What's Going On in the World of French Wines

I have to admit, while I have been having fun on the road here in France, I am really missing my kitchen. I greatly enjoy cooking and that is one thing that you don’t get to do much of when you are traveling. It also means that my food and wine pairing for this week has to be a bit different. So instead of talking about a meal that I have prepared to go with the Wine of the Week, I thought I would instead discuss a few of the interesting pairings that I have had during my time here in France.

And there are definitely a number of food and wine combinations …

In my previous post on Bordeaux last month, I covered some of the major appellations for white wines, both dry and sweet. This month’s post will concentrate on some of the red wines that Bordeaux is so very famous for.
Let’s first start out with a little about the red grapes that are grown in Bordeaux. There are three major varieties: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc. There are also two lesser-known grapes that are sometimes used in the blend as well: Petit Verdot and Malbec. A third grape, Carmenère, used to be part of the blend, but after Bordeaux was hit by phylloxera in the late 1800s, much of it was not replanted and so today it …