Exploring the results from the Vin De France Best Value Selection 2022

NOW THE results are out from the Vin De France Best Value Selection 2022 (see pages 70-73), it’s time to analyse the best bottles of Vin De France, as chosen by a panel of top tasters and senior buyers.

For this year ’s competition, 443 wines were entered from a total of 100 French wine companies, with the medal winners chosen in Paris on Friday 11 February at a blind tasting by 40 wine buyers and oenologists.

It was moderated by members of the Oenologues de France, and the panel included international buyers from Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, Ireland, the Netherlands, Sweden, the UK, Ukraine, and the US (pictured above).

As previously reported online by the drinks business, 133 medal-winning Vin De France wines have been selected as ambassador wines for 2022 following this year ’s tasting – all of which are listed on thedrinksbusiness.com (search for Anivin) and over the following pages.

In 2022, a record number achieved a gold medal, with 64 gaining this top award, which was up from 52 in 2021. There were also 69 silver-medal winning wines in 2022. The total number of awardwinning wines amounts to 30% of the samples entered, the limit set by the OIV (Organisation Internationale de la Vigne et du Vin), which is respected in the judging process.

Notable among the results are the high number of gold medal-winning Chardonnays and Sauvignon Blancs in 2022 –a reminder of the quality of wines from these grapes under the Vin De France classification.

Top medal-winning Vin De France Chardonnays include those from Éric Louis and Pierre Colin, while first-rate Sauvignons can be found from Antoine de la Farge and Thierry Delaunay.

With a Sauvignon shortage from New Zealand, and price rises for Chardonnay from its native area of Bourgogne, the wines featured in this year’s Best Value Selection could make for potential alternatives to increasingly pricy wines from Marlborough and the Mâconnais.

It’s a similar story when it comes to Vin De France rosé and Pinot Noir – both these wines achieved a high number of Gold medals, making pink Vin De France an attractive possible alternative to increasingly expensive Provençal rosés, or Vin De France Pinots a juicy, good-value option for when Pinots from other parts of the world become pricier and harder to source.

Recommended are pink wines from Vignobles & Compagnie under the Nic Rager label, as well as the rosés of Doudet-Naudin, with its La Luciole gaining a gold. This year ’s Best Value Selection featured a number of lovely Pinots too, notably those from Saget La Perrière and Fournier Père et Fils.

Then there’s the more esoteric offering under the Vin De France classification, which is a sector of the industry becoming increasingly known for its creative output. Among these are the gold medal-winning Sauvignon-Chardonnay blend from Vins Descombe, called Marie, and the Blanc de Franc white Cabernet Franc from Maison Couly Dutheil, along with a Merlot-Carignan combination from Les Domaines Auriol, called Bistro.

THINK GREEN

There’s also an offering for the greenminded buyer, with a great gold-medalwinning organic white from Famille Gassier, called Liberty Nages, incorporating Grenache Blanc, Roussane and Colombard.

Finally, there are fine orange wines in the category, with Gérard Bertrand and Badet Clément gaining golds for their Vin De France blends made using extended skin contact for white grapes to give wines with an amber hue and a dry, finely tannic finish.

So, whether you are looking for something a little different, or a good value alternative to mainstream drops, then consider the options from the Vin De France classification, and, to save time when selecting, you might want to favour those picking up medals in the Best Value Selection.