François Simon, France's least recognised but most respected and most feared restaurant critic thanks to weekly columns in Le Figaro, Figaroscope and disguised appearances on the cable channel...

I had breakfast with the French Minister of Agriculture yesterday, the way you do. Actually, it was a breakfast meeting – subtle difference – arranged by the indefatigable Parisian wine PR man...

As Australia's official wine organisations publish a report claiming that the country has a wine surplus equivalent to 75% of total production, and as British wine writer Andrew Jefford...

I'm pretty inured to the charms of wine books, being lucky enough to be bombarded with them each autumn. But I am very taken by French Vineyard s by Patrick Hilyer, a new edition from...

It looks as though the total French 2009 wine crop will be only 48 million hectolitres, 12% more than the very small 2008 crop, but 5% smaller than the average crop for the past five years. This...

Largely unobserved by the rest of us, the world’s most important wine producing country has developed one of the most stringent anti-alcohol policies west of the Persian Gulf. Sarkozy is...

If mediocrity is one of wine's most cardinal sins, then Alain Brumont of Chx Montus and Bouscassé in deepest south west France is one of its saving graces. Not for his following some holy vinous...

We continue our coverage of the challenging 2008 harvest in France with a detailed look at right bank Bordeaux and Provence. St-Émilion, Pomerol and Fronsac The...

Over the first eight months of 2008, international exports of French wine decreased by 10% in volume, so perhaps it's good news that the French ministry of agriculture is forecasting a...

In a nutshell: Mostly bordeaux-like, plus some Basque influence. Main grapes: Cabernets Sauvignon and Franc, Merlot, Malbec, Tannat, Negrette, Fer (red); Sauvignon, Sémillon, Mauzac, Gros...

I'm not a huge enthusiast of the sexual stereotyping of wines but even I can see that Cabernet Franc might be described as the feminine side of Cabernet Sauvignon. It is subtly fragrant and...

The word ‘toothsome’ could have been coined for the wines of South West France, a Pyrenean nursery for diverse and attention-grabbing vine varieties. The flavours can be wild and...

Here is a selection of some of the best French wines to have come my way that are made by those who have left Britain to pursue their (often relatively untutored) dream to make wine. There are...

In all my unthinkably many years writing about wine, I cannot think of a better time to buy French wine. The reason is simple: the outstanding quality of 2005 reds and 2006 whites, the two...

The Antique Wine Company is now inviting bids for a collection of 362 of the best of the 5,000 bottles from the Paris mayoral cellar so controversially auctioned off in October 2006 by...