Understanding French wine is understanding the lay of the land. The French philosophy on wine making (yes there are philosophies in making wine) is that terroir, or the geography that the vines grow in, is king. French winemaking tradition states that it is ultimately the land that determines whether a wine will be mediocre, excellent or nirvana; the winemaker can only give it a push in the right direction. This is in stark contrast to the New World belief that with proper technique, tools, and skill an excellent wine can be created anywhere grapes will grow.

The greatest Chateau in France, the ones with Grand Cru distinction, originally became famous because they were considered to have the best terroir. The French thought that this unique terroir gives the grapes grown on Grand Cru plots the maximum potential to become fantastic wines. This is not to say that good wine is consistantly made every year at Chateau with fantastic terroir, just that the potential for greatness is there.

This belief in the terroir of a vineyard also means that rankings in France do not change. A Grand Cru vineyard now will still be a Grand Cru in 100 years, even if they make only crap wines between now and then, simply because at some point the potential for greatness was determined to rest in the soil.

Excellent wines from great terroir boils down to two things, the winemaker and mother nature. In years of poor weather, i.e. Heavy rain during harvest creating waterlogged grapes, hail that damaged crops, an numerous other variables will create poor to mediocre wines. Perfect years of sunny weather with a long growing season that yields perfect grapes of exceptional quality still require a competent winemaker to work his/her magic. When the combination of a reputable producer, skilled winemaker, and good weather merge then you can be sure of two things. The price of the wine will rocket up to the moon and  it will taste wonderful.