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Each region has its own climate, soils and grape varieties, and therefore its own style. Scroll to travel through them one by one: the map follows you. Or jump straight to a region below.
On a table or a shelf, the shape alone often gives away the region.
France's northernmost wine region, and its most famous. The cool climate yields highly acidic grapes: a flaw elsewhere, an essential condition here. A second fermentation in bottle creates the bubbles, and long ageing on laths brings notes of brioche and toasted almond.
Sheltered from rain by the Vosges, Alsace is one of France's driest regions. A peculiarity: it is almost the only one to print the grape variety large on the label. Styles run from razor-sharp dry riesling to opulent, perfumed gewurztraminer.
Just two grape varieties, but a mosaic of plots classified to the metre: nowhere in the world is the idea of terroir pushed further. A Chablis chardonnay and a Meursault chardonnay, 130 km apart, have almost nothing in common.
Long reduced to Beaujolais Nouveau, the region is far more than that. Its ten crus (Morgon, Fleurie, Moulin-à-Vent…) produce gamay reds on granite soils that can age ten years and rival neighbouring Burgundy.
A small region with a fiercely distinctive identity. Vin jaune, aged six years under a veil of yeast without ever topping up the barrel, develops walnut and curry aromas found nowhere else. Poulsard reds are so pale they get mistaken for rosés.
A mountain vineyard, farmed at altitude on steep slopes. The whites are light, taut and low in alcohol: exactly what a fondue calls for. Mondeuse yields peppery reds that deserve wider attention.
Two regions in one. In the north, syrah alone on vertiginous slopes: Côte-Rôtie, Hermitage (peppery, thoroughbred reds. In the south, grenache-led blends under a blazing sun: Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Gigondas) warmer and more generous.
France's oldest vineyard, and today the world capital of pale dry rosé. But reducing Provence to rosé would be unfair: Bandol makes mourvèdre reds among the most ageworthy in the country.
France's largest vineyard. Long synonymous with bulk production, in thirty years it has become a major testing ground. Pic Saint-Loup, Faugères, Minervois: warm reds at prices that remain reasonable.
Wedged between sea and Pyrenees, on schist and granite soils. It is the homeland of vins doux naturels (Banyuls, Maury, Rivesaltes) whose fermentation is halted with added alcohol, preserving the grape's sugar.
A constellation of small appellations with grape varieties found nowhere else. Cahors malbec makes reds so dark they were once called "black wines"; Madiran's tannat is the most tannic wine in France. Jurançon, meanwhile, produces vivid sweet whites.
France's largest appellation vineyard, shaped by the Gironde estuary. On the left bank cabernet sauvignon dominates the gravel: upright, austere young wines built to age. On the right bank merlot rules the clay: rounder and more approachable.
France's longest vineyard, following the river for 800 km. From west to east everything shifts: briny muscadet near the Atlantic, the chenins of Anjou and Touraine, Chinon's cabernet franc, then the zesty sauvignons of Sancerre and Pouilly.
An island vineyard with an unapologetically Mediterranean identity and grape varieties of Italian origin. Vermentino yields perfumed, saline whites; nielluccio, spicy reds. Patrimonio and Ajaccio are its flagship appellations.