Chablis is the name of a small town near Tonnerre in Bourgogne where vines grow from which a wine named "Chablis" is made. "Chardonnay" is indeed a grape which grows up in many countries, including Australia (!), but let's be serious, taste a "Montrachet" or a "Cote de Beaune" and we will talk. Like saying " French trappist beer"!
And before you ask, yes, i'm famous for my bad faith.
Dan.
Dan, I agree with you, a pattern for a knife is basically the samewherever it is made., the skills make the difference Wine is not so. I suppose there are good wines everywhere, but impossible to compare sun, rain, soils, etc. There's a vine I know in Ste Gemmes, producing two very differently tasting white sancerres, one up the hill, the other on the other side, with no physical separation. Magic!
Though, remember, all rules have exceptions, for historical reasons Alsace and Loire countries were allowed to name the wines by the grape's name along the AOC. It was never a problem as everybody knew that cabernet-sauvignon come from Anjou, muscadet and gros-plant from the pays nantais, etc.
This will interest you :
Les bières trappistes : tradition ou machine à cash ?
There's worse than your combo, my children's mother is Breton/Normand... Father and mother each side less than 10miles from the boundary. TNT sometimes is more friendly!
New World Chardonnays have been so successful that some French wine producers are now displaying the grape name prominently (and using the term 'Shiraz' instead of Syrah). France has always produced some superb wines, and some French producers had the good sense to invest in New World vineyards, and import their talent. Penfold's Grange, for example, I think can stand up to competition from around the world, America has long produced some superb wines, and New Zealand produces some world-beating Sauvignon Blancs. I'm afraid you're a few decades out of date Dan
As for French Trappist Beer, you mean like Monts des Cats?
No Jack. The way we drink is too different... I propose you an easy experience.
Take two guys in a small town, none knowing anything about wine.
One where wine is not a tradition, another in France or Italy.
Both go to their local wineshop. The first will be asked : how much do you want to spend?
The second : what 's the menu? Money talk comes after.
Amazingly, countries heralding the "copyright" have fought AOC (linked with a terroir or a village) as "protectionist" (though it is purely a quality label) just Spain and Italy later adopted the same kind of ranking (even UE has adopted a very much muted system). Some dream of using the grape's name as a
brand, like Coca, produced all over the world (ok Vince, the Mexican uses cane sugar and is reputedly better
). IIRC there's been an attempt by an English or US citizen to produce the same wine every year in Italy. We don't hear much of this today.
Shiraz, is just an old name for syrah, the grape mostly used in Côtes du Rhone, with wich the competition would be tough if using the same terms.
Ok, some may try to sell French shiraz, but I doubt with any success. Others try to sell wine/grapefruit mixes. They try...
Also sometimes things move : Alsace produced a wine named tokaji for centuries. The difference between the genuine Hungarian from the Tokaji region and the Alsatian is evident, Hungarians are stubborn and now they produce pinot-gris d' Alsace ( lightly chilled very good on summer afternoons
).
I wish I knew which percentage (they keep it secret) the Grandes Familles of Bordeaux own in the vineyards of all regions... You would be surprised, from Chile to Australia, through South Africa and now Georgia and Armenia (ex-soviet) . They are purely traders searching for more money and they do it since Middle-Age.
The same who yelled for respect of tradition et all when someone wanted to have a cognacq on the rocks, when they saw they were selling cognacq (in the 90s) by the tons in Hong Kong, shut their mouth. Business is business.
Monts des Cats : another wonderful trick. Sold as French Trappist (Monts des Cats is in the French Flanders). But since the congregations were kicked out, no trappist beer is produced in France (long story short, there's been a war between the third republic and catholic church since 1880, ending with the 1905 law of separation of churches and state. Later congregations of monks went back after WWI, chartreuses again made in the Grande Chartreuse monastery, but no trappist beer since.)
Monts des Cats is a monastery producing cheese and various things. The beer is produced in Belgium by Notre-Dame de Scourmont (of Chimay fame) in very little quantity and is rather expensive.
Sorry for the long pedantry.
I started to boycott Dos Equis beer when they got rid of the most interesting man in the world!
Is it canned wine beside?
