Wine Regions

Wine Baby’s Guide to: Bordeaux

You simply cannot study wine without eventually talking about Bordeaux.

Geographically, it’s one of the largest wine regions in the world. It also produces an insane volume of wine, sitting somewhere between 700 and 900 MILLION bottles each year.

But it’s not world renowned because of it’s quantity. Bordeaux is famed for producing some of the highest quality (and highest priced) wines in the world. It can cost well over $1000 for a single top-tier bottle of wine. And these wines are so popular that often they are sold a “futures”.

The massive majority of wine produced in Bordeaux is red, but both the dry and sweet white wines have cult followings of their own. One of the incredible things about Bordeaux is how well their wines age, thanks to their structure – another reason wine collectors are drawn to this area.

But Bordeaux can also be extremely overwhelming for a novice wine drinker. First it’s broken down into several larger appellations that each have their own distinct style. With those are communes of particular note for their consistent quality. And within each of those are large swaths of Châteaux (wineries), some with names identifiable around the world.

Now that, I can handle. Where the confusion sets in is the classification systems. Here are the issues:

• there are are multiple systems, each with their own terminology, or shared terminology but with different meanings;
• the classifications have less to do with the quality of the terroir (like in Burgundy, for example), and more to do with the prestige of each Château. If a high end Château purchases a less desirable vineyard, that wine still qualifies under their classification, even if it’s nowhere as good;
• Some of the systems are wildly out of date. The 1855 Classification, for example, is exactly what it sounds like;
• And these classifications don’t always appear on the label, so they aren’t even all that helpful when shopping!

For Wine Babies, my recommendation is to start with getting to know the appellations and key communes, then build on that knowledge when you feel ready.

Quick tip: just start with Saint-Émilion. It’s the easiest to drink when young.

WHERE IS BORDEAUX?

The city of Bordeaux sits in the center of the greater Bordeaux wine region, in Southwestern France.

Bordeaux’s primary defining features are it’s water sources. The region is split by the Gironde estuary, which empties into the Atlantic to the Northwest. And the estuary is fed by the Garonne and Dordogne Rivers. This natural division of land is what we use as a guide for the different appellations of Bordeaux.

The most common terms you will hear when discussing Bordeaux wines are “Left Bank” and “Right Bank”. Quite simply, they are referring to the vineyards sitting on the left and right banks of the Gironde.

The Left Bank sits on the west side of the estuary, and the west side of the Garonne River. From North to South, it includes the appellations of the Médoc, Graves, and Sauternais.

The Right Bank sits on the east side of the Gironde estuary, and the east side of the Dordogne River. From North to South, it includes the appellations of Bourg and Blaye, and Libournais.

Where the Garonne and Dordogne Rivers merge to become the Gironde estuary, is the appellation of “Entre-Deux-Mers”, which literally means “between two seas/tides”.

We will get into more detail on these places a little later.

CLIMATE OF BORDEAUX

Bordeaux has a maritime climate, with summers getting hotter and more humid over time.

As mentioned above, the primary defining feature in Bordeaux is water. Bordeaux’s proximity to so many waterways helps to temper the climate. The downside to too much moisture in the air and sky, however, is occasional rain at harvest time and the risk of mold and mildew.

Severe cold snaps, frosts, and storms can also be an issue from time to time, but for the most part, Bordeaux is protected from extremes by a 2.5 million-acre manmade pine forest called Les Landes.

TERROIR OF BORDEAUX

Compared to some of France’s more mountainous wine regions, Bordeaux can look practically flat. But if you look carefully, you can see that it does consist of gently rolling hills which allow for some variations in sun exposure and soils types.

One of the fascinating things about Bordeaux is that a large section of it actually used to be marshland! But Dutch engineers were brought in to create drainage and make the land useable.

Again we see the influence of water. When it was basically a swamp, there would have been far too much water for the vines to grow well. Even now, the best vines grow on soils that drain well enough to cause a bit of “hydric stress”.

What’s “hydric stress”? Basically, we want the vines to struggle a bit for water. When things are too easy, they get lazy. The reasons are two fold:

1. When vines must go searching for water, it motivates their roots to grow deeper into the ground to find it. This adds not only stability to the vines, but also gives it access to different layers of soils that will contribute to greater complexity of flavour.
2. When vines are forced to work for their water, they develop stronger tannins, which are essential for the structure of a Bordeaux wine that makes it such great ageing material.

There are several different types of soils in Bordeaux, and the combinations in which they appear affect how suitable that land is for growing grapes.

The Left Bank’s best sites sit on gravel soils which are excellent for drainage. The Right Bank has a bit more variety with combinations of clay, limestone, and sand. Where gravel and stone drain extremely well, clay absorbs and retains the moisture. We want to find a good balance between the two, where the vines can access some water, but not too much.

GRAPE VARIETALS AND THE BORDEAUX BLENDS

The list of grape varietals permitted to be grown in Bordeaux isn’t very long. The list of those predominantly used is even shorter.

Merlot is the most widely planted, followed by Cabernet Sauvignon. Between the two of them, they create the basis for most red Bordeaux wines, and account for over 80% of all red grape vineyard land in Bordeaux.

Cabernet Franc is the third most popular, covering only 10%. Petit Verdot, Malbec, and Carménère round out the rest.

Although red grapes are the main attraction, the whites are showstoppers in their own right. Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc, and Muscadelle are the most widely planted. Ugni Blanc, Colombard, Merlot Blanc and Sauvignon Gris are also allowed but rarely used.

The art of blending these grape varietals is essential for the winemakers of Bordeaux. To learn more about the red Bordeax Blend, click here, and for more about white Bordeaux, click here.

For now, this is the cheat sheet you need:

• Left Bank Bordeaux wines are dominated by Cabernet Sauvignon. They are earthy, have grippy tannins, and lots of structure. The style is very clean and polished.
• Right Bank Bordeaux wines are dominated by Merlot. They are softer and rounded on the palate, with cherry and tobacco flavours.
• Graves produces both red Bordeaux and white Bordeaux blends.
• Entre-Deux-Mers is the key spot for producing white Bordeaux.
• Sauternais is renowned for it’s sweet wines, the result of “noble rot” that has affected the same white grapes used to produce white Bordeaux.

BORDEAUX AREAS TO KNOW

As I said early, the classification systems in Bordeaux can be overwhelming for “wine babies”, so let’s focus on a few key areas to know when you are looking for some quality wines.

Wines sourced from the greater Bordeaux area will be labelled “Bordeaux AOC”. These will generally be lower in quality, as the grapes can come from anywhere within Bordeaux. One step up from that is “Bordeaux Supérieur AOC”.

Pro-tip for wine shopping: a more specific location indicated on the label is a generally good indicator of quality.

Now let’s break things down into the larger appellations and their communes of note.

On the Left Bank we have the Médoc. This is broken down into northern and southern portions, with the southern portion referred to as the Haut-Médoc. Within the Haut-Médoc are several communes worth noting, but the most famous ones are Saint-Estèphe, Pauillac, Saint-Julien, and Margaux.

South of the Médoc is Graves. It has one notable area: Pessac-Leognan.

Further South is Sauternais. Sauternes is the most famous, but the smaller Barsac can also produce incredible quality (at a much lower price tag) on good vintages.

On the northernmost section of the Right Bank we have Bourg and Blaye, which is still an up and coming area. But when most people say “Right Bank”, they are referring to Libournais. Like the Left Bank, there are plenty of areas of note within Libournais, but the two you need to know are Pomerol and Saint-Émilion.

Armed with those names, you should have no problem finding some great Bordeaux wines to sink your teeth into. Let me know – are you a Left Bank or a Right Bank fan??