French Wine 101 Part Deux - The Lesser Known Regions

Ep 35

I promised you a part two to my French Wine 101 episode and it’s finally here!

If you haven’t listened to part one yet, go back and listen to Episode 19 - French Wine 101. There we talked about the most popular and well known regions of France - Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne, Loire Valley, and the Rhone Valley.

Today, we are going to go off the beaten path to explore six of the lesser known, but just as wonderful (or possibly even more wonderful), regions of Languedoc-Roussillon, Provence, Alsace, Beaujolais, Jura and Corsica!

We are discussing the unique characteristics of each region, uncovering the specific grapes grown there, and talking all about the types of wine they produce.

You’ll also get a peek into the diverse and historical backgrounds that have shaped the wine production in each region!

Are you ready to uncork the mysteries of Languedoc-Roussillon, Provence, Alsace, Jura, Beaujolais, and Corsica? 

Grab a glass of wine and let’s sip our way through France together!

Episode Highlights:

• Where are the 11 major wine regions in France

• Focusing on the six lesser known wine regions in France

• Learn about wines from Languedoc-Roussillon

• What does Languedoc wine taste like

• What grapes are in Roussillon

• Learn about wines from Provence

• What wine is Provence known for

• Learn about wines from Alsace

• What is the most popular wine in Alsace

• Learn about wines from Beaujolais

• What kind of wine is Beaujolais

• Learn about wines from Jura

• What wine is Jura known for

• What wine is from Jura region

• Learn about wines from Corsica

• What wine is Corsica famous for

• What is the most important thing to remember when learning about and buying French wine

Transcript

0:22

Okay. Recording episode 35 of the cork and fizz guide to wine podcast. The time has finally come. A few months ago, I recorded an episode of this podcast. Okay. Now I'm actually starting. Sorry, Liz. The time has finally come. A few months ago, I recorded an episode of this podcast where I talked about 5 of the major French wine regions. If you haven't heard that yet, Go back and listen to that one. It's episode 19 French wine 101. But here's the thing, there are definitely more Then 5 wine regions in France, so we needed a part 2, and that is what you're getting today. So we will be talking about 6 other major wine regions in France today. Now before we get into it, just a quick reminder, if you are not on my mailing list yet. I would love for you to join. When you do, you will get a free shopping guide that has 15 of my favorite wines under $15. Head to cork and fizz.com, scroll down to the bottom, and there'll be a little section where you can join the mailing list. I send out a weekly newsletter. It's filled with wine tips, recommendations, special offers, and so much more. And, of course, if you enjoy listening to me talk about wine, you should come Taste wine with me and come join my virtual tasting club, the court crew. We get together twice a month, once to try new wines, and then once to learn from others in the wine world like winemakers, sommeliers, authors, and more. So you wanna try it out without the commitment, you're in luck. Right now, I'm offering what I call a class pass, and I'm offering it for free to anybody who wants to try out the court crew. With this pass, you will be able to join a court crew event of your choosing. No strings attached. You don't have to sign up. You hold on. No strings attached. I do not ask for a credit card. You do not have to join a membership. All I need is your email. You will be my guest at that event. So if you'd like to try this out, Head to corkandfits.com/freeclasspass to get your free class pass. Okay. Now let's get into the episode. Okay. As a reminder, there are 11 major wine regions that span a wide variety of climates and territories in France. The full list in order of physical size includes Languedoc Roussillon. That is 1 region. I know it sounds like 2, but that's one. Languedoc Roussillon, then you have the Rhone Valley, Bordeaux, Provence, Loire Valley, Burgundy, champagne, Alsace, Beaujolais, Jura, and Corsica. In episode 19, we discussed the 5 most well known, and You would probably say most popular. Those were Bordeaux, Burgundy, Champagne, Loire Valley, and Rhone Valley. So if you wanna learn more about those, Go head back to episode 19, French wine 101. But in today's episode, we'll be going a bit off the beaten path to learn about the lesser known, but still just as wonderful, if not, like, more wonderful. Some of these are just, oh, so lovely. Wine regions of France. Namely, we'll be talking about Languedoc, Provence, Alsace, Beaujolais, Jura, in Corsica. I know it sounds like a lot, but stick with me. I'm just gonna be talking over the basics and giving you a good idea of what you can expect from these regions. Now I talked about this a little bit in the last episode, but I wanna hit on it again. One of the most important things to keep in mind when you are learning about and buying French wine is that most French wines are labeled by region or what we call appellation. And this region tells you what to expect in the wine. So unlike in the US where you can grow Any grape anywhere and still put the region on the bottle. In France, each appellation, again, just a fancy word for region, has a set of rules, and those rules dictate what grapes are inside of the bottle. So when you look at a label, One of the first things you should pay attention to is the name of the region where the wine is from. I'll be spending a lot of time in today's podcast going over what major wine grape varieties are produced in each wine region of France so then you can know when you see a certain region What to expect. And, again, last time, I'm gonna reference the other episode, but if you want a rundown of the French wine classification system, which is just kind of an an extension off of what we were just talking about with the regions and the Appalachians, go ahead to episode 19. It's good to know, But it's not worth going over again in this episode. We already talked about that. So we are going to dive into our first region, and we're gonna get the big one out of the way first. We're talking about Languedoc, Roussillon. So this is a massive region. I mean, like, I shouldn't say, like, massive as in, like it's massive for France. Okay? Keep that in mind. It goes from the Pyrenees in the southwest to Provence in the east, and I should say it's located in the south of France. It is 535,000 acres. So, again, that is Huge for France. Fun fact, this was actually 2 separate provinces once before. I know. Surprising. Right? Like, the name is 2 different things. Why would we think yeah. Okay. It used to be Languedoc was 1 separate region and Rucion was another. Rucion actually belonged to Catalonia until mid 1600, which if that doesn't sound familiar, Catalonia is actually a Spanish territory, I think I wanna say they're they're kinda like their own independent region, but they they are now kind of formed into Spain. It's where you'd find Barcelona. So Rucion belonged to Catalonia until the mid 1600. They joined Languedoc administratively In the 19 eighties, essentially, to streamline management of politics and economies. Now some people still think this region should be divided into 2 as the history, culture, and wines of each Languedoc and Ruzion evolved on separate tracks. But a lot of times, you're gonna see them put together. So I am gonna talk about these. I'm actually gonna kinda separate them along the dock and russian while I'm talking about them, Mainly because, again, they produce different styles of wine, but you can still consider these as one big region, the Languedoc Roussillon. So 28% of French wine is made in this Languedoc Roussillon region. Now most of it is in the Languedoc half. This region was historically known for bulk wine, but in the 19 eighties, we saw a quality revolution that was led by these innovative producers, both big and small. Now due to this history, once you're known for bulk wine, it is very hard To not be known for your vocal wine. So they have a bit of a bad reputation, but there are some Great wines coming out of this region, and just you knowing that gives you the opportunity to find the diamonds in the rough, And that also means they're not going to be as expensive, so it is so worth diving into this region. In terms of grapes that you would find in Languedoc Roussillon. They're going to embrace a lot of native varieties to the area. These include Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre, those would sound familiar. They're part of the GSM of the Rhone Valley, Grenache, Seurat, Mourvedre. They also have Carignan and Cinsel. In terms of white wines, you can find the white version of Grenache called Grenache Blanc. You can also find Beurre Blanc, Picpoul, Roussaint, Marsanne, Vermentino, and Viognier, and these are all used in their dry white wines. A lot of times the dry wines are often blends, so meaning they take multiple different grapes, make wine out of them, and then blend that together rather than a single varietal of grape, which I think is kind of fun. I think blends, they got a bad rep as well about people thinking that, like, oh, the wine's not good enough on its own, You have to blend it together, but that's not true. Blends are basically taking, like, the best of each grape and then making something that's even better than it's, like, single parts. You know what I mean? They also do sweet wines here. So they have Muscat is the most important grape for what are called VDNs, vin de natural. I think this is similar to a port where spirit is added to stop fermentation, so you have sugar left So Muscat is used for that and it's actually a white grape. They also have more international grapes, meaning grapes that are not, from that specific region. So an example of this is Merlot. So Merlot, there was none of it in 1968 in the Languedoc. Now they have over 74,000 acres. So definitely looking into having more different types of grapes there, but that kind of those native varieties are gonna be, like, the thing that hold that they're gonna be known for. Now I did want to talk a little bit about subregions. So Languedoc Roussillon is our one big region, but there are smaller regions within, and this is what you will often see on the wine label, which is why I wanted to talk about it. So starting first with the Languedoc half. There are 23 Appalachians, they're called appellation de origen controlee, or AOCs. Only about 16% of wine that is produced in the Longwood Dock fall under this AOC. The thing is, and I think this is cool about the region, the Languedoc is way more experimental than any other area in France. You know how I talked about that, like, In France, the region decides what grape you have to use and, like, that's it's just kinda like how they follow and how they make wine. Well, the longwood doc is a little more experimental. I think because they're like, well, we already don't have this amazing reputation and don't have to live up to anything. Why not just try something? So any wine that doesn't fall under the specific AOC and doesn't, like, follow the rules is considered an IGP, And this is Indicaecession Geographique Protege. And this it doesn't mean it's lesser quality. It just means that it didn't follow the specific rules. Now there's 1 large Languedoc AOC. This forms the basis of the classification system. It covers red, white, and rose wines, and it can be a blend of grapes from both Languedoc and Roussillon. Now within this large AOC, there are 10 sub appellations. Now within this large AOC, there are 10 subappellations, of which the most popular are Minervois, this is m I n e r v o I s. This is probably the one that I've seen the most on bottles. This produces this region produces red, white, and rose wines. It's one of the top regions. Then you have Corbier. This region produces red, white, and rose. This is c o r b I e r e s. Then you have Picbull des Pinay, and this produces white wine. It's actually is the name of the grape, and then is kind of saying, like, where it's from. Then you have Claret Toulanguedoc. And, again, Claret is the name of the wine or in the name of the grape, and Languedoc is the region. So Claret du Languedoc. This is a white wine. Then you have Terraces du Larzac, say red wine. And then another one that I've actually seen a couple times, Pic Saint Loupe. And this is 3 different words, Pic Saint Loupe, and spelled basically how it sounds. They make red and rose wines and Specifically are starting to make a lot of really lovely Syrah. And lastly, you have Saint Chenin. They make red, white, and Rose. There are a few others, just less common. Then, there are 5 communes or village appellations. So if you see any of these on a bottle again, I'm just saying these because I think it's helpful to, like, have heard them before. And then once you see them, they're like, oh, yeah. I heard about this In this podcast or or this, I don't expect you to memorize all these. I don't even have all these memorized. I am 100% looking at notes right now. So the 5 communes, or village appellations are the Minervois, La Levenier, Corvier, Boutinac, you have La Clape, then you have Fauge, and the Fitu. Now you also have 4 sweet wine appellations, which I do appreciate that they have separate regions for this or different appellations because then you know to expect sweet wine from this region. You don't have to worry about Potentially getting it in a different one that you weren't expecting it from. So this is one of the best known sweet wine appellations is called Muscat de Fontenone. This is similar to those other regions I was talking about where Muscat is the name of the grape and Fontignon is the name of the, like, region that it comes from, so Muscat de Fontignon. And finally, they have 3 sparkling wine appellations all in a region called Lemoux, l I m o u x. They have blanquette de Lemoux, Cremont, De Lemu, and Blanca, De Lemu, Mettor, and Cistral. Don't ask me the differences between those because they all sound Very, very similar. You'll find sparkling wine there. And fun fact, the Lemus is actually where sparkling wine was first discovered, not champagne. Okay. And now the other half. So that was Languedoc. They produce most of the wines. We also have the russian. And in the russian, there are teen AOCs or AOPs, that allow producers to grow 24 different grape varieties. Much of the Appalachian system actually reflects Roussillon's history of Sweet wine. So that's what this region was once known for, and they still produce a lot of sweet wines. They make 80% of France's Vindounat the VDNs that I was talking about. And I was right. I had a note here. Those are similar to a port where fermentation is stopped by adding a neutral spirit. So you get a sweet wine, but with a decent amount of alcohol. So the 5, AOPs, those 5 regions that produce these Vendunatreils are Riesalt, Marie, Banules, Banules Grand Cru, and Muscat de Rivasalte. Now as for dry wine, the large overarching appellation is Cotes de Roussillon, which is helpful. We'll start to recognize that Roussillon word. Red wines here are made largely from old vine at Carignan which is not a grape that you see in a lot of areas, so definitely worth trying. You also have Grenache, Syrah, mouveau, and occasionally, sinsoil. Now the slightly higher quality than the is. And then finally, a couple additional AOPs that are producing age worthy dry wines, include mariseq, Coyor, Carmani, Latour de France. Funny that sounds like Tour de France that I'm saying, but it's Latour, l a t o u r, de France. So it's like they just kinda keep adding on to it. So that was a lot. I know it's crazy that that is actually just 1 region in France. I could very easily produce a I guess simply on just the Languedoc Roussillon. And if you want me to, let me know. I'd be happy to do that. But definitely be on the lookout for some tasty wines from that region. It is not just bulk wine nowadays. It is good quality, very interesting, and unique wines. But now it's time to head to our next region. So now we are going to go to Provence. So this is also located in the south of France, and it's just east of Languedoc, Roussillon. This is one of the only regions in the world that makes almost entirely only almost entirely only. I feel like I didn't eat all those words, but they make mostly rose. 88% of Provence wine production is dedicated to rose. And fun fact, Provence is actually France's oldest winemaking region. They've been making wine for over 26100 years. So the next time someone tells you that rose is, like, not, like, actually wine or it's, like, basic version of wine. You tell them that the oldest region in France produces mostly rose and that they're crazy. Is wonderful. In terms of the grapes that you will find here, there are about 36 wine varieties, allowed in Provence. In terms of white grapes, you could find Rolle. Rolle. I think I don't pronounce. There's 2 l's, r o l l e, r o l e, r o l e, r o l e, r o l e, r o l e, r o l e, r o l e, r o l e, r o l e, r o l e, r o l e, r o l e, r o l e, r o l e, r o l e. I'm remembering French. I should not pronounce those. But this is also called vermentino in Italy. Then you have ogni blanc, Also called Trebbiano in Italy. Beurre Blanc, Claret, Marsanne, Roussanne, and Grenache Blanc. Those are probably sounding familiar because those are the similar white grapes that you would find in And those probably sound familiar because many of those are the same grapes that we actually found in the Languedoc Roussillon. Makes sense. They're right next to each other. In terms of red grapes, Same kind of deal. Grenache, Syrah, Mourvedre, r GSM, Carignon, Cinso, two other grapes that we also found in the Languedoc Crocion. You will also find Cunois here, which is c o u n o I s e, Tennant, and Cabernet Sauvignon. Now in terms of subregions, I kind of broke these down into what they primarily produce. So starting with Mostly rose, just a lot of them. Your biggest one is going to be Cotes de Provence. It's the biggest producer. They make about 75% of production, 89% of which is rose. Then you have Coteau D'Ailly in Provence. I'm probably not saying that right. I did study up on the French, but I'm still learning it. So this is Coteau, which is c o t e a u x, And then that I'm guessing, it may be dasch, is d apostrophe a I x. I honestly don't know if I've ever Seen this on a bottle, but I'm definitely gonna be on the lookout now because I'm kinda curious. So it's Coteau D'Aix in Provence. This is usually a blend of Grenache, Muvedre, cinso, syrah, and quinoa, but they can also use Cabernet Sauvignon. And then finally, our last, like, big rose region is Coteau Varjo de Provence. And again, that's that Coteau followed by v a r o I s. That's Valleaux de Provence. This is considered the heart of Provence. It also has the highest altitude, which means it's gonna have cooler temperatures than a lot of the other regions, and cooler temperatures for winemaking leads to a very nice acidity in the wine, so you'll get complex flavors and structure as well in there. Now in terms of red wine, so like I said, they mostly produce rose, but they do produce Some red and white. So if you're looking for a red wine from Provence, you would either look for Les Baux de Provence. This is l e s, space b a u x, des Provence. This is the, we just talked about the coolest area. This is the toastiest part of Provence. It's actually nicknamed the valley of hell. It's perfect for biodynamic and organic viticulture. They get very little rain, and it's Hard for any of those pests to, like, survive the hot temperatures, but it's also hard for the wine. They produce mostly red wines. You'll see Grenache, Syrah, tinsel, and cabernet sauvignon here. The other region, which you may have heard of and might be surprised that it's in Provence, is Bandol. They make mostly late ripening Mourvedre, which is, like, my latest obsession as a grape. If you can find Mourvedre anywhere, Mourvedre, Mourvedre. I say both of those. I'm sorry. They're the same grape. It's m o u r v e d r e. Give it a try. I think it's a wonderful alternative to Cabernet Sauvignon. But so in Bandel, you'll see this, and it's made into red and rose wines. In terms of white wines, the one region to look for here in Provence is Cassis, c a s s I s. They produce Marsanne and Claret. These are wines with intense aromas of citrus, peach, Honey and dried herbs sounds wonderful. I also don't think I've tried one of these before, so I will have to be on the lookout for it. And then a couple other AOCs that you might come out or you might find on a bottle, Palette, Bellet, and Pierre Ver. So just keep an eye on those. They make red, white, and rose wine, so they didn't really fit into any of my categories. But that is Provence. And, again, Provence, mostly known for rose. They are lovely, but there's a lot of rose made here, so be sure to try lots of different producers. Okay. Now we are heading way far north. We are heading to the northeast corner of France, and we're gonna talk about Alsace. Alsace is right along the French border with Germany, and this makes it a perfect candidate for what I'm going to call Political land grab. So Alsace has actually flip flopped between France and Germany 4 times in less than a 75 year period. So many of the people who lived there had to change their nationality multiple times over. They spoke 3 different languages, French, German, and then all station. And when Germany took over, anything French was outlawed. So even so much as saying bonjour could have you sent to a concentration camp. And I should specify that 75 year period was basically I don't have the exact dates, but it was during World War I and World War II, which Makes sense why that land grab was happening. Again, if you know, when one of these changes happened, the home market became your export market, It was often out of reach due to tariffs. So these people who are making wine, they had well established connections. They were no longer available when this would happen, so they had to win over the new market, and that was very challenging to do. Now because of all this and because of all the struggle that they went through and the back and forth, Allstations essentially have their own unique culture. It's part French, part German, and entirely all nations. So I think it's just such a cool, unique region that You know, it has a combination of multiple different areas and then does its own thing. So in terms of wine styles, unlike many regions in France, Alsace produces majority majority. Good. Alsace produces majority white wine, and by majority, I mean over 90%. However, They're just as intense as any red wine from France. They're often described as fat, full, and rich with a spicy bite. These white wines are 100% worth trying. So in general, Alsace typically makes single varietal wines. Again, varietal is just another name for a grape, so a single varietal wine is made with just a single kind of grape. And the most common that you will find in Alsace include Riesling, Gewurztraminer, Pinot Gris, Silvaner, Pinot Blanc, and Muscave. And this is actually one of the only French regions, there are a couple others, but one of the only, that actually label the wines via the grape variety. So you will actually see an Alsatian wine say Riesling on it or your worst remuner, which is really really helpful, I think. Blends of the grapes are made here. They're just not as common, And you would see these labeled as gentil, g e n t I l, or edel's wicker. I'm probably not saying that one right. But for the longest time, I thought Edelsweaker was a rare grape All sauce. I would see it on a label. I'm like, oh, Edelzooker. Like, I've never tried that before. I should try it. And turns out it just means a blend. It's not just 1 grape, that's grown in Alsace. And then from what I can tell, the only red wine that I really found from Alsace is pinot noir. Now in terms of subregions and AOCs or AOPs, ALSOS has 53. So I'm not gonna walk through those with you, but there is 1 encompassing regional designation called the Alsace AOP. They have 1 regional Sparkling designation called Cremante Alsace, and then 51 unique grand crues. And you can imagine these Grand Crus are considered, like, the top notch, the best wines that you can find, and only 4% of Alsace wine is made in Grand Crus. So you don't really need to know those other 51 AOPs. Most wine comes from the Alsace AOP, but it would be fun to try a wine from 1 of the 51. And you'll know if it's from a Grand Cru because it'll say something other than Alsace, a o p. You'll see, like, the name of the Grand Cru. And so with the Grand Cru, there are only 4 noble grapes that are allowed. Those are Riesling, Muscat, Gewurztraminer, and Pinot Gris. Okay. Moving on to our next region, we are heading south to Beaujolais. This region is Technically, the most southern portion of Burgundy, but Burgundy doesn't really like to claim it. So they're essentially their own region called Beaujolais. This region is all about a grape called Gamay, also called Gamay Noir. Gamay is the only red grape allowed in a bottle labeled Beaujolais, and essentially the only red grape grown in the region. It makes up 95% of production in Beaujolais. The other 5% is mostly Chardonnay, the only white grape that's allowed in Beaujolais. Gamay is similar to pinot noir. It's one that I recommend for people who've never who want to try something that really enjoy pinot. It's light to medium bodied. You've got low tannins, those things that make your mouth feel really dry like you have cotton balls, not a lot of those, and it's high acidity. It's a really great chillable red, so it's a great summer red if you just wanna stick it in the fridge for, like, 30 minutes, and it's super food friendly. Now super quick, just wanted to go over the designations in Beaujolais, just because you'll see these more often and because there's not as much talk about in Beaujolais. So you have Beaujolais. That is the basic level. And I should also clarify. The spelling of Beaujolais looks nothing like what I'm saying right now. It is b e a u, kinda like b e a u tiful. That's how I think about it whenever I'm spelling it. B e a u j o l a I s. It's very funny. My husband was watching me, type something out the other day, and I was writing, and he's like, I could not spell that For the life of me on my own. And, normally, I'm terrible at spelling, but luckily, I've spelled Beaujolais enough now that I know it. But, anyway, looks nothing like what I'm saying. So Beaujolais, the basic level, a bottle labeled just Beaujolais, can be made with grapes grown from anywhere across the region. Now Beaujolais Village, A bottle essentially labeled village must be made with grapes from 39 villages in the hilly midsection of the region. These villages have Poorer soil that forces the grapes to yield better, riper grapes, so we end up with better wine. And then finally, you have the crus, c r u s, the crus. The best wines of Beaujolais come from 10 distinguished villages called Cruze. The bottle will either be labeled cru or with the name of the distinguished village. So if you see something else on the bottle besides Beaujolais, a good chance it's a cru, and it's a high end wine, and you should try it because I think a lot of the Beaujolais crues are really, like you could get a good one for, like, $30, and and they are Lovely. Alright. That's Beaujolais. Moving on to our next region. This is a region that I am super excited about, and I think I'm gonna be visiting this year, is called Jura, j u r a. This is a tiny region East of Burgundy, so it's between Burgundy and Switzerland, it's known for very unique wines, but they also grow a lot of Chardonnay. Jura's wines are sold under 5 core appellations. The most important of those are Arbois, a r b o I s, and Cote de Jura. In terms of the wine styles, you'll find dry reds and whites, and we'll talk about the grapes in just a k. But one of the other wine styles you're you'll find here is the famous Vin Juan. Am I saying that right? Vin Vin Juan. Vin. Give me a second, Liz. And we'll talk more about those, the grapes that are used to make the dry red and white wines. Hold on. Something just turned on. I'm sorry, Liz. The fridge in my room just turned on. Okay. For a 3rd time. And we'll talk about the grapes that are used to make those red and white wines, but I also wanna about a couple other styles of wine made in Jura, and one of those is Vinluan. These are long lived Bone dry wines that are aged in barrels under a layer of floor, which is called, which is these are goodness. I'm struggling. These are long lived bone dry wines that are aged in barrel under a layer of yeast known as levoire. This is made similar to sherry, from Spain, but they aren't fortified and there is no solera system. The wines essentially are put in casks with a little room left at the top so that a layer of yeast can form. It's similar to the flore that forms on fino sherry, but here it's called vole or veil. As you might guess, you'll get a lot of yeasty flavor notes, in common between the two styles of wine. However, von Joao gives, gains oxidative notes as well, so you get this nutty, Savory kind of umami flavor. These voussines are made, under the arbois, so a r b o I s title. Also Les Trois and Cotes de Jura. They are also made they have a separate appellation that is just for the best, Vinojuan. And this is called a Chateau Chalon. And this you'll only find that Vinojuan here. In terms of other styles of sweet wine or sorry. So we have dry red In white wines that are made in Jura, you have the Vinojuan, which is a very unique, style of white wine that is aged under a layer of yeast. You also have sweet wines, and these white wines are and these sweet wines are usually made from dried grapes. This is called Vendee Pailler. Is made in the same regions as above. So the Arbois, Le To, Cotes de Jura. But is not made in that Chateau Chalon. Chateau Chalon is only for the Vinojuan. And then finally, you also have sparkling wine. Now for those dry red and white wines, the reds are often made with 3 grapes. Bulsard, This is a really pretty aromatic flavored wine. You get cherries, berries, herbs, and white pepper. Then you have a trossault. This is a spiced peppery red fruited wine, and then their other one is pinot noir, which you're likely more familiar with. In terms of white, you have sauvignin, and this is responsible for the Vingois, again, that I talked about earlier. They're Vingois actually means yellow wine. And then Sauvignon also produces unique dry wines, lots of nutty flavors. This is actually one of my, like, One of my favorite wines and one that if I ever see Sauvignon on a menu, I have to try it because it's just so different and unique. And then their other white wine that they make is Chardonnay? Alright. Moving on. I think we've made it to our last region. So at least our last major region. There are so many other regions in France that I have not talked about. But our last one is Corsica. Now this is a small Mediterranean island. It is located between the southeast coast of Provence and the west coast of Tuscany. And although it is closer to Italy, Corsica has been under French rule since 17/69. The 2 top grapes here are actually Italian, and they are Valentino and Sangiovese. However, they're called roje and niruchico. No. I'm not saying that right. No. Let me look this one up, Liz. I I should look this one up. Though here, they're called roje and iuluctio, respectively. They grow a huge array of grapes beyond these. This includes Pinot Noir, Tempranillo, Barbarossa, which you're probably hearing, like, Pinot Noir is, like, a very French grape. Tempranillo is a, Yeah. Okay. Tempranillo is a Spanish grape, and the Barbarossa, I think, is an Italian grape, plus nearly 30 more. It's just such an array of grape varieties that you wouldn't really find anywhere else, especially in the old world a k a Europe. The entire island is covered by the regional Vin de Kors appellation. There are 7 separate AOPs throughout the island, Although the quality and quantity of wine produced under these AOPs is steadily increasing, the majority of Corsican wine is made under the less Stringent IGP title. So if you remember me talking about with the longue d'oc, IGP title, it just means that they don't have to follow as strict of rules when they're making the wine. And so the IGP of Corsica is actually called the Ile des Butte, which I think means island of beauty. Alright. There you have it. The last 6 major wine regions in France. So just to go backwards, we talked about Corsica. We talked about the Jura. We talked about Beaujolais, Alsace, Provence, and, of course, our Languedoc, Roussillon. Now I challenge you to go out and find a bottle from a region that you just learned about. If you do, be sure to take a picture of the bottle, share it with me on Instagram at corknfizz or via email. You can email me hayley@korknfizz.com. And be sure to let me know which of these 11 major wine regions of France that you'd most like me to do a larger deep dive into. I hope you enjoyed this episode of the Cork and Fizz Guide to Wine Podcast. If you loved it as much as I did, I would sure appreciate it if you could take Quick second. Rate it and leave a review, and also share it with a friend that loves wine. Don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode. I release new episodes every Wednesday. In next week's episode, I'll be sharing my top tips for ordering wine at a restaurant. If you've ever looked at a restaurant wine list and been insanely overwhelmed? This episode is for you. Thanks again for listening. And as a thank you, I'd like to share my free shopping guide at 15 wines under $15. Simply head to my website, korknfizz.com, scroll down to the bottom, and join the mailing list. Cheers.