New York (April 7, 2022) – Barton & Guestier (B&G)’s Bistro Sauvignon Blanc has been awarded a Gold Medal in The Best Value Vin De France Selection 2022, a competition held to promote Vin De France Wines (VDF). This is the second consecutive year B&G’s Bistro has received Gold in The Best Value Vin De France category with the collection’s Bistro Pinot Noir winning Gold in 2021. The competition was held in Paris, France at a blind tasting hosted by 40 wine buyers and oenologists, with a total of 443 wines entered from 100 French wine companies. The panel included international key buyers from America and Europe.
“We are honored to be recognized with this award amongst a record number of gold medalists this year and to continue serving as ambassadors for the Vin De France denomination,” says Carlos Varela, CEO of BGPL USA, importer and marketer of Barton & Guestier. “Our Bistro range is an invitation to consumers to discover and understand French varietals in a modern style and at a very competitive price.” VDF has many liberties, unlike appellation wines, allowing our winemaker to express his creativity and respect for nature to reveal the best of the French varietals and compete in the category without any quality compromise.”
B&G’s Bistro range, consisting of sustainably-farmed Pinot Noir and Sauvignon Blanc, offers an uninhibited way to drink French wines. As a nod to its name, Bistro embraces ‘drinking wine where we want, how we want.’ The wines reflect the qualities of good bistro wines: simple and unpretentious, yet distinctively French. On the uniqueness of the Bistro style, B&G Head Winemaker, Laurent Prada says, “We have been working closely with our partner winegrowers to make wines in line with the Bistro style. For me, a ‘Bistro’ wine is aromatic, fresh, juicy, and easy-going. It is designed for a ‘prendre un verre’ (have a drink) moment and matches perfectly with the Brasserie unsophisticated cuisine.”
The trendy varietal, Sauvignon Blanc, is one of the strongest-growing varietal styles in recent years, according to Nielsen. Bistro’s Sauvignon Blanc tells the story of a team of powerful women at work. “This exceptional cuvée has been created in partnership with our winemaker, Florence Tessier, and two experts from the South-West terroirs, Valérie Blanchet, and Audrey Albert, who managed the wine’s production in a particularly difficult year to produce a very expressive and powerful blend,” says Prada. Bistro Sauvignon Blanc was selected from a winery managed by two female Oenologists, Christelle Bourragne and Sophie Maliquet, and one female Vineyard Technician, Christelle Cazenave, who maintains plot selection and harvest organization among other tasks.
The result is an exotic and fresh selection with beautiful flavor development while remaining affordable. It is produced with grapes from the South of France, where warm and windy climates make for some of the best Sauvignon Blanc in the country. Like Bistro’s Pinot Noir, viticulture elements include low yields and rigorous selection of the grapes. Much like the signature element of New World wine varietals, Bistro features a screw cap enclosure for convenience. With the global shortage of Sauvignon Blanc cases and retail prices expected to increase in the US as a result, Bistro’s Sauvignon Blanc presents a quality yet affordable selection for consumers looking to enjoy this varietal.
Bistro’s award-winning Pinot Noir is produced with grapes from Languedoc Roussillon and Corsica vineyards farmed in diverse terroirs (shale, slate, limestone, gravel), adding complexity and richness to the wine. In addition to winning Gold in Anivin de France Best Value Selection 2021, B&G’s Bistro Pinot Noir has rated 89 pts “Best Buy” by Wine Enthusiast. According to the online wine vendor, Wine Access, Pinot Noir, while still second in the top three wine varietals next to Cabernet Sauvignon, for the younger generations, is becoming increasingly popular. Bistro Pinot Noir offers an approachable, yet affordable wine with intense aromas of rich red cherry fruits, tobacco and coffee notes. The Mediterranean climate with a selection of old vines located in the coolest vineyard areas offers an ideal setting for the maturation of Pinot Noir. Viticulture elements include low yields and hand tending which offers careful selection and minimal interference in the natural ripening of the grapes.
Vin De France wines offer authentic wines made with the finesse and flair of original French grapes. According to Anivin de France, the rise in popularity of VDF continues with trade and consumers with VDF exports representing 15% of all French still wine exports by volume and the US is among the top three markets for VDF bottled varietals.
About BGPL USA
The importer and marketer of Barton & Guestier, Patriarche and Listel brands in the U.S., BGPL USA offers a comprehensive portfolio of French wines for the US market. Barton & Guestier is the oldest winehouse of Bordeaux, with three centuries of winemaking history and award-winning wines sourced from almost 200 winegrowers in France. Based in Beaune, Patriarche is a Bourgogne winehouse specialized in the Charmat Method and Traditional Method sparkling wines as well as still AOC wines. Patriarche’s underground cellars, the largest in Europe, age 3 million bottles and welcome about 45,000 visitors each year. Listel is the maker of the best-selling rosé wine sold in France. Social Media: @bartonguestier_france, @veuveduvernay, @listelusaofficial
