You'll want to brush up on your French wine label reading skills before your barge cruise. Here are some key terms.
- Appellation contrôlée - Designated growing area
- Appellation d'Origine Protegée - AOP, highest grade of French wine
- Blanc - white
- Château or Domaine - wine estate
- Clos - "an enclosure," usually an enclosed vineyard
- Crémant - sparkling wine produced outside the Champagne region
- Cru - a vineyard or group of vineyards, of recognized quality
- Cuvée - usually denotes a special blend or selected vats of higher quality, but an unregulated term
- Grand cru - Regionally graded wine, not technically a classification of wine quality, it indicates the potential of the vineyard or terroir
- Indication Géographique Protégée - IGP, Regional French wines, middle-grade French wines
- Millésime or Récolte - vintage or harvest date
- Mis en bouteille au domaine - bottled at the estate
- Réserve - implies a higher quality, but an unregulated term
- Rouge - red
- Vielles Vignes - old vines
- Vin de France - French table wines, lower grade of French wine
Resources:
Visit Rocket Languages for a list of French words about wine with audio, so you can hear the correct French pronunciation for each.An incredible listing with ratings for wines of Burgundy and Languedoc Roussillon is available on winemag.com
Learn more about French barge cruises that feature visits to vineyards, winetasting, and special wine-harvest cruises at Boutique Hotel Barges.
