The Bluffer’s Guide to Bordeaux!

1. It’s all about the Gironde Estuary. One of the historical reasons the region has done so well is because of its proximity to water. Barrels could be loaded onto ships which caught the tide into the Bay of Biscay, from where it was an easy onwards and upwards into the Great Blue Yonder.
2. Bordeaux is at the latitudinal margins of red winemaking, which in English means some years aren’t quite warm and dry enough to make good wine. Hence the heightened obsession with vintage in Bordeaux compared to warmer regions.
3. Bordeaux red wine is a blend of different grapes. Having a choice of grape varieties offers a good hedge against the vicissitudes of the weather (see above).
4. The west side of the Estuary is known as Left Bank and its wines often favour Cabernet Sauvignon in the blend; the east side is known as the Right Bank and its wines usually tend to have more Merlot.
5. Perhaps Bordeaux’s most famous son is Decimus Magnus Ausonius (310 – 395AD) the Latin poet and rhetorician on whose former estates the current Chateau Ausone supposedly sits. He was famous for saying “Nemo bonus Brito est” – no good man is a Briton.

Tagged: Bordeaux, Red Wine