Wine Vocabulary for French Wine, Common Terms Defined

The French wine vocabulary includes a number of different wine terms not used in other wine regions. To understand fine French wines, it is important to know more about their unique wine tasting terms. Below find definitions for commonly used French wine terms.

Alsace: A wine region on the eastern side of France near Germany, primarily known for their white wines

Vins d'Appellation d'Origine Controlee or AOC: A wine vocabulary term commonly used on French wine labels to designate the quality of the wine and area the wine is from in France. There are over 400 AOCs in France created and monitored by the French government. Each AOC has a specific set of rules and you can learn more about those rules and how they are used on the French wine labels page.

Beaujolais: A wine region, commonly referred to as an AOC, located in the Burgundy area of France. The red wine Gamay is the primary grape for wines from this area.

Bordeaux Blend: A wine term used to describe the blend from the Bordeaux region in western France. The five grapes allowed in the red Bordeaux blend are Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot. Chateaux’s in Bordeaux use differing combinations of these grapes to create their unique blend.

Bordeaux: The wine vocabulary term used to describe the famous French wine region in the western part of France. It includes some of the most sought after and expensive wines in the world from AOCs such as Graves, Pomerol, Margaux and many others. The town of Bordeaux is in the heart of this wine region. Learn more about Bordeaux fine wine.

Burgundy (Bourgogne): A wine region in the eastern, central part of France. Bourgogne is the French name for this wine region. Pinot Noir is the primary red wine in the region and it includes the well-known AOCs of Beaujolais, Chablis and Cote d'Or.

Champagne: A wine vocabulary term used to describe the wine region in France and the sparkling wines from this region. The region is located in the northern part of the country. The region uses a special wine making process to create its popular sparkling wines. Only sparkling wines from this region can use the official Champagne designation.

Chateau: The wine term used to describe the location where wine makers produce, grow and bottle wine in France. It is a term primarily used in the Bordeaux region. It is anything from a large estate to a small house with a vineyard and facilities needed to create and bottle their wines.

Claret: An English wine tasting term used to describe dry red wines from Bordeaux.

Cotes: The French wine vocabulary word that means slopes or hillside. There are a number of AOCs or regions in Bordeaux that are located on slopes and the French refer to them as ‘The Cotes’. This area includes AOCs such as Cotes de Blaye and Cotes de Bourg.

Cru: This is usually a vineyard or wine tasting region in France. Typically the word designates or classifies the region or vineyard as a higher level producer. To increase the level of quality, some classifications include 'Grand' or 'Premier' before the word.

Languedoc Roussillon: Another wine region located in the southeastern part of France. It produces more than 30% of the wine in France and it grows a large number of red wines.

Loire Valley: A large wine region in France that is located on the western side of the country. It is just to the north of Bordeaux. It is about an hour and a half away from Paris to the southwest. This region has a variety of different sub-regions and does not consider itself to have a dominant wine variety.

Monopoles: A term used to describe vineyards that have only one owner in Burgundy. There are only a handful of vineyards in Burgundy with only one owner, many have multiple owners due to old inheritance laws in this region.

Provence: This French wine term is used to describe a wine region in the southeast area of the country. It sits along the Mediterranean coast and the most popular wines in this region are roses.

Rhone Valley: A primarily red wine region located along the Rhone River in the south central part of France. The Rhone Valley has a northern and southern wine region and both produce very different types of wines.

Terrior: A popular French wine vocabulary word used to describe the conditions under which the vines and grapes grow. It includes the soil, temperature, moisture and all other external factors that impact the quality of the final wine. There is no one term in English that is comparable to this term.

Vin de Table: This French wine vocabulary term is simply table wine in French. It is an official wine quality classification and about 15% of the wine in France uses this designation on their labels. Although the quality is considered lower than some of the other French wines, you can still find a large number of great wines in this category.

Vin: The French term meaning wine.

Vin Blanc: The French wine vocabulary word for white wine, vin means wine and blanc means white.

Vin Rouge: The French wine tasting term for red wine, vin means wine and rouge means red.

Vins De Pays: This is an official wine classification and one step higher in quality than Vin de Table. France calls them country wines and there are around 140 Vins De Pays regions in France. Wine makers use this wine vocabulary term on about 35% of French wine labels.

Vins Delimites De Qualite Superieure Classification (VDQS): This is a classification used to identify French wines waiting for AOC classification status. It is not very common and only about 1% of wines have this designation on their wine labels.