Transcript:
The same areas in the north and the South also make different appellations of sweet wines, including the very illustrious and famous and—
Bonjour, mon ami, dear wine enthusiasts. Today we’re learning about Bordeaux, the delicious Bordeaux wine, with ten things that you should definitely know about it, beyond the fact that it’s one of the most famous types of wine in the world and that it makes some of the finest wines on earth as well.
This everyone knows. But what else do you know about it? Or don’t you know about it? Let’s find out. What would be quite fun, I think, is to play a little game together. I’m going to give you ten key facts about Bordeaux wine, some obvious ones, and some definitely less evident. You can count how many you already knew.
And then in the comments section, let me know your score out of ten. And which fact surprised you the most. Let’s go.
Bordeaux is a City in France
Bordeaux is a type of wine, but before that, just like Champagne in France, it’s a region and an appellation of France, and it’s located in the southwestern part of the country by the Atlantic Ocean. Bordeaux is also, before it is a wine, more importantly, it’s a city, the sixth largest city in France. The city is surrounded by an ocean of vineyards all around it. If you’ve ever been, you know, 145,000 hectares of vines, 350,000 plus K acres of wine, making it the second biggest French region after Languedoc-roussillon. Did you know all that? Well, that’s a point for you.
The British Made Bordeaux
Here is a fact that you may not have known about Bordeaux. It was once part of the Royal Crown of England. Yes, the history is complicated with wars, alliances and marriages between the British royalty and the local Lords. But for quite a long time, a long period of time during the Middle Ages, starting in the 12th century, the Bordeaux region was English. Indeed. In fact, because it was British, the wine was massively exported to the UK, loaded on ships on the river in the port of Bordeaux. In the city of Bordeaux. There’s a big port on the river, and they were using, of course, wine barrels to transport all this wine.
Bordeaux invented Modern Winemaking
Because of this lucrative trade between Bordeaux and England, Bordeaux has had very early on in history a lot of money and a huge incentive to focus on making fine wine. The British nobility, and later the British bourgeoisie, demanded fine wine, not just any plonk that would come from the continent.
Yes, indeed. They were prepared to pay for it. So Bordeaux was always a pioneer in quality in France and of course, in the world, because they were the best in France and the best in the world as a consequence, because they shipped wine in oak barrels, they found out that oak maturation was a good thing because they shipped it in oak and they found out that the wine was better in England than it was when they left France.
More recently after World War Two, the Bordeaux winemaking University, where I happen to have studied at with its illustrious scientists and professors and the disciples, which I am proud to be one of pioneered the modern science of wine that we call Enology.
Bordeaux makes white wines
Here’s a free point for you. This one I’m pretty sure you already knew about Bordeaux makes indeed quite a lot of white wine.
About 20% of all wines made in Bordeaux is white, and they do make a bit of rosé. Rosé Bordeaux also exists. 20% is not all that much. But because Bordeaux is such a big wine producing region, well, it’s actually quite a lot of wine. There are two main styles of dry white wines in the area, a crisp, refreshing style that is especially made in the Entre-Deux-Mers area that’s in the north of the region.
Great with seafood and fish and a richer barrel fermented style in the Graves to the south. This one is more for aging and for top connoisseurs. Fantastic, delicious whites. Some of those areas, in fact, the same areas in the north and the south also make different appellations of sweet wines, including the very illustrious and famous and beautiful, including indeed the very famous ones such as those from Sauternes appellation. And yes, I had a little accident.
Bordeaux Wine is a Blend
That is probably another free point for you. And if I may here ask you to like this video if you enjoy it thus far, it really helps us out to make more content like this for you and really like this video, especially if you already knew this fact. Yes. Bordeaux wine is generally, most generally blended, virtually always blended.
The main two grapes that are world renowned are Cabernet Sauvignon and merlot. We’re talking about the red wines again here. Many wineries also include smaller amounts of cabernet franc and petite verdot to form what is called globally as the Bordeaux blend. Fun bonus fact: malbec that is known from Argentina and carménère known from Chile, both originated in the Bordeaux wine region, even though they’re hardly grown there anymore.
Bordeaux’ Two River Banks, Left & Right
There are two sides of the border region, two facets of the same coin. The right bank of the Garonne River to the northwest is a little higher in altitude, so the river deposited more clay historically, geologically in the soil, which makes it more suitable for growing merlot. The left bank, on the other hand, sits a little lower, so more sand was deposited there while the soil is more sandy soils, which is better for Cabernet sauvignon.
So you have two slightly variations on the same style, more merlot, more Cabernet.
The Most Expensive Bordeaux Wine
And the ultra famous Petrus wine from Pomerol is generally considered to be the most expensive and the most prestigious of all Bordeaux style small production, exceptional age worthiness for like 40, 50 years or more, depending on the vintage. Petrus is incomparable 100% merlot that sells on average for around $5,000 a bottle, depending on the vintage.
If you knew this fact, well, you can count yourself another point, because generally Petrus is definitely considered the most expensive Bordeaux wine. But there is one Bordeaux that is more expensive yet called Liber Pater, it’s a very small project and a little controversial because it sells for so much money. But they do sell their bottles for 30,000 plus dollars a bottle.
Bordeaux can be cheap
That said, Bordeaux wine can be really affordable as well, if not cheap. The confusing aspect you see of Bordeaux as a region is that the best Bordeaux wines do not fall under the Bordeaux wine appellation. So often the bottles do not even feature the name Bordeaux on the label. They come with the name of another specific village around the city of Bordeaux, where the wine is made.
Famous villages like Saint-Emilion or Pauillac, Margaux, Saint-Estèphe or Pomerol, etc. The ones that do come with the name Bordeaux. The Bordeaux appellation on the label are produced in lower quality areas or blended from various zones in the broader Bordeaux area. So they are generally quite affordable here in France, at least on the bottom shelves of every supermarket, any supermarket, you can find a four or $5 bottle of generic Bordeaux.
Those do not benefit from aging in cellar, by the way, all Bordeaux wines do not age for ten years or more.
Bordeaux Wine Classifications
If you’re looking for what is which is the best producer in Bordeaux. Well, there are rankings of the wineries in Bordeaux. The problem is that there are different classifications for the different areas. The left bank has its own classification made under Napoleon. Indeed. But that ranking hasn’t been updated since 1855.
The Graves, the South has a ranking dating from 1959, while Saint-Emilion has at least updated its classification in 2012 with some updates even last year in 2022. This is a little complicated to cover here, but let me know in the comments if you’d like a dedicated video right about this topic to understand it all, let me know. We’ll work on this too.
Bordeaux Grand Crus (classés)
And finally, do you know what is a “grand cru” wine in Bordeaux? What does grand cru mean in Bordeaux? It’s specific to this area in France. If you do have nine points so far, I might get you on this one.
Unlike in Burgundy or Champagne or Alsace, in Bordeaux grand cru doesn’t mean the wine is made from a vineyard that is recognized historically as being of superior quality. No, no, no. Everywhere else. But not in Bordeaux. In Bordeaux, grand cru means, well, it depends. In Saint-Emilion, grand crus can be made anywhere in the appellation, but they only need to produce a little bit less of it.
Lower yields, less grapes per acre, and a little more alcohol content in the grapes to claim the title. So they can produce it anywhere and Saint-Emilion. That’s why you can buy a $15 $15 bottle of Saint-Emilion. On the left bank, Medoc and Graves, the grand cru classes, or grand cru mention, is exclusive to certain wineries, those classified in 1855 or 1959 with no real link to where the vineyards are located.
It’s the wineries indeed that are grand crus, not the vineyards. Again, it’s a little confusing. I’ll cover these topics over time in our video series If you’re interested, let me know in the comments so we know. And here you have it. Ten key facts Every wine enthusiast should absolutely know about Bordeaux, I think.
And now, you know, I’d really be curious to hear how many of you knew all of this already or not in which aspect you found the most interesting and surprising. I got into some interesting details.
Hopefully you can also tell me if there’s a topic that you’d like me to cover in future videos. That’s it for me today. Thanks for watching. Share this video with anyone you might you think might be interested in it. We’ll see you soon. In the wonderful world of wine.
