Ask many wine-lovers which country makes the best wine in the world, and you might get a range of answers. But there’s one country that, for the past few hundred years, has remained more or less unassailable at the top of the league, thanks to a combination of favourable climate and finely-honed winemaking traditions.
But now that other wine-making countries have begun to emerge, and modern logistics means they’re able to access markets around the world, the big names in winemaking face greater competition than ever before. So how are French winemakers holding up?
French Vineyards in Statistics
In 2018, France’s wine and spirits exports added up to ?13.2 billion ? a rise of 2.4% over the previous year. Two thirds of this figure are accounted for by wine, through brandies like cognac are included. A slightly greater proportion of wine was sold than spirits ? the former rose 2.6% to ?8.9 billion, while the latter rose 1.8% to ?4.3 billion. Cognac accounted for 73% of the value of spirits sold overseas.
The balance of trade for wine and spirits stands at ?11.7, an annual increase of 1.7%. This makes wine the second largest surplus in the country, after aerospace (which is necessarily an industry with a global market).
So, where did all of this wine go? A third of it stayed within the European Union, with the United Kingdom buying ?1.3 billion worth of French wine. The biggest consumer globally was the United States, which bought ?3.2 billion, which amounts to 4.6% of the total exports. The picture changes slightly when you consider volume rather than cost, with Germany and China leading the pack: this suggests that Americans are spending more on their wine than other nations.
Second Place by Volume
The country is not, however, the world’s most prolific wine-producer; that honour falls to neighbouring Italy. French vineyards produced 3.67 billion litres of wine in 2017, compared with 3.93 billion made by Italian producers.
First Place for Quality
There are more than 3,200 different types of wine made in France. These are spread across eighty different departments and sixteen ‘vin vignes‘ (the big vinyards). There are more than 361 protected designations of origin, as well as 74 protected geographical indications (the most notable example being Champagne).
In 2016, nearly half of French wines came from ‘AOC’ (or appellation d’origine contrôlée) regions, which enjoy protected status for marketing purposes. A further 17% of French wines are made specifically for Brandy production. Since 2007, there has been a more than fourfold rise in the number of vineyards used for organic production.
Measuring Quality
The ultimate measure of a wine comes from the way it tastes. Still, there are more objective means of assessing quality prior to bottling. These are hydrometry and refractometry. The former measures the density of the liquid by floating the meter and reading the result. It’s subject to fluctuation by temperature, which makes it difficult to compare one wine with another. A refractometer measures the sugar content of a grape by shining a light through it. Just like hydrometers, refractometers are subject to temperature changes, and thus high-end devices, like those you might buy from RS Components, come with built-in temperature compensation.
