Bonjour! Ok, that is the limits of my abilities to speak French. On the other hand I am quite proud of my abilities to take you on a mini wine tour of France to the regions where some of the most delicious dessert wines are produced.

French wine can be pretty complicated and challenging to understand and I will try my best and make this not too boring for you.

Visiting the regions of France is definitely on my bucket list. Even though I lived right next door to France, in England, I was too young to appreciate wine and never got to make a trip over there.

Most French wine labels do not make it easy to know what is in the bottle. This is because in most cases, French wine labels put the name of the region on the bottle not the wine grape variety.

Here are a couple of my favorite picks.

Chateau Guiraud Sauterne 2010

The famous Sauterne dessert wine, which is made in the region of Bordeaux, in the commune of Sauterne, is made with Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon grapes that are affected by Noble Rot a fungus that causes the grapes to shrivel up. The Chateau Guiraud is deliciously sweet with aromas of toasted almonds and white peaches. It’s rich and creamy with slight taste of ginger on the end. This will pair well with your favorite dessert.

Chateau D’ Orignac (Pineau Des Charentes)

This French dessert wine is produced in the Cognac region, which is located between the Loire Valley and the Bordeaux. It is produced by adding Cognac (brandy) to unfermented grape juice and spends five years in oak. Please be careful when sipping this one as it can sneak up on you real fast. It has eighteen percent alcohol.

Terrassou Hors D’Age 6 Years, Riversaltes

From the Languedoc-Roussillon, located in southern France between the Rhone to the east and Pyrenees to the southwest. This mouth-watering dessert wine is made with 100% Grenache Blanc grapes, has sweet notes of golden raisins and bitter orange. It’s silky and layered with rich brown sugar and almond flavor; it pairs perfect with puff pastry filled with pudding or fruit.

Enjoy and au revoir!