10 Best French Wines To Try In 2024

Are you looking for the best French wines to try?

While there are numerous well-known wine-producing regions around the world, France is nearly associated with high-quality wine. The alchemy between a winemaker and their terroir, as well as respect for the ground on which the vines grow, and traditions learned from those who came before, are believed to be what distinguishes French wine from the others.

10 Best French Wines To Try In 2024

Here are some of the best French wines to savor right now, selected from different locations across the country.

1. Laherte Frères Blanc de Blancs Brut Nature Champagne N.V.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Region: Champagne

ABV: 12% 

Taste: citrusy, floral, chalky, creamy

Best With: mild and soft cheese, pork, salmon, shellfish

One of the only organic/biodynamic producers in the region makes this delicious Blanc de Blancs Champagne. This lusciously creamy wine is made completely of chardonnay and is bursting with flavors of yellow apples, white flowers, chalk, lemon cream, and brioche.

For the price, the quality, farming, and taste that this bottle gives are incredible! No dosage is included in the bottle.

This Champagne is “so outrageously consistent,” according to Eric Rydin of New York’s Le Grand Triage, that one can always count on a superb bottle.

2. Jean Foillard Morgon Côte du Py

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Region: Morgan (Beaujolais) ABV: 13% 

Taste: juicy, earthy, floral

Best With: chicken and turkey

There are numerous reasons why well-made Beaujolais has become a favorite among professionals, amateurs, and everyone in between. These delectable wines are ideal for any season and wine-drinking circumstance when made by the proper people.

In the field of natural winemaking, Jean Foillard is a living legend. Foillard was a founding member of Kermit Lynch’s ‘Gang of Four,’ pursuing ‘rebellious’ winemaking techniques such as native yeast fermentations, no fining or filtration, and a low-intervention cellar philosophy.

Today, this kind of winemaking produces some of the world’s most delicious and easy-to-drink wines. 

3. Camille Giroud Bourgogne Rouge

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Region: Burgundy 

ABV: 13% 

Taste: fruity, earthy, nutty, sweet and spicy

Best With: chicken, turkey, lean fish

Affordable red Burgundy can be hard to come by, but Camille Giroud’s pick appears to have it all: it’s light, it’s acidic, and it’s plain delightful.

A smooth, palate-quenching finish emerges from earthy aromas of black cherry, red fruit, mushrooms, and sweet spice. It’s better to serve this slightly chilled.

Wines from France have this wonderful power to take you to where that wine is especially from, according to non-French aficionados who have sampled it.

It’s because French wines have all of the “organoleptic qualities” that a high-quality wine-producing country need, but when you go beyond the label, many of them have great stories of history, culture, farming, and the vigneron’s love waiting to be uncovered.

4. Dominique Belluard Le Feu Savoie White

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Région: Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes

ABV: 12%

Taste: rich, textured, earthy

Best With: Aperitif, lean fish, pasta, vegetarian

This flavorful White is a product of Belluard’s work in the tiny community of Ayze, near Mont Blanc. His efforts transformed the perception of Savoie wines.

In the spirit of outstanding white Burgundies, his wines were textured and rich. Le Feu, created from a single plot of the nearly extinct local Gringet grape, was magnificent in its unusual flavors and green-tea taste, ushering in a new generation of serious Savoyards.

5. Bénédicte and Stephane Tissot Les Bruyères Jura Arbois Chardonnay

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Region: Jura

ABV: 13.5%

Taste: fresh, aromatic floral

Best With: duck and goose

Starting in the late 2000s, the Jura gained popularity for its distinct oxidative white and light-colored red wines.

However, when the hoopla faded, it became evident that normcore ouillé (“filled”) whites, so named because barrels are topped up, as is ordinary practice everywhere else, might be the long-term winners.

The approach was used by notable vignerons Bénédicte and Stephane Tissot to mature the Jura from its reputation as a quirky outlier for bottlings like this one: a lacy, Puligny-like Chardonnay grown on pure limestone.

6. Chanterêves Bourgogne Pinot Noir

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Region: Burgundy

ABV: 13%

Taste: smooth, fruity, perfumed

Best With: chicken and turkey

Among the old family holdings in Burgundy, such as Domaine Berthaut-Gerbet, there is no shortage of new talent, as Amélie Berthaut of Domaine Berthaut-Gerbet can attest.

Outsiders, on the other hand, face a considerably more difficult, bootstrapping journey.

Yet, as this youthful, naturally-minded label from Tomoko Kuriyama and her husband Guillaume Bott demonstrates, the potential is always present.

Both have day jobs (Chandon de Briailles, Domaine Simon Bize), therefore they make Chanterêves on their own time, primarily from purchased fruit—exquisite yet approachable Burgundies with a global following.

7. Triennes Rosé 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Region: Provence

ABV: 13% 

Taste: Sweet fruity, earthy, salty

Best With: tomato-based dishes

This Provençal marvel stands out against a sea of substandard pink wines.

Jeremy Seysses and Aubert de Villaine, two renowned Burgundian winemakers, set their sights south in search of wonderful Mediterranean terroirs came up with this cheap wine.

Strawberry, grapefruit peel, fresh melon, and sea salt flavors dominate this easy-to-drink organic pink sipper. Only its price is better than its flavor.

8. Bollinger RD Extra Brut

Region: Champagne

ABV: 12.5%

Taste: fruity, smooth, nutty

Best With: crab, lobster, and shellfish 

Bollinger RD is a Champagne-based sparkling wine produced by Bollinger.

RD, or recently dégorgé. This brand lies on its lees (deposits of residual yeast and other particles) for eight years, resulting in complex flavors. 

The 1996 vintage was rated 2 Stars Coup de coeur by the Guide Hachette des Vins, and the 1999 vintage was awarded Gold by the Mundus Vini.

9. Bénédicte et Stéphane Tissot Crémant du Jura Brut (Sparkling, non-Champagne)

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Region: Jura, France 

ABV: 12.5% 

Taste: Pear, Nutty, a bit of toasted bread

Best With: Aperitif, lean fish, chicken, shellfish

These wines are prepared in the same style as Champagne, but they are manufactured outside of the eponymous region and employ different grape varietals depending on where they are produced. This high-end selection from Tissots, situated in Jura, is truly breathtaking.

Wines from Jura have a wide range of personalities and styles, but they always tend to trend toward the “geekier” side of things, with savory and earthy notes dominating.

10. Château Lafleur Pomerol

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Region: Bordeaux

ABV: 12.5% to 14.5%

Taste: rich, savory, smooth

Best With: beef and venison

Pomerol, more than any other Bordeaux appellation, has seen its popularity soar during the 1980s, with châteaux like L’Evangile and, of course, Petrus becoming both rare and expensive.

While hardly a bargain, Lafleur represented something unique: a small, enigmatic jewel of a property that had remained hidden in the shadows, in part because its longstanding owners, the Robin sisters, had little interest in luxury guests.

In the late 2010s,  Lafleur was slowly reintroduced to the public, as a rare example of a top Bordeaux that justified its price and scarcity.