The atlas of French wine
Explore the twelve great wine regions of France — their grapes, appellations, soils, and the bottles worth seeking out.
Vins de France · Depuis 600 av. J.-C.
The whole of France,one region at a time
From Champagne's chalk to Corsica's granite, an editorial atlas of the twelve great winegrowing regions — their soils, their grapes, and what to pour with dinner.
12
Regions charted
360+
Appellations d'origine
750k
Hectares under vine
2,600
Years of viticulture
The map
Twelve regions
France's vineyards are defined by geology and climate long before they are defined by grape. Each region below tells you what grows there, and why.
Bordeaux
The Left Bank, the Right Bank, and the art of the blend
Gravel, clay and limestone on either side of the Gironde produce the world's benchmark Cabernet and Merlot blends.
Bourgogne
One grape, a thousand plots of earth
Pinot Noir and Chardonnay parsed into climats so precise that a stone wall can change the wine entirely.
Champagne
Chalk, cold, and the second fermentation
France's northernmost great vineyard, where marginal ripeness and deep chalk cellars make the world's finest sparkling wine.
Vallée du Rhône
Syrah on granite, Grenache on stones
A river valley of two halves: steep northern terraces of pure Syrah, and the sun-baked southern blends of Châteauneuf.
Vallée de la Loire
A thousand kilometres of freshness
France's most varied region, running from Sancerre's flint to Muscadet's Atlantic salinity.
Alsace
Aromatic whites in the rain shadow of the Vosges
Germanic grapes, French hands, and one of the driest climates in France thanks to the mountains to the west.
Provence
The birthplace of French wine, now the capital of rosé
Phocaean vines planted 2,600 years ago, today producing pale, herbal rosé under relentless Mediterranean sun.
Languedoc-Roussillon
The largest vineyard on earth, reinvented
Once a sea of bulk wine, now France's most dynamic frontier for old-vine Carignan and ambitious hillside estates.
Beaujolais
Gamay, granite, and carbonic maceration
Ten crus on pink granite producing serious, perfumed Gamay that has finally escaped its nouveau reputation.
Jura & Savoie
Alpine outliers with a vocabulary of their own
Oxidative vin jaune, Savagnin, Poulsard and mountain whites from France's smallest and strangest vineyards.
Sud-Ouest
France's deepest reserve of native grapes
Tannat, Malbec, Négrette and Manseng survive here in a patchwork of small appellations inland from Bordeaux.
Corse
Island vines between mountain and sea
Nielluccio, Sciaccarellu and Vermentinu grown on granite and schist, scented with the maquis.
Où commencer
Start with the meal, not the bottle
French wine was built to sit beside French food. Every region page ends with the dishes its wines were made for — from Burgundian coq au vin to a Corsican wild boar stew.