What does an Englishman know about French wine?

Quite a lot, actually, though when I first opened A Traveller's Wine Guide To France I had my doubts.

The book's author, Englishman Christopher Fielden, has worked in the wine and spirits trade and written about wine for 45 years. His books on wines include those on Alsace, Burgundy, Spain, Germany, Latin America and France. But I did not know all this when I took the new 2007 edition of A Traveller's Wine Guide along on an extended stay in France last fall.

Settling into an armchair in my Paris apartment back in September, I leafed through Fielden's guide. The book's intended audience is wine lovers, but I believe one cannot really enjoy a good bottle of wine on an empty stomach. Imagine my dismay, then, when one of the first things I read was, "If you want to picnic, you can probably buy everything you need in a supermarket ..." It's true — but it's a bit like telling someone going to Italy that they can find pizza in the frozen food section.

Fielden briefly mentions the "specialists shops" but omits the cheese shops of a country famous for more than 500 cheeses. What picnic in France worthy of the name does not include a hunk of cheese, a bottle of wine and a baguette?

Flipping further, I found a description of the food in Corsica as "the hottest and spiciest of the French regions." Huh? No regional cuisine of France could be described as hot or spicy.

Then I looked at the publisher's information and realized Fielden was English. Famous for their bland cuisine and disdain of France's "stinky" cheeses, the English are also famous for being lovers of French wine, major importers since Eleanor of Aquitaine introduced them to the wines of her region, now commonly referred to as Bordeaux, in the 1100s.

Well, I thought, it is a wine guide after all, and moved on to the main point of the guide — visiting vineyards.

Fielden's guide is richly illustrated with general maps, photographs, and sidebars that provide addresses, contact information and opening hours of vineyards and cooperatives in all of the wine regions of France. He lists some local restaurants and hotels, but provides no price information and few descriptions.

Fielden also provides some limited tourist information, but this is not a sight-seeing guide. As an example, he mentions the 12th-century Chateau de Vougeot in Burgundy, but the text could be construed to indicate it is not open to the public. But it is, and it's well worth a visit — especially for wine-lovers — in part for its nearly 1,000-year-old wine presses.

As a wine educator, Fielden is at his best providing information about wine, wine tasting, varietal characteristics and visiting producers.

As in most guides, relatively short shrift is given to some of the smaller appellations or those who lack big international reputations — the petits vins, as the French call them — but Fielden does not ignore them, either. There is an entire section devoted to Corsica, for example, even though Corsican wines are rarely found outside of France, or even outside of Corsica.

I recognized many of the domaine names Fielden suggests visiting as producers whose wines represent good value. On the other hand, I also noticed that, for example, in the Champagne region, while he does highlight some little-known houses, 12 out of 20 are names you find on the international market.

An armchair review would be unfair, however, as visiting vineyards is the focus of Fielden's guide. So I took it along for a little wine tour with a French friend who lives and teaches in Aix-en-Provence. Our friend already had some places to visit in mind, one of which was on Fielden's list.

Fielden's pick was the Chateau de Calissane, which boasts a large modern tasting room set in an olive grove surrounded by vineyards at the base of limestone cliffs. Having just come from more traditional neighboring properties, it felt a little like walking into a Napa Valley operation. Chateau de Calissane definitely has its eye on the international market — Americans being a heavily influential portion of that market. Our hosts were, thus, anxious for us to try their cuvee prestige, which was made in the California, not the French, style: big fruit and oak whacked you in the palate. It was priced for Silicon Valley moguls, too.

That big California wine, however, was preceded by some more typical Provençal wines at more typical prices, several of which we took back on the train to Paris.

Later, at a seafood restaurant on the coast of Provence we ordered a white AOC Cassis from the Chateau de Fontblanche — another Fielden recommendation — and found it flawless. Back in Aix, we drank an appellation Aix-en-Provence rosé listed in Fielden's guide, a Chateau de Fonscolombe, which proved another good recommendation.

Don't be afraid to stray

Fielden's guide is an excellent starting point for travels through the vineyards of France. He offers good general guidelines and solid information on the wines. More adventurous travelers may want use Fielden's guide as a foundation while allowing their own noses (or information from the Tourist Office) to guide their wandering.