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Knowledge of French geography is essential in making intelligent French wine selections. For example, the growing area of Bordeaux is the largest fine wine growing area in the world with over 15,000 growers. This area is divided into regions or appellations and then subregions. Within subregions, there are villages, and peppered across the landscape are Châteaux that acquired their names for various reasons. Perhaps they are named for the owner, the locale, or as in the case of Chateau Le Pin, a lone pine tree that grew on the estate.

Once geography is mastered, knowledge of quality levels is imperative. The wines of Bordeaux, some, not all, were classified in 1855 into levels, one through five. Top ranking wines were classified as First Growths or Premium Growths and under Premium Growths were four other levels of quality.

Estates unfortunate enough to be excluded from the 1855 classification were relegated to lesser classifications. These are in order of importance AOC wines, Appellation D'Origine Controlee, VDQS, Vins Délimités De Qualité Supérieure, Vins De Pays and the common Vin de Table.

Within these classifications are infinitely many laws dictating grapes that may be grown, yields per acre, how the wines are to be made, as well as restrictions on using fruit from other regions. Confused yet? So far we are just talking about Bordeaux. The area of Burgundy is even more complicated. Don't believe those books with titles like French Wine Made Simple or French Wine for Dummies.

The huge French wine industry is in decline, with the exception of regions like Champagne and the classified growths of Bordeaux. French wine exports are dropping. Price of vineyard land is declining, and French citizens are no longer drinking as much wine. In 1980 approximately 51 percent of the population consumed wine on a regular basis. That percentage is down to 24 percent today.

The top selling beverage in France today is bottled water and the average young French person is more likely to drink beer or soft drinks. Young French consumers find their wine labels as perplexing as do most outsiders. They too have difficulty mastering the intricacies of the French wine system.

Newly elected French President Nicolas Sarkozy following through on a campaign promise just signed into law a new and less restrictive category for French wine called Vignobles (veen-yohbl) de France. This law provides for three new categories of French wine, Vignobles de France, IGP (Indication Geographique Protegee) or Protected Geographical Region that corresponds to the existing Vin de Pays, and AOP (Appellation d'Origine Protegee) corresponding to the old AOC ranking.

More exciting for French winemakers, for the first time, the new Vignobles category allows them to blend wines with grapes grown across the entirety of France. They may even plant previously forbidden varieties deemed necessary in making their blends. If a producer in Bordeaux wants to blend his cabernet with some syrah from the northern Rhone, under the Vignobles category he is allowed to do so. Also, producers may use New World winemaking methods like aging wines on wooden chips and adding tannins, procedures used by some New World producers in cheaper wines. More importantly, especially for novice consumers, varietal composition will be listed on labels and wines may be given cutesy animal names.

As to be expected French traditionalist are not happy about these changes. Traditionalists believe terroir (tehr-wahr) is the over riding factor of importance in all winemaking. Terroir is everything that goes into making a wine what it is including things like soil composition, amount of sunlight the vineyard receives, rainfall, and elevation. They argue new freedoms afforded to vintners will destroy the concept of terroir.

It should be pointed out that these changes do not affect higher echelon wines like those identified in the 1855 classification. Makers of these wines will be able to continue to discuss and boast of their terroirs. The sale of their wines is assured because of their collectability and new opening markets for higher end wines in China, Japan and India, but if French wines are once again to reign supreme in France and the New World, they must be become more user friendly.