TASTING FRANCE: A Wine Tasting courtesy Business France

Following wineries participated in the programme at the French Ambassador’s residence. This  had been preceded by a wine tasting evening and cocktails at his residence the previous night:

1.       Advini- multi regions

2.       Biodynamic Wine- Rhone Valley

3.       Les Vegnerons D’Estezargues- Rhone Valley 

4.       Chateau Borde Rouge- Languedoc Roussillon 

5.       Neuf Chateaux Familiaux (NCF)- Bordeaux     

6.       Jean Noel Boidron- Bordeaux      

7.       Selection Patrick Clerget-Multi regions 

Besides there were Rums and Punchs Isautier –producers of Rum and Distinction Armagnac which were beyond the purview of my tasting although the latter did have a Premium sparkling wine made from 100% Chardonnay and another Rose from Syrah- with 23k Gold chips added (and a switch controlled battery to light them up. They also had Royal Monte Carlo Champagne Brut which was delicious but priced much higher than import prices of all regular champagnes.

I must admit I would have missed the tasting but for the persistent emails from Emmanuel Boidron of Bordeaux. I had an early morning flight to Bangalore which I reluctantly changed to the early afternoon flight so I could taste their wines and as many of the others as possible. And it was a very pleasant tasting worth participating in.

Considering the highly regarding appellation of most of the wines, the prices were quite reasonable and affordable when bought ex-cellar. But the high taxes make them too expensive and difficult for most importers to indulge the producer. However, one must applaud the efforts of Business France for organising this event-many of more of which are required to showcase the beauty and diversity of French wines, and recover some of the lost share during the last decade. It is interesting that partially due to the efforts of Business France,  France has been able to increase in exports in the most important market of the USA by 17.9% during the first 8 months of the current year, whereas the US imports grew only by 7.5%.

Business France is the French national agency promoting French companies and products including wine. It is a Government agency created on 1 January 2015 through a merger between UBIFRANCE  (the earlier French export promotion Agency) and  the French Agency for International Investment (InvestInFrance). It has the status of a public institution of an industrial and commercial character under the supervision of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development and the Ministry of Rural Spatial Planning and Development Territory.

The Wine and Spirits Department which organised the event plans to organise 30 such professional tastings in 60 cities around the world.

Subhash Arora

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