Experimentation, innovation and new discoveries: Vin De France

The Vin De France classification was created in 2009 as a way of giving winemakers and growers greater freedom. Grapes for the wines must be grown in France, but beyond this there are few regulations on what can be made or how it can be presented: growers are limited only by their imagination.

For instance, vignerons can blend grapes from within their region to create novel combinations. Or they can blend them with varieties from another region entirely.

Think that your sun-filled Malbec would benefit from a splash of cool-climate Pinot Noir? Or your Sauvignon Blanc would be more interesting if you could plump it out with some Viognier? These things are all possible in the Vin De France classification.

The classification’s (slightly ironic) slogan of ‘Liberté, qualité, creativité’ is no mere marketing spin. This exciting ‘throwing off the shackles’ mentality is what Vin De France is all about, and it’s giving rise to some of the most innovative winemaking in France today. Wines, moreover, that are right in the modern drinker’s sweet spot.

Take the fast-growing non-alcoholic category, for instance. Or in-vogue lower-intervention styles, like Pét Nats or orange wines – some of today’s most interesting and thought-provoking offerings.

Vin De France is also where you’ll find the most innovative work being done with hybrid grapes, including Piwi varieties. These are bred to be hardier than traditional Vitis vinifera varieties and allow grapes to be grown in more marginal environments or with far less intervention in the vineyard. Opening up new regions and flavours, in Vin De France these hybrids can take centre stage and really shine.

Vin De France might be wide-ranging in scope – and with 500m bottles produced in 2024, it’s a classification that’s getting bigger every year – but it’s also easy to understand. Growers simply put the grape varieties on the bottle – no confusing place names or sub-regions – allowing consumers to easily focus on their favourite grapes.

It’s an accessible classification that offers a fresh approach, great value and the kind of variety that comes when you give creative freedom and amazingly varied vineyards to some of the world’s best winemakers. A blind tasting in partnership with Vin De France revealed the exciting freedom that the classification offers – see a selection below:

Top white, rosé and orange wines

Famille Fabre, Louis Andrieu Orange Wine Sauvignon Blanc 2023 94
Les Vins de Sylvains
Golden-amber coloured in the glass, with flavours of camomile, candied orange, white peach and nectarine. Gentle tannic grip, with sappy, citrussy acidity and layer after layer of flavour. Complex, versatile and refreshing.
Alc 13%

Arnaud Combier, Blanc-Sain Chardonnay 2023 90
St John Wines
Attractive golden colour, with flavours of honey-drizzled melon, straw and oak spice. Full-bodied and sun-filled, it has a rich, rounded, buttery character. Ambitious, but carries it off well.
Alc 12.5%

D’Autrefois, Chardonnay 2024 90
Available at Le Beaujolais, London
Pure, bright flavours of crunchy green apple with yellow plum and camomile. There’s a very attractive brightness and purity here – and at a very reasonable price. Perfect for sole meunière.
Alc 12.5%

Famille Descombe, Viognier 2024 90
Laithwaites
Pale greeny-gold colour, with pretty stone-fruit flavours of apricot and freshly cut white peach. With added flavours of jasmine, quince and white pepper, this is textbook Viognier at a terrific price.
Alc 12.5%

Jeff Carrel, Pas Vu Pas Pris Chardonnay 2024 89
Averys
Greeny-gold with flavours of quince and yellow apple. The palate is comfortingly creamy and textural, but it’s well integrated and a refreshing acidity makes it decidedly moreish.
Alc 12.5%

Joël Delaunay, Casca Sauvignon Blanc 2022 88
Cru World Wine
Initial classic Sauvignon Blanc green flavours of tomato leaf and capsicum meld into ripe, softer notes of orchard and stone fruit on the palate. A whiter style of orange wine.
Alc 12%

Delaunay Vins & Domaines, La Belle Angèle Rosé 2024 88
Majestic
Cinsault, Grenache, Carignan, Caladoc. Pretty pale pink colour, with flavours of candied raspberries leading onto a dry, crisp palate. Clean, fresh and really nicely balanced, it’s a great budget alternative.
Alc 11.5%

Saget La Perrière, La Petite Perrière Sauvignon Blanc 2024 88
Imported by France Domaines Ltd
With aromas of citrus fruit, thyme and basil, underpinned on the palate by gentle flavours of tropical fruit, this is a restrained, pure, bright-acid expression of Sauvignon Blanc.
Alc 12.5%

Bouchard Aîné & Fils, Réserve du Conseiller Chardonnay 2024 87
Tesco
There’s reasonable fruit concentration here – and also a neat precision to the winemaking. Citrus, pineapple and a lime-fresh acidity with brightness and purity. Impressive offering for under £10.
Alc 12.5%

Joel Delaunay, Ceptembre Sauvignon Blanc 2024 87
Majestic
A lightly tropical Sauvignon Blanc, with flavours of grapefruit, pineapple and passion fruit underlaid with the faint tang of a warm privet bush. Round, juicy and crowd-pleasing – a great terrace sipper.
Alc 11%

Chai St Olive, Cuvée 812 Viognier 2021 86
Wanderlust Wine
Deep lemon colour with flavours of rich, ripe tropical fruit and some secondary flavours of macadamia nuts and dried hay. Aromatic intensity continues through the palate to a warm, oaky finish. Good fruit, but needs to be drunk now.
Alc 12.5%

Naudin Père & Fils, Chardonnay 2023 86
Majestic
Guava and stone fruit on the nose, with a creamy, cashew nut mid-palate and a rumble of toasty oak spice. Slightly high in alcohol, but the richness and savoury depth make this a good food-matching option.
Alc 13.5%

Famille Bougrier, L’Artiste Sauvignon Blanc 2024 86
Ellis Wines
Gentle blackcurrant fruit wrapped up in trademark green, leafy flavours. Quite restrained and chalky, with a pithy lime finish and some cold-stone minerality. Quite ambitious.
Alc 11.5%

Famille Descombe, Chardonnay 2024 86
Majestic
Deep golden colour, with tropical pineapple fruit, apple compote and a dried camomile note. Rich, ripe yellow fruit and a hint of honey persist through the sweetly juicy palate.
Alc 11%

Top reds

Famille Bougrier, L’Artiste Gamay 2024 88
Ellis Wines
Fruit-forward with characteristic cheery flavours of red cherry and fragrant blackcurrant leaf. Soft and sweetly approachable with balanced tannins, this is a thoroughly attractive mid-weight red.
Alc 12.5%

Famille Descombe, Miss Gamay 2022 88
Diogenes the Dog
Typical strawberry and cherry compote aromas with a herbal lift. Tannic structure and a more savoury mid-palate make this more cru-like and bring more serious food match options into play.
Alc 12.5%

LePlan Vermeersch, GT Carignan 2021 88
Carringtons Wines
Expressive big-fruit nose of stewed plums, morello cherries and mocha, leading into secondary flavours of spice, grilled nuts and warm leather. A great option for classic cassoulet.
Alc 14%

Maison Ventenac, L’Idiot Merlot 2024 88
James Nicholson Wine
Sweet, ripe red fruit nose – plush and sweet but not jammy, with hints of blossom and liquorice. Structured but integrated with a bright acid lift through the palate. One for a shoulder of lamb.
Alc 13.5%

Château Les Amoureuses, Touriga 2021 87
Imported by Walkers Wine
Characteristic bright, blue fruit alongside some perfumed aromas of lavender and violet. Plush, rounded and silky on the palate, with grippy tannins – perfect for cutting fatty meat.
Alc 14%

Gérard Bertrand, Le Chouchou 2023 87
Waitrose
Grenache, Syrah, Cinsault. Medium ruby colour with flavours of plum, strawberry and cherry backed up by a gentle herbal lift. Despite the initial fruit hit, there’s a degree of delicacy here with a bright sappiness. Think lamb, chicken – even rogan josh.
Alc 11%

Château de Campuget, 1753 Syrah sans Sulfites 2024 87
Hallgarten Wines
Deep, inky colour, and correspondingly dark flavours of black plums and blueberry cream, with a distinctive savoury, earthy, meaty rumble to the mid-palate. Will wrap nicely round a beef joint or daube de boeuf.
Alc 13%

Lionel Osmin & Cie, Villa des Causses Malbec 2023 87
Imported by Vindependents
Intense, inky ruby colour, with red and black plum fruit mingling with some leafier, more herbal aromas. Palate is plush, but with neatly ingrained, ripe tannins. Great for summer barbecues.
Alc 13%

Château de Campuget, 1753 Grenache sans Sulfites 2024 86
Hallgarten Wines
Darker garnet colour with flavours of blueberries, violets, kola nut and an unexpected and distinct orangey note. Quite serious in intention, with tighter tannins drawing the palate to a savoury, almost meaty finish.
Alc 13.5%

Vignobles Ducourt, Le Chant des Sirènes Rouge 2022 86
Imported by Charles Taylor Wines
Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Jura. Deep purple, with flavours of minty wine gums, myrtle berries and creamy blue fruit. Palate is soft and juicy, with silkily integrated tannins and a balanced finish. A great example of a vinifera-hybrid blend.
Alc 12%

LGI Wines, Alain Grignon Réserve Vieilles Vignes Carignan 2024 86
Majestic
Deeper, garnet colour, and correspondingly dark fruit flavours – blue- and blackberry with an inky undertow. Quite sweet, with some oaky hints of allspice. A bit warm and boozy on the finish, but the fruit just about holds its own.
Alc 12.5%

Maison Jean Loron, Jean Gamay 2024 86
Imported by Hayward Bros (Wines) Ltd
Deep coloured, with flavours of summer fruit – redcurrants, blackberries, blackcurrant leaf. Palate has a gentle creamy texture that is slightly curtailed by tannins that have a green edge.
Alc 14%

Celliers d’Orfée, Orfée Cinsault 2023 86
Imported by Key Wine Company
Intense garnet colour, with flavours of cranberries, black plums and warm, minty moss. A pretty, violet note appears on the palate, with grippy tannins pulling in the finish. Would work well with roast lamb.
Alc 13.5%

Vive la différence

Wine Impact, Raisis White 2024 91
DrinkWell
Souvignier Gris, Muscaris. Perfumed, exotic nose of violets, pineapple cubes, oranges and rose petals. Juicy and sweet-fruited, but it finishes dry. Unique – and would be a great match for any meat cooked with fruit – think pork, duck, tagine.
Alc 12.5%

Clos Troteligotte, K-barré 2023 90
Hallgarten Wines
Chardonnay, Chenin Blanc, Malbec, Merlot, Tannat. More a light red than a rosé, this has flavours of red cherry compote, with a gentle whisper of black tea on the finish. Juicy, fun, different and moreish, would work chilled or at room temperature.
Alc 12.2%

Vignobles Ducourt, Le Chant des Sirènes Blanc 2024 88
Imported by Charles Taylor Wines
Sauvignon Blanc, Colombard, Souvignier Gris. There’s a golden green colour to this aromatic, herbal offering. Flavours of celery, asparagus and white pepper wrap round a citrus pith acid line. A herbal element brings in intriguing food-match options.
Alc 12%

LGI Wines, Duo des Mers 2024 88
The Wine Society
Sauvignon Blanc, Viognier. Pale gold, with a fresh and delicate Sauvignon nose. Meanwhile the Viognier adds weight and softness to the palate, which has flavours of blossom, citrus and thyme. A well-priced sipper.
Alc 11.5%

Vignobles Ducourt, Le Chant des Sirènes Rosé 2024 86
Imported by Charles Taylor Wines
Sauvignon Gris, Souvignier Gris. Very pale oeil de perdrix colour, with brightly aromatic flavours of white peach, currant leaf and nettles. Some tannic texture on the palate – this could be a great match for herbed chicken.
Alc 12%

Maison Ventenac, Cassandre Rolle 2024 86
James Nicholson
Deep yellow in the glass with flavours of pineapple yoghurt and stone fruit. Weight and richness on the palate, with a distinct oily texture and a touch of phenolic dryness. A great food wine.
Alc 12.5%

JL Roumage, Un Dimanche en Famille Merlot NV 86
Hallgarten Wines
Quintessential Merlot nose of plums and mulberries with a little herbal twist. Presence of older vintages brings in notes of tar and dried fruit through the palate, which finishes dry and spicy.
Alc 13.5%

Great value

Delaunay Vins & Domaines, La Belle Angèle Sauvignon Blanc 2024 90
Majestic
Blackcurrant fruit with a little leafy, grassy lift. A textbook expression of Sauvignon Blanc that even delivers a little stoney, mineral crunch – impressive at this good price. Great for pasta alle vongole.
Alc 12%

Maison Jaffelin, Chardonnay 2024 90
Imported by Hayward Bros (Wines) Ltd
A poised, citrussy style of Chardonnay with flavours of green apple, melon and a herbal twist on the palate. Fruit wraps nicely around a taut line of acidity – a flexible food-matching star.
Alc 13%

Maison Ventenac, Le Paria Grenache 2024 89
James Nicholson Wine
Purple hued and fruit-forward with aromas of red cherry, redcurrant and plum, giving this wine a playful accessibility. Soft, sweet-fruited and joyous. Could be chilled as a barbecue wine.
Alc 13.5%

LGI Wines, Alain Grignon Carignan 2024 88
Majestic
Attractive ruby colour and a vibrant perfumed nose of raspberry, strawberry and thyme. Softly integrated tannins, with a light wisp of acidity through the palate. Fruit-forward and crowd-pleasing.
Alc 12.5%

Maison Jaffelin, Pinot Noir 2024 86
Imported by Hayward Bros (Wines) Ltd
Red fruit, herbs and a dusting of white pepper. More about acid structure than tannin, this is bright, sappy and fresh. A well-priced and varietally authentic expression of Pinot Noir.
Alc 13%

Scores were generated as part of a blind tasting in partnership with Vin De France. All wines were supplied free of charge to feature in paid-for content.

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