It’s fashionable these days to dump on the French — especially when it comes to wine. I’ve certainly done this: mocking France’s wine establishment for its blasé attitude toward New World competition and deriding the French government for its stupidly anti-wine posture. However, I’m not about to write the French off. Their cuisine may be passé, their cinema may lack verité, and their couture may be somewhat less than haute, but their wine — ah, their glorious wine! — is still the best in the world.

• Is there better Cabernet Sauvignon, for instance, than Château Latour or Château Margaux?
  
  
• Is there better Merlot than Château Pétrus?
  
  
• Is there better Cabernet Franc than Château Cheval Blanc?
  
  
• Is there better Chardonnay than Le Montrachet or its siblings Batard-Montrachet and Chevalier-Montrachet?
  
  
• Is there better Chenin Blanc than Vouvray or Savennières or Quarts de Chaume?
  
  
• Is there better Pinot Noir than Le Chambertin or Les Musigny or Romanée-Conti?
  
  
• Is there better Sauvignon Blanc than top-class Sancerre or Pouilly-Fumé?
  
  
• Is there better sparkling wine than Champagne?
  
  
• Is there better Syrah than Côte-Rôtie or Hermitage?
  
  
• Is there better Viognier than Condrieu?
  
  
• Is there better dessert wine than Sauternes or Barsac?
  
  
• Is there better brandy — a wine-based spirit — than Cognac or Armagnac?
  
  
• And finally, is there any country in the world that produces more benchmark wines (or benchmark wine derivatives) than France? Is there?