3 French Wines You Must Try This Summer
Looking for 3 delicious French wines to sip this summer? Check out these ridiculously yummy bottles below, hand-selected by our wine expert, Jessamine, who studied at Le Cordon Bleu. Below you will find some important tasting notes along with French vocabulary that you can use to impress your friends while saying santé (you can also check out our separate Guide to Saying Cheers in French if you want to the full scoop on a proper santé). One of the best parts of the wines below is that they are available for delivery across the U.S.A. thanks to Scout & Cellar which offers clean, chemical-free wines produced by farmers from around world. We spoke further with one of their consultants, Anne Reilly (also known as Pure Pours), who included some helpful tasting cards so you can clearly see what each bottle is made of. She also let us know that orders over $99 get free U.S.A. shipping and the brand offers quantity discounts. Happy tasting!
Image by Zan
Rosé
One of the most trendy wines of summer has become the popular Rosé, which is made of handpicked organic red grapes.* You’ll notice its soft pink color, which is created when the juice from those grapes makes contact with the skin during production. This particular Rosé, the ‘2019 L’Original Rosé’ from Provence, France, has an overall fruity* vibe with notes of strawberry*, peach* and white flowers*. If you are sitting under the summer sun, it has just the right amount of crispness so you won’t be feeling like loads of sugar are dampening your tongue. The bottle features grapes that were handpicked at a winery situated within a French national forest in Provence, then placed in temperature-controlled tanks before being bottled. Each bottle costs $22USD and, for our 21+ readers, you can order one to be delivered by visiting Scout & Cellar.
*French terms you should know:
Grape = Raisin, Fruity = Fruité (pronounced [frɥite]), Strawberry = Fraise (pronounced [frɛz]), Peach = Pêche (pronounced [pɛʃ]), Flower = Fleur (pronounced [flœr])
Image: Scout & Cellar
Sémillon
You may not be immediately familiar with this wine type, but it surely is an underdog that will steal the scene at your next dinner party*. This ‘2018 Soleil Vent Âme’ has a golden greenish tone to its color* which reflects the youth of this grape variety. It has a delicious fruity flavor profile with aromas of fresh-cut mango, green papaya* and nectarine*, all offering a lively experience to the tongue*. The grapes themselves are grown on a 500 acre vineyard located in southwest of France in a region called Aquitaine. In this part of the country, the earth* has a clay-limestone soil which helps retain water and control temperature as the grapes grow. After being handpicked, the grapes are placed in a pneumatic press and fermented for 3 weeks. Just after this process, the wine ages for 15 days on a lees (the yeast deposits that sink to the bottom of a vat) before being bottled. Each bottle costs $25USD and, for our 21+ readers, you can order one to be delivered by visiting Scout & Cellar.
*French terms you should know:
Party = Fête, (pronounced [fɛt]), Color = Couleur (pronounced [kulœr]), Mango = Mangue, Papaya = Papaye, Nectarine = Nectarine, Tongue = Langue, Earth = Terre
Image: Scout & Cellar
Red Wine (Cabernet Sauvignon + Grenache)
For many people, a bold* red wine is the ticket to savoring the summer. If you are one of those people, this Cabernet Sauvignon and Grenache blend is just what you need. A deep cabernet color, this tasty red* wine has bold, earthy notes with hints of strawberry and cherry* offering pleasant acidity,* silky tannins, and a slightly bitter* finish. The grapes themselves are handpicked on a vineyard in the Rhône Valley (in Southern France) and, through production they maintain their earth-like quality without any added chemicals* making this a vegan wine to satisfy all of your guests. Each bottle costs $26USD and, for our 21+ readers, you can order one to be delivered by visiting Scout & Cellar.
*French terms you should know:
Bold (flavor) = Saveur Prononcée, Red = Rouge, Cherry = Cerise, Bitter = Amer, Acidity = Acidité, Chemical = Chimique
Image: Scout & Cellar
Santé
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