Best red wine, Gérard Bertrand helps you make the right choice

In France, the best red wines are all different

By reputation and renown, the best French red wines are often associated with the red wines of the Bordeaux or Burgundy regions, two wine-growing regions producing an incredible quantity of great wines, such as Pommard or Nuits-Saint-Georges in Burgundy, and Saint-Emilion Grand Cru or Pessac-Léognan in Bordeaux. However, limiting oneself to just two regions when wishing to select the best French red wine would be a real mistake. Indeed, many other terroirs produce very great wines, as is notably the case for Alsace, Provence, the Rhône Valley, and the Languedoc-Roussillon region.

France is a country of great climatic and geographical diversity, which explains why French territory produces very different wines, each with its own characteristics.

Languedoc-Roussillon wines or Côtes du Rhône wines offer, for example, a very interesting compromise between power and delicacy. Cuvées such as Beaumes de Venise, Gigondas and Vacqueyras are among the most prestigious appellations.

Further south, in the Occitanie region, the grapes benefit from maximum sunshine thanks to the Mediterranean climate, and allow the production of generous, powerful and velvety wines. This is notably the case for the Grands Vins Gérard Bertrand selection, bringing together bottles that rank among the best French red wines. One can cite for example the cuvées from Château l'Hospitalet, Château de Villemajou or Château de la Soujeole, three exceptional wines with a unique character. Moreover, criteria such as the vintage or the grape variety are parameters to take into account when selecting a bottle of red wine.

While the vintage offers slight variations in terms of tastes and flavours, the grape varieties used reveal their character without hesitation:

We thus find:

• The Pinot Noir (Haute Vallée de l'Aude), supple and delicate
• The Merlot (Aude Hauterive, Malepère), round, tender and silky
• The Syrah (Minervois La Livinière, La Clape), power and suppleness
• The Grenache (Terrasses du Larzac, ), full-bodied and robust
• The Carignan (Corbières-Boutenac), tannic, powerful and structured

Find all our red wines and the Gérard Bertrand wine collections.