Most of France’s land frontiers are formed by natural geological features. The Pyrenees in the south, rising to a height of about 3,400 m, are a natural barrier between France and Spain. In the east the Alps, stretching from the French Riviera to Lake Geneva, and rising to 4,813 m, separate France from Italy and Switzerland, whilst farther north the Jura and forested Vosges lie close to the Swiss and German frontiers. France also has borders with Luxembourg and Belgium in the north.

Spain’s north-eastern boundary is with France. Spain and France jointly administer the small country of Andorra in the Pyrenees. To the east and south is the Mediterranean. The peninsula of Gibraltar is at the southern tip of the Iberian peninsula; it has been a British colony since 1704 but is claimed by Spain. Portugal occupies most of the western (Atlantic) section of the Iberian peninsula and to the north is the Bay of Biscay.

The Classic Wine Regions are the Old Money of the wine world - the blue bloods, the places with the longest-standing wine pedigrees. Some of these regions have been making wine for more than 2000 years.