Most Popular French Wines (2024)

While France produces the 10 most expensive wines in the world, the country's wine producers also make a massive amount of value wine. To help you determine which French wines are worth buying next, we analyzed the top 50 most popular French wines on Vivino. Once you get through France, you may find yourself wondering how good Italy's most popular wines are. Don't worry, we have a guide for that too in our article, Top 25 Most Popular Italian Wines.

Why Are The Best French Wines From Bordeaux?

70 percent of the most popular French wines on Vivino are high-end Bordeaux wines, mostly Grand Cru Classés from the Left Bank Médoc area. To learn more about these wines and what Cru Classés are, check out my Guide to Bordeaux Wine Classifications.

The eight first growths from Bordeaux are some of the best and most popular reds in the world, and they also receive high ratings from the Vivino community, all averaging 4.5 or 4.6 stars.

• Château Mouton Rothschild Pauillac
• Château Lafite Rothschild Pauillac
• Château Margaux
• Château Latour Pauillac
• Château Haut-Brion Pessac-Léognan
• Pétrus Pomerol, Château Cheval Blanc Saint Émilion
• Château d'Yquem Sauternes

Other top wines here are from the famous and fine villages along the Left Bank of the Gironde estuary: Margaux, Pauillac, Saint-Julien, and Saint-Estèphe.

If you are wondering why wines from the Right Bank, which consists of famous appellations like Saint-Emilion and Pomerol, are so little represented here, it is probably because Right Bank estates are smaller, and their wines are therefore less widely available worldwide. The same applies to the best Burgundy wines, absent from the most popular list because they are not as widely available internationally.

If you're feeling inspired to bring home a bottle? French reds with at least 4 stars under $50 is a spectacular place to start.

Popular French Wines Under $20

While many of Vivino’s most popular French wines are expensive, we also see that superior French wines are not only the privilege of the elite that can afford the world’s best.

Several of our most popular and affordable red wines can broadly be found on many wine merchants’ shelves. These include the number one most popular French wine, Mouton-Cadet Bordeaux. There are also tasty examples from the South of France, Languedoc and Rhône, such as:

• E. Guigal Red Côtes Du Rhône
• J.P. Chenet Pays D'Oc Cabernet - Syrah
• La Vieille Ferme Rouge
• Famille Perrin Côtes Du Rhône Réserve Rouge
• Château de Seguin Bordeaux Supérieur

The average rating of these wines ranges from 3.3 - 3.6 stars, making them solid value options. At a slightly higher price tag, the Saint-Émilion Grand Cru by the village’s cooperative winery called Union de Producteurs de Saint-Émilion is also broadly appreciated within the Vivino community.

Examining the Most Popular Champagne Wines

We all know that fine French Champagne is adored by wine lovers around the globe. But did you know that the French drink 53% of their Champagne themselves, domestically?

In 2014, the French drank over 162 million bottles of Champagne, nearly three bottles per person. The rest of the seven billion people on Earth had to share the remaining 145 million bottles that were exported.

That said, there is enough Champagne available globally for Vivino users to taste and generously share ratings for. Seven of the top 50 most popular French wines are Champagne, non-vintage cuvées from famous houses such as:

• Veuve Clicquot
• Bollinger
• Louis Roederer
• Taittinger
• Laurent-Perrier

Dom Pérignon is the only Prestige Cuvée here, but it’s the third most popular French wine overall, and with an outstanding 4.5 star average rating.

French White Wines

Did you notice that I haven’t mentioned many still white wines so far? Of the 50 most popular French wines, only two still white wines made the cut. One mentioned earlier is the famous sweet Botrytis wine Château d'Yquem Sauternes. The other is a very well made, crisp and fruity white from the Rhone Valley: E. Guigal Côtes Du Rhône Blanc.

Many ultra-famous French wines from popular regions such as the Loire, Burgundy, Alsace, Languedoc-Roussillon, or Beaujolais are overshadowed by Bordeaux and Champagne in this list. There is however a Châteauneuf-du-Pape wine from the largest producer in the appellation that made the cut: Château Mont-Redon Châteauneuf-du-Pape.

And voilà, there you have it, now go out and get yourself a bottle of French wine.

Rank - Wine Name - Average Star Rating

1. Mouton Cadet Bordeaux - 3.3
2. - 4.0
3. Dom Pérignon Champagne Brut - 4.5
4. Veuve Clicquot Champagne Brut (Carte Jaune) - 4.2
5. Château Mouton Rothschild Pauillac - 4.5
6. Château Lynch-Bages Pauillac Grand Vin Grand Cru Classé - 4.3
7. E. Guigal Côtes du Rhône - 3.5
8. J.P. Chenet Pays D'Oc Cabernet - Syrah - 3.2
9. Château Lafite Rothschild Pauillac - 4.6
10. Château Talbot Saint-Julien Grand Cru Classé - 4.1
11. Château Margaux Margaux Premier Grand Cru Classé - 4.6
12. Château Latour Grand Vin Pauillac Premier Grand Cru Classé - 4.6
13. Château Giscours Margaux Grand Cru Classé - 4.1
14. Château Haut-Brion Pessac-Léognan Premier Grand Cru Classé - 4.5
15. La Vieille Ferme Rouge - 3.3
16. Pétrus Pomerol - 4.6
17. Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande Pauillac Grand Cru Classé - 4.3
18. Château Cos d'Estournel Saint-Èstephe - 4.3
19. Château Pichon-Longueville Baron Pauillac - 4.3
20. Château Pontet-Canet Pauillac Grand Cru Classé - 4.2
21. Château Gruaud-Larose Saint-Julien Grand Cru Classé - 4.1
22. Bollinger Special Cuvée Brut Champagne - 4.2
23. Château Montrose Saint-Estèphe - 4.2
24. Union de Producteurs de Saint-Émilion Saint-Émilion Grand Cru - 3.4
25. Château Leoville Barton Saint-Julien - 4.2
26. Château d'Armailhac Pauillac Grand Cru Classé - 4.0
27. Château Cantemerle Haut-Médoc Grand Cru Classé - 3.8
28. Château Chasse-Spleen Moulis en Médoc - 3.9
29. Château Lagrange Saint-Julien Grand Cru Classé - 4.0
30. Château d'Yquem Sauternes (a.k.a. Lur Saluces) - 4.6
31. Louis Roederer Champagne Brut Premier - 4.1
32. Laurent-Perrier Champagne Brut - 3.9
33. E. Guigal Côtes du Rhône Blanc - 3.5
34. Château Léoville Poyferré Saint Julien - 4.2
35. Château Lascombes Margaux Grand Cru Classé - 4.1
36. Château Sociando-Mallet Haut-Médoc - 3.9
37. Château Mont-Redon Châteauneuf-du-Pape - 4.1
38. Taittinger Champagne Brut Réserve - 4.1
39. Château Cheval Blanc Saint Émilion Premier Grand Cru Classé - 4.6
40. Château Gloria Saint-Julien - 3.9
41. Château de Seguin Bordeaux Supérieur - 3.4
42. Château Clerc Milon Pauillac Grand Cru Classé - 4.0
43. Château Duhart-Milon Pauillac Grand Cru Classé - 4.1
44. Château Calon-Ségur Saint-Estèphe Grand Cru Classé - 4.1
45. Château Ducru-Beaucaillou Saint-Julien Grand Cru Classé - 4.3
46. Château Beychevelle Saint-Julien Grand Cru Classé - 4.1
47. Château Carbonnieux Pessac-Léognan Grand Cru Classé de Graves - 3.9
48. Château Leoville Las Cases Saint-Julien Grand Vin de Léoville - 4.4
49. Famille Perrin Côtes du Rhône Réserve Rouge - 3.4
50. Château Palmer Margaux - 4.4

Julien is the founder of Social Vignerons winner of the 2015 Best New Wine Blog from the Wine Blog Awards. Follow him on Vivino and on Twitter.