Учебное пособие Санкт-Петербург 2010

Exercise 3.3. Read the text about French wines and match the words with their definitions:

- chilled a tasting strong and rich

- luscious b the opposite of sweet wine
- dry c slightly cold
- fragrant d where grapes are grown
- full-bodied e having a strong and pleasant smell
- vineyard f having a pleasant sweet taste

France is famous for its wines. Paris is the best place in France to sample a wide range of the country’s many different wines. It’s cheapest to order wine by the carafe. Cafés and wine bars always offer wine by the glass – a small glass of white, a larger glass of red. House wine is nearly always a reliable choice.

Red wine.

Some of the world’s finest and most expensive red wines come from Bordeaux and burgundy regions, but for everyday drinking choose from the enormous range of basic Bordeaux and Côtes du Rhône wines. Alternatively try Beaujolais, which comes from the southern end of Burgundy and is light enough to serve chilled.

White wine

The finest white Bordeaux and Burgundy are best with food but for everyday drinking try a little dry wine such as Entre-les-Deux Mers or Anjou Blanc or Sauvignon de Touraine from the Loire valley.

Sparkling wine.

In France champagne is the first choice for a celebration drink, and styles range from non-vintage to deluxe. Many other wine regions make sparkling wines by the champagne method and they tend to be a lot cheaper. Look out for Crémant de Loire, Vouvray Mousseux and Blanquette de Limoux.

Beajoules Nouveau, the fruity first taste of the year’s new wine, is released on the third Thursday of November.

Southern Rhône is famous for its dark, rich red wines from Châteauneuf-du-Pape north of Avignon.

Northern Rhône has some dark, fragrant red wines, best aged for ten years, from Côte-Rôtie near Vienne.

Burgundy wines include Chablis, a fresh, full-bodied dry wine from the northernmost vineyards.

The Bordeaux region produces Barsac and Sauternes which are sweet, luscious golden colored wines suitable to accompany a desert.