Is it because France’s wine producers are trying to have their gâteau and eat it that like Dr.Doolittle’s pushme-pullyu, French wine seems to be trying to pull in at least two different directions at once? On the one hand French Customs tells us that France is shifting shedloads of wine with exports that have leapt to over nine billion euros (£7b), or the equivalent of sales of 180 Airbus aircraft. We in the UK did our bit by taking French wine worth eight per cent more last year. All of which would be excellent news for France if it weren’t for the fact that the euro’s frightening power compared to currencies such as the pound and the dollar, not forgetting the Chinese yuan, spells trouble for its efforts to maintain existing relationships and open new fronts.

Champagne is one of its greatest continuing success stories with more than 338 million bottles of champagne sold worldwide in 2007. Small wonder with champagnes of the calibre of Selfridges Premier Cru Champagne, £22.99, a seductive fizz from the house of Médot’s Philippe Guidot and Thierry Lombard, whose copper tinges betray a base of pinot meunier and pinot noir with toasty aromas followed by an essence of crushed Cox’s apples richness. The biggest growth area in fizz bringing the value of all French sparkling wines to €593m (£452m) came not from champagne though but from Crémant de Bourgogne, and with raspberryish elegance from Blason de Bourgogne’s Crémant de Bourgogne Rosé, £8.99, Waitrose, burgundy’s fizz is a handy alternative to champagne.

Thanks to a boost from good recent vintage in 2005 and 2006, Burgundy saw its sales up over 20 per cent. There’s another reason: a big improvement in red and white burgundy appellations once considered dull as ditchwater. Mâcon’s many village chardonnays are on the up with wines like Christophe Cordier’s intensely-flavoured, leesy 2006 Mâcon Fuissé Vieilles Vignes, £10.99, or buy two = £9.99, Majestic. Aloxe Corton in reds can be good value too, like the succulently raspberryish 2005 Aloxe-Corton, £18.99, Majestic. Bordeaux more than held its ground last year, but it’s hugely schizophrenic with, on the one hand bog-standard basic Bordeaux selling at Aldi in France for at €1.30 (£0.97) a bottle and on the other quality Bordeaux worthy of the château name like cherryish blackcucrranty 2001 Château Domeyne, St.Estephe, £14.99, Marks & Spencer.

Also on an upward curve last year were Côtes de Provence, Côtes du Ventoux and Vins de Pays, the latter thanks to wines of the quality of the aromatic, smooth and richly blackcurranty 2006 Domaine Saint Rose, Le Soleil du Sud, Cabernet Syrah, Vin de Pays des Côtes de Thongue, £9.99, buy two = £7.99, Majestic. Beaujolais is up too, hopefully because drinkers are moving from nouveau to the real thing such as Paul Beaudet’s cherryish 2006 Saint Amour ‘Aux Anges’, £7.99, buy two = £6.99, Majestic, and Jean Foillard’s traditional, almost burgundian, wax-sealed Morgon, Côte du Py, £12.99, Les Caves de Pyrène, Guildford (01483 538820).

Despite fine alternatives to Sancerre like the juicily herbaceous 2005 Le Clos du Pressoir, Menetou Salon, Joseph Mellot, £10.25, Corney & Barrow, London (020 7221 5122), the Loire Valley slid back. Côtes du Rhône too, which is hard to understand with fine Châteauneuf-du-Pape of the quality of the approachably modern Domaine de la Charbonnière, £17.95, Great Western Wine, Bath (01225 322810) or bright, spicy 2005 Domaine de Ferrand, £18.95, The Vine Trail, Bristol (0117 921 1770). Alsace and the Languedoc-Roussillon are also static, despite wines of rustic charm of the 2005 Chapoutier, Côtes du Roussillon, Bila Haut, around £7, Noel Young, Cambridge ((01223 844744), Wimbledon Wine Cellars (020 8540 9979), Corney & Barrow. Will EU reforms allowing simpler grape variety and vintage on the label due from 1 August help the underperforming regions buck the trend? French fingers will be crossed.

Something For the Weekend 15 March 2008

2007 Tesco Finest Denman Semillon, £4.99, down from £6.99, to 25 March, Tesco

From the Tesco own-label premium range, the youthful lemony undertones and refreshing blade of citrusy acidity are typical of the semillon in its natural Aussie habitat of the warm, humid Hunter Valley.

Under a Tenner

2007 Maycas del Limarí Sauvignon Blanc, £6.99, Marks & Spencer

Marcelo Papa at Concha y Toro is behind this new brand dedicated to the cool, Ocean-influenced Limarí and the recent discovery cool climate varieties like this sauvignon blanc can produce assertive Pouilly Fumé-like green pepper and nettley characters here with a zesty punch.

Splash Out

2005 Trinity Hill Gimblett Gravels, Hawkes Bay, Syrah, around £21.00, Harvey Nichols, Alexander Wines, Glasgow (0141 882 0039) Cornelius Beer and Wine, Edinburgh (0131 652 2405).

The sweet spot of Hawkes Bay in New Zealand, the Gimblett Gravels’s reputation is growing for fine reds based on Bordeaux, and latterly, Rhône grape varieties, like this exciting pepper and violet-scented syrah, with its Côte Rôtie-like pepper, spice and elegant blackberry fruitiness.