates the system of rules and regulations in the world of wine. Traditionally, France was the first to introduce precise and detailed rules in a world where taste and smell play an important role, two clearly immeasurable factors. Other wine countries copied the various rules and measurements from France. Even if they later changed something here and there, the system of wine laws is similar all over the world, and is based on the original, French system.

But this too did not come out of nowhere – in fact, the system of wine laws we know today was only created at the beginning of the 20th century, and underwent another fundamental change in 1973, a change that was adopted by the European Union in the early 2000s.

The history of wine

Phrases like “Wine has been made here for 700 years,” “My ancestors have been drinking from these barrels for 18 generations” are common sayings in the wine regions of France (and also in Italy and Spain), and they testify to a long and weighty tradition. The subject of wine is one of the most important and sacred subjects in French daily life.

The average French person takes simple questions like which glass is suitable for which wine, which cork is suitable for resealing the bottle, whether an open bottle can be kept for a long time, how to store a bottle of wine, what should appear on the bottle label, and other issues in the world of wine. The tradition of wine in France is a subject that runs like a second thread in respectable and long-standing families and is considered almost as important as the tradition of hereditary titles of nobility, if not more so.

Throughout history, almost all wine was intended for the producer's own consumption, and at most he sold a few barrels to the local tavern for occasional consumers. Sometimes, if the wine was good, it reached the palace of the local ruler. In exceptional cases, the latter would transfer a barrel or several jugs to the king's palace, in exchange for a favor or gift he received.

In the Middle Ages, the English discovered French wine – they traveled to the southern port city of Bordeaux, where local merchants began exporting the region’s wine in barrels. The English, who had virtually no wine industry, loved what they drank, and soon became the largest consumers of French wine. At that time, there was no distinction between wine and vin, and in fact there was no need for one – the wine industry was simple, unsophisticated and devoid of any chemical or culinary knowledge.

In 1241, the wine merchants of Bordeaux obtained a royal charter that they were the exclusive suppliers of Bordeaux wine to England – the first documented record of any rules and regulations in the wine industry. The charter specified that Bordeaux wines were produced after the harvest, usually August-September in this region, and could not be sold in the town square before December 25, meaning they would not reach the designated market until a date when everyone was sure the wine was ready for consumption.

The first quality control in the history of wine was set in motion. This law remained in effect until 1773, on the eve of French RevolutionIt was only in the late 17th and early 18th centuries that the large wine estates took shape in France – the family tradition had existed for a long time, but only now did they invent the “sole pride.”

In the mid-19th century, the French Emperor Napoleon III requested a ranked list of wines produced in the Bordeaux region with the intention of presenting them as French products at the 1855 World's Fair, which was dedicated specifically to agriculture. The list was indeed prepared by the Bordeaux Wine Merchants' Association and was based on two things: the reputation and opinion among merchants about a particular wine, and the price of the barrel of wine in question. The list divided all wines in the Bordeaux region into 5 grades, with an elite grade above them.

One: the aforementioned Yquem Palace – already at that time it was first-rate and beyond any ranking. The list, which contained 88 different winery estates, exists to this day almost unchanged (only two estates changed owners and changed their names).

On August 1, 1905, the French Parliament passed a law dealing generally with the counterfeiting and illegal distribution of agricultural products, including wine. This law first defined wine: “Wine is a product obtained exclusively by the fermentation of fresh grapes.” In 1921, a regulation was added to this law authorizing the addition of certain processing processes specified in the law, thereby prohibiting other processes.

In an effort to enforce these rules and regulations, Baron Pierre Le-Roy, the winemaker of the Châteauneuf du Pape winery, founded the Association of Wine Producers of his eponymous department in 1924. He later also founded the Association of Producers of the neighboring Côte-du-Rhône region.

The association quickly spread to other wine regions in France, with the enthusiastic support of Senator Joseph Caput, former Minister of Agriculture. The latter submitted a bill on the subject, and in July 1935, a law to organize the wine industry was passed by a majority vote in the French Senate, which allowed the creation of the “National Institute of Appellations and Origins of Wines” (free translation of “L'institut National des Appellations d'Origine des Vins”) – the first institute of its kind in the world, a kind of wine standards institute.

Later, the institute was renamed the “National Institute of Appellations and Origins” (“L'institut National des Appellations d'Origine”, abbreviated INAO). The institute created a standard label, AOC, “Appellations d'Origine Controlee” – initially for wines, and later adopted for all French industrial and agricultural products. All the factors responsible for the type, nature and quality of French wine are anchored in precise tables and measurements, and more importantly – controlled and supervised.

Over the years, sub-levels were added to this standard to indicate different blends, different origins (for example, grapes from a particular vineyard, but the wine itself is produced in another winery). According to this system, the name and type of wine were also determined – here the law of varietal wine was invented (at least 85% of one grape type), here the principle was established that the name of the wine is the name of the winery that produces it – with the exception of the region Alsace Where wineries were allowed to continue a long-standing tradition of naming their wines, especially whites, after the grape variety.

It was also determined that only sparkling wine produced and bottled in the Champagne region was allowed to be called “Champagne,” while other sparkling wines would adopt other, different names – Cava in Spain, Lambrusco in Italy, and so on. Based on the same principle – only the golden drink produced in a small area around the city of Cognac (a small town near Bordeaux) was allowed to be called “Cognac,” while all others were “brandy.”

This system of rules for wine names and origins was copied and adapted to other wine countries in Europe, and then also in the entire European Union and many other countries, also in the new wine world. In Italy the name was changed to DOC (“Denominazione di Origine Controllata”), in Germany the QbA (“Qualitätswein bestimmter Anbaugebiete”) was adopted, and in Spain the DO (“Denominacion de Origen”). The system of rules in force today is based on the system described above, which was last updated in 1973.

Wine registration, management and grading: the label, the cork and everything in between

All wines in France – and as mentioned above, there are thousands – are divided into two large groups and each of them is also divided into two. The group of “simple” wines is called “table wines” (Vins de Tables). This does not mean that the wines are not good, but you will find these in the neighborhood supermarket for 3 euros…. One of the hobbies of the French, and also of many tourists who come to France, is to wander around the shops and discover “reality” – a simple wine at a ridiculous price (usually cheaper than a bottle of mineral water), but of special and surprising quality and taste.

This group is divided into two subgroups – “table wines” (VDT, Vins de Tables) at the base of the pyramid, and above them “country wines” (VDP, Les Vins de Pays) and refers to the rural wines, produced in small, private or shared wineries, as opposed to wineries that have already become somewhat industrial. There is no real separation and distinction between these two groups, nor does it determine which wine is better or more expensive – it is only a technical distinction.

Above them in the pyramid is the VQPRD group, “Vin de Qualite Produit dans des Regions Delimitees” – “Quality Wines Produced in Delimited and Defined Regions”. A somewhat pretentious name that refers to good wines produced under supervision and to higher standards and quality, in precise, known and geographically defined areas. This group is also divided into two subgroups – at the base of the second group “High Quality Wines” (VDQS, Vins de Qualite Superieure), and above it, at the top of the pyramid – “Appellations d'Origine Controlee” AOC.

Wine bottle labels

Table wines (VDT, Vins de Tables)

The full name is French table wines, and like cognac and champagne – the name is given to wines produced exclusively from grapes harvested on French soil. The label states where the wine was bottled (which is not necessarily where it was produced), and the vintage year must not be stated, which leaves the producer some freedom to blend wine from previous years, and therefore the origin of the grapes (the vineyard) will not be indicated. The intention of this level is to market simple and inexpensive wines, while maintaining a minimum of quality and fineness.

Wines of the Country (VDP, Les Vins de Pays)

These are table wines, with a geographical definition – here the producer must indicate the region where the grapes were harvested and the label must include the line “Vin de Pays de ….” – Wine from the region …. with the name of the district in France. This wine cannot have an alcohol level lower than 10%, which requires the producer to pass a number of basic chemical tests.

There are 44 French wines in this ranking that bear the names of the administrative region such as Gard, Aude, Ardeche, etc. There are 95 other wines that come from regions with a geographical identity – usually smaller than the entire region and they indicate a particular valley, a particular area of ​​a riverbank, etc.

In addition to all of these, there are 5 characteristic regions in France, each comprising several districts – a wine from the Loire Valley will be called “Vin de Pays de Jardin de la France”, a wine from the Pyrenees region will be called “Vin de Pays du Comte Tolosan” and similarly wines from Provence, Languedoc-Roussillon and the Rhone Valley. All wines in this group must pass a number of chemical tests and pass a number of tasting committees. The geographical details of the wine’s origin must appear on the label.

High Quality Wines (VDQS, Vins de Qualite Superieure)

All wines in the group are individually controlled by the INAO and almost all wines that meet these standards also meet the higher standard – AOC – and slowly they all move to the higher group. The wines rated VDQS tend to disappear – not because the wine runs out, but because they move to the higher rating group. Each wine in this group, VDQS, has an alcohol level that is determined from the beginning in its characterization – and must commit to and meet this level throughout all production cycles. The label must indicate the origin of the controlled wine (geographical region), the alcohol content, and the place of bottling.

Famous wines from controlled origins (AOC, Appellations d'Origine Controlee)

Wines in this group are subject to strict supervision of almost all their data and details, which are included under the vague title of “Terroir”, and include the origin of the vineyard, the type of grape, the winery, the alcohol content, the winemaker’s license number, and more. The supervision reaches the level of the vineyard plot and the label requires a distinction between grapes that came from the same vineyard, but some from the hillside and the other from the flat part. These wines are subject to re-supervision each year of production, by a taste test by experts from the French Standards Institute (INAO). The only one exempt from these rules is champagne – by its very definition, it is at the AOC level.

Wine labels

You are standing in a store and take a bottle of drink from the shelf, let's say for the sake of example, a bottle of “Coca-Cola.” Beyond the dark brown drink that you see from the transparent plastic bottle, there is a red, maybe black, or maybe gray (diet) cap on top. On the bottle – a label.

What do you check on the label?

The average buyer doesn't read the label at all. He relies on his photographic memory and knows what the bottle looks like. The average buyer glances briefly, just to make sure it does indeed say "Coca-Cola," or perhaps "Diet-Cola." Only a few read all the small print: what the drink contains, when it was manufactured, when the bottle was closed, until when it is valid, and perhaps a few other details. As a reminder, there have been debates and discussions in various committees, some of which have even appeared in newspapers, about the manufacturers' obligation to label what must appear on the label and in what structure and detail.

The situation is no different with wine labels, except that unlike soft drinks, the label is detailed and anchored in various regulations, again – the INAO, the French wine standards institute. Just as the wine itself is rated, so are its details on the label – the higher the rating of the wine, the more details the producer is required to include on the label. And don’t make it easy for yourself: Usually, each piece of information has a defined and precise place on that small label.

There is a basic set of information that must appear on all wine labels, starting with simple table wines (table wine and country wine): For export, the name of the country must appear – “Product of France”, or “Produit de France”. The name of the wine must also appear (usually the name of the estate, village or winery where it is produced).

In the lower left corner of the label, the alcohol content of the wine will appear, and on the right side, the amount of wine in the bottle. Between them, in the center of the label and at the bottom, will appear the name of the factory, place or person who bottled the wine - in the event of a malfunction, claim, or product spoilage - the claims will be directed first to him and not to the manufacturer. In addition, an identification number for the packaging (in French, Lot, in English, Batch) will appear.

As the wine’s rating increases, the producer is “allowed” to add details to the label – they are not mandatory. A picture or drawing of the estate where the wine is produced appears, and below it the name of the estate, which is usually also the name of the wine. Below the drawing of the estate, the vintage year will appear (and not the year of production or bottling). The winemaker will also list the type of grape (or grapes if it is a blend). The name of the district or vineyard can also be added, and those whose lineage is important to them (and this is quite common) will indicate this.

A particularly common phrase is one that indicates how long the wine has been produced and bottled at this estate – “Mis en Bouteille a …….. Depuis 1850” (“Bottled in ……. since 1850”), or “Mis en Bouteille a …….. Depuis 12 Generations” (“Bottled in ……. for 12 generations”). Tradition, did we mention?!

The cork

The traditional cork for wine bottles is made of cork. It is the thick bark of a special tree, the cork oak, which is grown almost exclusively for this purpose, mainly in Portugal, Spain and Morocco. Cork is a material that swells slightly when wet (which is why wine bottles should be stored lying down…) and thus tightens inside the neck of the bottle and prevents the wine from leaking.

At the same time, the material allows air to slowly penetrate into the bottle, which allows the wine to breathe and release fermentation gases and unpleasant odors outside the bottle (accumulation of sulfurous odors from the remains of the wine's natural fermentation processes). For wines for immediate use, a short 24 mm cork is used because it allows relatively easy passage of air into the bottle. For wines intended for long-term preservation, corks 45 to 48 mm long are used, which allow only slow and minimal passage of air.

Corky, Bouchonné, Corked wine

A musty wine, as Dr. Keren Dubnov, of the Hebrew Language Academy, has proposed calling the phenomenon, is a wine that has been spoiled by a substance called TCA. A few parts per million in a whole bottle of wine is enough for the wine to have aromas of cardboard, mold, a damp cellar, or old books. The wine will be completely flat, lifeless, and uninteresting. In general, “wet” smells in wine are not a good sign.

What do I mean by “wet”? Try taking dust and kneading it, and comparing it with the same thing, with the addition of a drop of moisture. The first is not a defect, the second will take away your desire to drink. In any case, pieces of cork floating in wine do not make it sour and are not a reason to return the bottle (information taken from Sagi Cooper’s article on Ynet about How to identify spoiled wine).

Have you ever seen a waiter sniff the cork after removing it? This is the basic test to ensure that the wine is not corked and is kosher to drink. The custom of pouring a few drops of wine into the guest's glass is intended to taste the drink to check that its taste has not been spoiled – mainly from cork disease, but also if it is not “just” spoiled (yes, that happens too).

Around the middle of the 20th century, there was a shortage of raw material to make corks, and the wine industry slowly turned to two modern substitutes – the synthetic cork (made of silicone), and the screw-on metal cork (as mentioned above, revolutionizing the new wine world). These corks solve common problems with corks – the drying out of the cork causes cracks in the cork and the bottle to leak and crumble into the bottle.

Synthetic corks also allow the wine to breathe, and here too – the length of the cork determines the degree of its permeability to air. One of their advantages – they are recyclable. The second type of cork is the screw-on metal cork, which of course also requires a change to the bottle itself. At the top of the cork, a round plate made of synthetic material of varying thickness is inserted, which affects the degree of the cork's permeability to air, just like with the synthetic cork.

These metal stoppers entered the new world of wine – first in Australia and New Zealand in the 70s and then in other New World countries. In France, these stoppers were only introduced in the early 20s, and then in a hesitant manner. The French, who are quite conservative in wine matters, are very suspicious of a bottle of wine closed with a metal stopper.

The capsule

You will never find a wine bottle in France with the cork exposed. In wines intended for long-term storage, the top of the bottle is “wrapped” in wax, usually red. In bottles for regular consumption, they are “wrapped” in a capsule, and since this is the most visible part of the wine bottle, you won’t believe how much information appears on it. The capsule is usually made of a thin metal cap that wraps around the top of the bottle and is closed at the top with a round sticker, also metal, that closes the edges of the capsule. Today, there are also capsules made of plastic that are fastened to the top of the bottle by gently heating.

All the data appearing on the standard capsule – called CRD (“Capsule Représentative de Droit”, “Representative capsule by law”) – is anchored in the system of laws and regulations of the same “National Institute for Appellation and Origin” (“Institut National d'Appellation d'Origine”), abbreviated INAO. In the center of the round sticker appears Marianne, a symbol of France, usually accompanied by the inscription “Republique Francaise”, (French Republic). On either side of it – two holes that provide air entry into the cork.

On the perimeter of the round sticker, around the symbol, appear several numbers and letters:

• The first two digits on the right symbolize the serial number of one of the French regions (between 01 and 95) in which this bottle was bottled.
• After them, a letter indicating the classification of the harvester: R – Recoltant, meaning the harvester himself, N – Non-Recoltant or Negociant, meaning “non-harvester” or marketer, E – Entrepositaire, meaning an authorized transit and marketing warehouse.
• The number that follows, 2 or 3 digits, is the serial number of the sitter in the district to which it belongs, in which it is registered and authorized to operate.

And above all, the color. The layman will not notice the difference because every bottle looks different anyway, and the truth is that even the average Frenchman – except for the professional or the ardent and interested amateur – does not know the color code.

• Green capsule – wines produced in a specific region, which can receive a typical geographical regional definition, VDQS and AOC wines according to the scales described above.
• Blue capsule – all other wines, namely mainly table wines and country wines.
• Orange capsule – special wines that are still under the supervision of the INAO, such as sweet dessert wines and liqueur wines.
• Yellow capsule – exclusive to Cognac (from northeast of Bordeaux) and Armagnac, which is a cognac from the Armagnac region (southeast of Bordeaux).

Additionally, there are additional capsules (gray, red, white) for several alcoholic beverage ratings not mentioned in this framework.

And one more little thing to finish – “Cheers”, “Skol”, “Sante”…..

Where did the custom of tossing wine glasses before drinking originate? In the Middle Ages, it was common to invite guests to drink a glass of wine with their meal. In order not to appear stingy, they would fill the glass to the brim, even overflowing. And to show guests that the wine was not poisoned – a common custom in those days – they would toss the full glasses, thus splashing drops of wine from one glass to another – proof that everyone was drinking the same wine!

A few words about cognac

Hennessy, Rémy Martin, Martell and others are just a few of the most common types of cognac in the world. As already mentioned, only the alcoholic beverage distilled in the Cognac region (a region in southwestern France, near Bordeaux) is allowed to be called by this name – all the others in the golden color, despite all the evidence they will provide you, are “just” brandy.

Without going into details that are not wine-related, cognac is also made from grapes, but it undergoes a double distillation process that increases its alcohol content to a higher concentration, 40% or more. All cognac must be aged for at least three years in French oak barrels (Chene). Some add pieces of oak to the barrel-infused drink to enhance the wood flavor, while others add a little caramel to emphasize the golden color.

Based on the system that ranks and symbolizes wine types, a similar system was developed for cognac types:

• (VS (Very Special), also marked by 3 stars (✯✯✯) – The basic standard that all cognac must meet. Aged for at least three years in French oak barrels.
• (VSOP (Very Special Old Pale) – The rating requires 4 years of aging in an oak barrel to be called VSOP. The truth is that there are very few types of cognac that are 4 years old, and most of those rated VSOP are at least 6 years old.
• (XO Extra Old) – The definition of the rating determines 6 years of aging, but even here – the vast majority of XO grade cognac sold on the market is at least 8 years old – most of it is over 20 years old in French oak barrels.
• “Napoleon” – In fact, there is no such rank on the official rating scale, but it is an “honorary rank” for cognac that is more than 20 years old.

And how do you distinguish between a 20-year-old cognac and a 60-year-old cognac, or even older? Cognac producers have created – again, this category does not appear in the official ranking – the “Hors d’Age” category – cognac that is aged in French oak barrels for well over 20 years. For example, “Paradis Imperial” cognac from “Hennessy” has 40% alcohol, an ageless one that is a blend of cognacs of different ages, including from the 18th and 19th centuries, and the price of one 70 ml bottle is 1491 euros. Or, if you prefer, “Marie” cognac from the “Hawkins” winery, from 1806 – a 70 ml bottle will cost you 9682 euros…. plus 8 euros for shipping….

Long live!

This article was prepared with the collaboration and assistance of Eyal Drori, winemaker