Buy the best wine and champagne

1. Alsace 3. Bordeaux 5. Cahors 7. Côtes du Rhone 9. Jurancon 11. Savoie 12. Provence

2. Beaujolais 4. Burgundy 6. Champagne 8. Côtes du Jura 10. Languedoc Rousillon 13. Val de Loire

Alsace
Alsace is a beautiful part of France, squeezed in between the heavily forested Vosges mountains and the German border on the river Rhine. If you've never seen a Hansel and Gretel fairytale village in the flesh, head for Alsace where time seems to have stood still. The distinctive whites of Alsace are rich in aroma and full of ripe flavour. Riesling, Muscat, Gewurztraminer and Pinot Gris are generally considered the finest, but good wines are also produced from Sylvaner and Pinot Blanc grapes. The region's only red grape is Pinot Noir, which can also produce light, fragrant wines.

Beaujolais
Beaujolais is the all-time party red. You can't take it seriously - and you shouldn't. The French have a word - gouleyant - which means the wine just flows straight down. That's Beaujolais - bright, breezy, gluggable, devil-may-care red. Beaujolais Nouveau is the most famous type of Beaujolais wine, released in November each year. During the rest of the year this year bright fruity Beaujolais Villages is the best bet - always drink as young as possible. There are also ten single villages which are their own name and make rather richer reds, Fleurie, Morgon and Brouilly are the most famous of these.

Bordeaux
Bordeaux in south west France is the world's most famous wine region. That doesn't mean all the wines are good: they're not. There are thousands upon thousands of properties there, great and small, and while some are brilliant, some should consider taking up a different occupation. But one of the joys of Bordeaux is the enormous number of different properties, well known and obscure each making different tasting wines. You could spend years down in Bordeaux and never taste them all. Now there's an idea. Drive down for a week in the summer - nose in and out of all the little villages, visit the chateaux, taste, buy and head back with a car crammed full of goodies and a whole host of memories for when the nights draw in. Reds: Bordeaux is most famous for reds. We used to call them claret, and the area around the Gironde estuary where the grapes grow used to be English from 1154 to 1453. No wonder they call Bordeaux 'the Englishman's wine', although the Scots and Irishwere pretty partial to it too. The main grapes they use are Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot - which we're more familiar with in wines from places like Chile and Australia - but they originated here in Bordeaux. The main areas are Medoc, Graves and St Emilion, but many of the best small properties sport the appellation 'Bordeaux Superieur'. When you taste them, expect something pretty dry, maybe earthy, but strangely appetising. Whites: People don't talk much of Bordeaux whites, but in fact the Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon grapes (sounds familiar, from New Zealand and Australia) make excellent light, tangy dry whites. But the most famous Bordeaux white is the intensely sweet Sauternes.

Burgundy
Burgundy starts with Chablis a couple of hours drive south of Paris, and extends right down through Beaujolais to the gates of Lyon. Both red and white Burgundies can be fabulous drinks, but the really good wines are made in tiny quantities and are expensive. Because Burgundy isn't warm, it's difficult to ripen the grapes and only the best sites regularly manage it, particularly in reds. Reds: There are a few pale reds made near Chablis in the north, but all the best reds are made south of Dijon, and around Beaune. The temperamental Pinot Noir is the grape, and the wines rarely have much colour, but they can have a lovely perfumed sweet fruit. The most famous villages are Nuits Saint Georges, Vosne-Romanée, Beaune and Volnay. There are also quite good reds around Mercurey, further south, but the other major red area is Beaujolais in the south which makes brighter, breezy reds out of Gamay grapes. Whites: Whites start with Chablis in the north. It's cold there and the grapes struggle to ripen, but the Chardonnay makes fine, steely mineral whites which aren't too expensive, either. Did I say Chardonnay? Yes. This New World darling is actually the white grape of Burgundy. Further south around Beaune - especially in Meursault and Puligny-Montrachet - fabulous nutty dry whites are made. They're not quite so good further south in the Cote Chalonnais, and they're definitely less good - softer, fatter, less appetising in the broad warm meadows of the Maconnais. Champagne: If you're in the mood for fizz - well, Crémant de Bourgogne is a really nice glass of bubbles.

Cahors
One of the great country wines of South-West France made from Malbec, Merlot, Tannat and Jurancon Noir grapes. Dark and highly tannic, Cahors required a lengthy bottle age to soften.

Champagne
Champagne is the nearest wine region to the channel ports - it's only a couple of hours drive from Calais to Reims, the main champagne town. Fancy lunch in Champagne? Leave the ferry by 10.30am and you'll do it easily. This is pretty far north to make wine and it's only possible because Champagne has various river valleys and hillsides that are protected from the wind and rain. The most famous Champagnes are made by the big, widely advertised companies like Moet et Chandon, Lanson or Mumm. But there are lots of small companies who also make good fizz. And, increasingly, growers who would have sold their grapes to a big company to blend into these brands are now making the wine for themselves. If you're driving round the area you'll see endless signs by the side of the road advertising these small producers. Pop in. Taste the wines. If you like them - buy them. If you don't - don't buy. But there's no doubt you can save significant sums by buying your bubbly in Champagne - and you have the added pleasure of knowing the men and women who make it.

Côtes du Rhone
The Rhone wine region starts south of Lyon and continues right down almost to the Mediterranean. In the north the river cuts through the edge of the Massif Central and creates precipitously steep slopes. The intrepid Romans planted grapes here, at places like Cote Rotie and Hermitage, and the vineyards are still there, clinging to the rock. The Syrah makes marvellous smoky reds and the floral Viognier and honey suckle-scented Marsanne and Roussanne make lovely whites.
The most famous wine of the South is Chateauneuf du Pape - a rich, heady spicy red (although there is a little white). But there are loads of other delicious, brawny, southern reds and smooth-textured whites. (There are some intoxicating rosés too). Some come under the names of single villages like Gigondas or Vacqueuyras, but most are called Côtes de Rhône, or usually better, Côtes du Rhône Villages.

Côtes du Jura
A beautiful wild wooded mountain area on France's eastern border with Switzerland, but the wines can be a bit weird, especially whites from the Savagnin which when called Vin Jaune - yellow wine - taste and look like sherry. But there is some nice Chardonnay, some pleasant Pinot Noir red and some pretty fair fizz.

Jurancon
Right down in the Pyrenees just inland from Biarritz is this historic but small wine region. It produces decent dry whites but glorious pineappley sweet whites that always manage to retain a refreshing streak of lemon acidity.

Languedoc Rousillon
This is the vast area of Southern France that's also called the Midi. It runs from Nîmes by the Rhone Valley right the way round to the Spanish border. It's the most prolific wine region in the world - it makes 10% of the world's wines, one third of France's wines, its vineyards are five times bigger than those of Australia, 50 times bigger than those of New Zealand, and yet we hardly know it at all. That's because all those anonymous litres of rough plonk we used to hoover back - they were all from the Midi. But the area was once high quality - the Romans began planting grapes at Narbonne - and if you get away from the flat sea shore into the hills there are wonderful, challenging high quality vineyards all over the place. Red wines are best, so look for names like Côteaux de Languedoc, Pic St Loup, Minervois and Corbières. Whites can be good, but it is a bit hot down there. Limoux is the best white area and there are lovely sweet wines like Muscat de Rivesaltes. If you've noticed lots of wines called by their grape name, Chardonnay, Cabernet etc, with the title Vin de Pays d'Oc - these come from anywhere in the Languedoc. Above all, it's a wild untamed part of France and well worth a visit.

Savoie
You're more likely to have been in Savoie during the winter than the summer because this is the heart of the French Alps, and skiing is big business here. But where the snow clears these high Alpine meadows do shelter some lovely vineyards, mostly producing delightful fresh whites and pleasant bubblies. And if the vintage has been hot there's a rare but lovely spicy red called Mondeuse.

Provence
Most Provençal wine seems to be drunk in the region, usually on the beach as far as I'm concerned. It could make better wines, but with a captive market, most producers simply provide loads of rose and some fair red and whites for the bars and restaurants of France's playground. However, Bandol is a seriously good wine area near Toulon.

Val de Loire
The Loire is the longest river in France, arching like a great bow from way down south, up to Orléans and then gradually flowing towards its wide estuary and the sea at Nantes. There are lots of different wine styles, some obscure, some very well known. Far upstream there are attractive country reds made from the Gamay, but it doesn't take long before we get to Sancerre and Pouilly Blanc Fumé - two of France's most famous white wines. (By the way, Pouilly Fuissé is quite different - that's another very good white from Southern Burgundy). Here the Sauvignon Blanc grape provides bright tangy whites with lovely green gooseberry fruit and a smoky perfume. Touraine makes good Sauvignon but is better known for Vouvray - still or sparkling, sweet or dry -and the red Chinon or Bourgeuil. Anjou has the Chenin Blanc as its main grape, often made dry, but at its best in Côteaux du Layon where it's intensely sweet. And over in the west near Nantes is the perfect partner for a plate of 'fruit de mers' - Muscadet.

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