History of French wine culture

French wine has a long history, which can be traced back to around 600 BC. The Greeks came to Marseille, France, bringing with them vines and grape cultivation techniques. In 5 1 year BC, Caesar conquered Gaul, where formal grape cultivation began. With the continuous expansion of grape growing areas to the north, Bordeaux and Burgundy began to brew wine for the wine market in short supply in the 3rd century. In the 6th century, with the rise of the church, the demand for wine increased sharply, and the rich people's demand for high-quality wine accelerated the development of the French wine industry. In the Middle Ages, wine had developed into the main export commodity of France.

From 65438 to 0855, Charles Louis Napolé on Bonaparte was in power. King III wanted to take the opportunity of Expo 2010 1889 in Paris, France, to promote Bordeaux wines to the whole world, and wanted all the wines from all over the country to participate in the exhibition. Therefore, he asked the Bordeaux Wine Chamber to prepare an exhibition to introduce Bordeaux wines and classify Bordeaux wineries. This is tantamount to stirring up a hornet's nest, because those wineries are self-righteous, but there can only be one winner. So the Bordeaux Chamber of Commerce shifted the responsibility to Syndicat of Courtiers, the official organization of a wine wholesaler, and asked them to divide all wineries into five grades, and every wine producer in Gironde District was included in one grade. Two weeks later, the Syndicat of Courtiers came up with their classification, including 58 wineries, 1 super, 4 first-class, 12 second-class, 14 third-class,10/4,/kloc. The first-class winery is d'Yquem, and the four first-class wineries are Lafite-Rothschild, Latour, Margaux and Upper Briant.

Almost all grade parks come from Medoc, except Haut-Brion (beauty, translated from obian), which comes from Graff. Other producing areas are not included, and all the selected wineries are concentrated on the left bank of Bordeaux and Cheval Blanc on the right bank, which has been very famous in the18th century, which has to show that this classification system has great limitations. In this classification system, wineries of the same level are also divided into different levels. For example, Mouton is the first among the second-class wineries. However, this practice has attracted a lot of criticism. 1In September, 855, the Syndicat of Courtiers wrote to the Bordeaux Wine Chamber of Commerce, saying that there was no order for the same grade, and the Chamber of Commerce revised the list, and the unified grade wineries were arranged alphabetically, which calmed the matter. Since 1855, many changes have taken place in the name, owner, vineyard and even quality of wine. Now there are 6 1 wineries in the grading system. Of course, even if the winery is renamed, if it is a grade park in history, it will still maintain its status as a grade park. The only change is that in 1973, with the continuous efforts of Baron philip roth Childe, Mouton Rothschild (Mouton) was upgraded from a second-class winery to a first-class winery. It also formed the "five famous villages" that are now well known to the world.

Later, the Graf region and Saint Emilion region were also divided into wineries in the middle of last century, but they were not divided into five grades like the Medoc region. All these wineries classified as wineries are called "Grade Wineries", and the words "Crusade" can be seen on the wine label.

Time has passed, and the characteristics of many Bordeaux wine estates in France have been greatly improved. The owner of the manor has changed several times, and the brewing method is different from before. However, the principle of this classification method is still followed by people and extended to France and even the world. The ancient wine guild is also worth mentioning for Bordeaux. This is a non-profit association composed of celebrities and wine professionals. Wearing antique red robes and white shawls, they held a solemn ceremony to commemorate the solar terms and alcohol-related activities. Guilds have been handed down from generation to generation and continue to this day.

Bordeaux is the largest AOC wine producing area in France. Bordeaux has the same AOC grade red wine, and the classification is very different. Usually, the smaller the producing area marked on the wine label, the higher the quality of the wine, so the wine produced from Marguerite Red is the most expensive. In Bordeaux, there are more than 8,000 wineries, large and small, in the100000 hectares of vineyards. The wines produced have different styles, even across the street, with different flavors, which is one of the reasons why Bordeaux red wine is attractive.

There is a famous saying in Bordeaux, the city of wine: wine is the child of a winemaker. It means that only an excellent winemaker can produce high-quality wine.

The nobleness of Bordeaux Margarita wine stems from its long and meticulous brewing method: in the fermentation process of grape juice, the time of soaking skin controls the clear and moving color of red wine and the tannin content in wine; After fermentation, it is a slow and patient process to extract the wine residue that has settled at the bottom of the fermentor. The next step is to choose the best quality wine and combine different varieties of wine in perfect proportion. This can not only improve the quality of wine, but also preserve the flavors of different varieties of grapes and combine them into a more unique and wonderful taste. After a few months or more, the wine is bottled and covered in oak barrels. At this time, the red wine still has vitality, and they breathe slowly through the cork, constantly undergoing wonderful changes and gradually reaching maturity. Therefore, most Bordeaux wines are suitable for long-term preservation, and the best wines need more than ten years or even decades to mature.

Since ancient brave sailors brought the grape branches of the Nile and Crete to Greece, Sicily and southern Italy, and then introduced them to France, the grape planting and wine-making technology has been improved, popularized and carried forward from generation to generation in this hexagonal land. Wine culture not only shows the French people's pursuit of exquisite and beautiful life, but also is an inseparable part of French civilization and culture.