Where to find the best white wine? The South of France has many great white wines.

France, a wine-growing country par excellence, produces an incredible quantity of good white wines , whether from traditional, organic or biodynamic cultivation. It is therefore not surprising to see France producing the best white wines. Like any white wine, the best bottles offer a very nice freshness, with most often a hint of invigorating acidity. Its aromas and flavors reflect its origins, its terroir and the flora that composes it.

The best white wines are those that have successfully combined the cultivation of a quality grape variety with tailor-made winemaking that allows the grape to fully express its potential. This is the case, for example, with certain white wines such as Tariquet Premières Grives, AOC Condrieu des Côtes-du-Rhône, or Savoie Chignin Bergeron. Each region has its own terroir and characteristics, which is what makes the French region so extraordinary and allows it to produce some of the best white wines in the world.

To understand this heterogeneity of French white wines , it is enough to simply move, for example, from a wine from the southwest like a Côtes-de-Gascogne to a wine from Alsace like a Gewurztraminer. It is also obvious that organic white wines , but also biodynamic white wines , deliver aromas different from traditional white wines, being purer, better structured, less focused on alcohol and more oriented towards fruit. The passage through barrel aging brings a woody touch, which can transform into delicious grilled, toasted or brioche flavors.

A good example of a great French white wine would surely be a bottle of Cigalus from Domaines Gérard Bertrand, a premium white wine from the south of France, with silky, full-bodied flavors and intense aromas.

Discover the collection of the best white wines from the Gérard Bertrand estates

White wine and vintage

From one year to the next, climatic conditions change, which logically influences the plant world, and in particular, the vineyards. This is how the importance of vintages appears, depending in particular on the weather during the year, from spring until the end of summer, or even the beginning of autumn for late harvest wines (in particular for Alsace wines as well as sweet and liqueur white wines).

It is easy to understand that a mild spring accompanied by a hot and dry summer (but not too dry) allows for the production of better quality grapes than a year with a cold spring receiving late frosts and a summer with very little sunshine. Each wine-growing region has its own climate and each grape variety its ideal climatic conditions, the good years for the north-east of France will not necessarily be the same as for the south-west region.

An atypical wine estate like Château La Sauvageonne , for example, produces an excellent AOP Languedoc white wine, certified organic (AB) and biodynamic (Demeter), with a strong character, offering generosity, breadth, and freshness. If we were to compare the years, the 2018 vintage was particularly excellent for the Rhône Valley, Burgundy, and Languedoc-Roussillon, while 2016 was excellent for Bordeaux and Loire Valley wines. The 2019 vintage was an excellent year for almost all of France's wine regions.

The main white wine grape varieties

The most well-known grape varieties for making white wine include Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc, Sauvignon Blanc, Grenache Blanc, Riesling and Gewurztraminer, and they make up the vast majority of French white wine production. Other lesser-known and often neglected grape varieties also deserve to be highlighted, such as Viognier (a wine from the south of France), Savagnin (used in particular for the production of Jura yellow wine), Aligoté (a cousin of Chardonnay) and Gros Manseng (a Pyrenees grape variety used to produce Jurançon).