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French Products

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After a Record-Breaking Summer｜What Made the Difference in France’s 2026 Harvest

The summer of 2026 was the hottest France has recorded since 1900, and the national harvest is projected to be one of the smallest in 30 years. Yet results differed sharply from region to region. Drawing on reports from winegrowers, this article looks at elevation, soil and vineyard management as clues to those differences.

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Captured Blossoms｜The Quiet Distinction of Combier Elderflower Liqueur

What elderflower is, and how a liqueur made from the blossom differs from fruit and herbal liqueurs. Combier gathers the flowers by hand in Anjou, and the liqueur received a Spirit Gold with 95 points at IWSC 2025.

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The Pale Pink Spectrum: The Craft Behind N.P.U. Rosé 2009

Trace N.P.U. Rosé 2009 through its vintage lineage, skin contact, ten months in oak and more than twelve years on lees. Color, maturation and sugar dosage each belong to a different step.

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Beyond “Bitter”: Reading Kanegasaki Herbal Distillery and Combier Through Amaro’s Lens

Amaro, the traditional bittersweet herbal liqueur of Italy, is far richer and more nuanced than a single flavor descriptor suggests.

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From Supporting Accent to Cocktail Architecture: The Composition of Royal Combier and Chartreuse

The International Bartenders Association (IBA) defines the classic Margarita with a clear hierarchy: 50 ml tequila, supported by 20 ml triple sec and 15 ml lime juice. Here, the orange liqueur functions as a modifier, a supporting note to the primary spirit.

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Taming the Bubble: The Technical Evolution of Champagne

How Champagne makers learned to control fermentation, bottle pressure and sediment. Bruno Paillard Dosage Zero illustrates the distinction between sugar for bubbles and sugar at finishing.

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Decoding Champagne Labels: RM, Single-Vineyard, and Single-Varietal

RM describes the producer, single-vineyard identifies where the grapes grew, and single-varietal indicates the grape used. Three Champagne examples clarify the distinctions.

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L’Entêté and the Fight to Reclaim a Name: The Two Legal Changes That Transformed Absinthe in France

How separate changes to French production rules and naming law allowed historic absinthe recipes and the word absinthe to return.

Bruno Paillard

Same Design, Different Time: Why Bruno Paillard’s Cuvée 72 Is Named for 72 Months

Champagne is typically understood through the prism of grape varieties, terroir, or harvest years. Yet a compelling question arises when those environmental variables are held completely constant: what happens when time alone is varied?

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Fifty Years After the Judgment of Paris｜The Japanese Napa Owner Who Uprooted Vines Just Beginning to Bear Fruit

The Conviction to Begin Anew Fifty Years After Paris: The Conviction to Begin Anew On May 24, 1976, a blind wine tasting took place in Paris. Organized by British wine merchant Steven Spurrier and Patricia Gallagher, the event delivered a stunning result: little-known California wines outscored some of France’s most celebrated labels. In the white […]

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More Than a Downturn

How Bordeaux Is Quietly Navigating a Systemic Shift More Than a Downturn: How Bordeaux Is Quietly Navigating a Systemic Shift When one thinks of Bordeaux, images of the world’s most revered red wine region naturally come to mind｜a historical benchmark of excellence in the viticultural world. Yet today, this storied region faces profound tremors. Philippe […]

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The Shifting Terroir

Burgundy’s Harvest: A Changing Agricultural Rhythm In France’s Burgundy region, the start of the harvest has moved forward by an average of roughly two weeks over the past 30 years. Bordeaux is seeing the same pattern. The vendange, once a quintessential October ritual, now often begins as early as late August.

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