Echoes of Paris: Vin de France!

by Robin Garr | July 11, 2025

I fondly remember falling in love with Paris long ago, grinning with delight as I sat at a classic sidewalk café, proudly using my fractured French to summon a little pitcher of cheap red wine.

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I still enjoy an occasional cheap, basic wine like Vin de France or basic Chianti. How about you?

Quite a few years have gone by since then. The European Union has formed, and the Euro has replaced the Franc. I’ve put some more miles on my personal odometer, and I’ve been able to get my hands on somewhat fancier wine than that generic Vin de Pays on return trips to the City of Light.

My French is still fractured but at least functional for ordering food and wine and other tourist needs. And in spite of my ability to sip somewhat more elevated wines, I still like the basic, rough-edged yet food-friendly kind of wine that came in that little two-glass pitcher called a “petit pichet.”

It’s still easy to find a petit pichet in France. This pretty little carafe is available from SaveurVin.com for 22,90€.

Curiously, though, thanks to European regulations, even the name of France’s most generic level of wine has changed. The old Vin de Pays (“wine of the country”) designation, used for centuries to describe the basic, everyday wine beloved by vineyard and winery workers and anyone headed to the local bistro for a quick glass and a bite, is no more. Say hello to Vin de France (“wine of France”), created in 2009 in an administrative effort to standardize – insofar as such a thing is possible – wine designations across Europe.

“It’s a relatively ungrateful wine category,” explained Sebastian Nickel on the French website vinparleur.net. “Although it includes fantastic, rare wines, it also takes all the ‘leftovers’ of French wine production. From scariest, cheap booze (whose brand names we do not want to point out here) to rare produceds from old vines… just everything. Synonymous with coarse, industrialized mass production for decades, people often forget that there are different reasons why a wine may be labeled Vin de France.”

For more details, offered with a classic Gallic shrug and wink, check out Nickel’s article Who or what is hiding behind the name “Vin de France”?

Or, to cut directly to the chase, I can’t say it better than Nickel’s conclusion:

ADVICE 1: If you have a curious palate, pay special attention to the Vin de France wines at the next visit to your favorite wine store. You could experience pleasant surprises …

ADVICE 2: If you have a delicate palate, avoid the lower wine shelves containing Vin de France on your next visit to the nearest supermarket. No pleasant surprise in sight…

I followed Advice 1 and picked up a tasty Vin de France Pinot Noir the other day. Although it’s grown in the Loire Valley and shows some of the lean, acidic character I expect from a Loire red, it makes no pretense beyond its modest price tag in the lower teens. It made me happy, even without a little pichet to serve it from.

Today’s Tasting Report

Le Garenne 2023 Vin de France Pinot Noir ($13.99)

Le Garenne Pinot Noir bears the most basic French wine classification, “Vin de France.” It’s 100% Pinot Noir, though, and both its Pinot and Loire characteristics show in a tasty, affordable everyday red wine. Ruby red and faintly hazy, its appealing aromas blend ripe cranberries with pleasant notes of tomato skin and tobacco leaf alongside brown spices attributable to French oak. Good Pinot fruit on the palate is framed by food-friendly acidity and light tannic astringency that lingers with tart cranberry fruit in a long finish. 13.5% alcohol. U.S. importer: Asgram, Miami, Fla. (July 8, 2025)

FOOD MATCH: The winery bills this Pinot Noir as the pick for a “BBQ chill-out party,” and suggests pairing it with barbecued ribs and poultry, roasted salmon, or hearty vegetarian entrees.

WHEN TO DRINK: It’s not a candidate for cellaring, but should hold up well for the next year or more, stored on its side in a cool, shady location.

VALUE:
Le Garenne Pinot Noir is widely offered from $10 through the middle teens, and it’s a fine value through that range. Don’t panic at Wine-Searcher’s listed $33 average retail, which appears to be thrown off by one vendor’s bizarrely high price.

WEB LINK:
Here’s the La Garenne fact sheet on its Vin de France Pinot Noir.

FIND THIS WINE ONLINE:
Check prices and find vendors for Le Garenne Pinot Noir on Wine-Searcher.com.

Read about the wines of France’s Loire Valley at this Wine-Searcher link.

Click this link for Wine-Searcher’s info page on Pinot Noir.

Find the wines you want

Explore Wine-Searcher

Wine-Searcher.com is the place to go online if you want to find where to buy a particular wine that interests you. What’s more, Wine-Searcher.com offers so much more. It’s well worth a visit just to discover its many features, including its popular list of the world’s Top 10 Best Value Wines.

Good wines we’ve tried under $10.99!

Want tips to find more good, inexpensive wines? Here are Wine-Searcher links to vendors and prices for a bunch more wines for $10.99 or less that I’ve told you about in recent years. In some cases, the prices may have risen over the $10.99 mark since I reviewed them, but they should still be excellent bargains. Please tell us about your favorites!

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