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Bordeaux Wine
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The wines of Bordeaux have set the worldwide standard for quality and longevity. Both red and white, they are constistently among France's most memorable wines.
Bordeaux is undoubtedly one of only a few truly legendary wine regions in the world. It is a place where, as if it were ordained by the land itself, both environmental and climatic conditions have harmoniously intermingled to create wines that consistently set the benchmark for excellence. Bordeaux wines of one style or another are made by some 16,000 producers, of which upwards of about 100 have achieved international fame. This is an almost unheard of number for any wine region of its size, and because of this, Bordeaux wine on the whole has become among the most renowned and expensive in the world.
Unfortunately, for the average consumer, this has meant the inevitableflood of cheap imitations and lackluster pretenders, both within and outside of Bordeaux. But once one wades successfully through the sometimes arcane, daunting terminology of the region, and begins to understand how really good Bordeaux is made, finding the proper Bordeaux wine to suit ones needs is not so difficult.
A prime factor to the success of the wine is the freedom that estates have in adjusting their blends from year to year. In this way, Bordeaux winemakers are allowed to compensate for deficiencies in the character of the different varietal base wines. But this operation is also the dividing line between the elite estates and the rest of the pack, as the deftness of the winemakers determines their ability to correctly create a successful blend in a given year. The better houses are obviously much better at this and are far more selective with the quality of fruit that they put into the final blend.
The Bordeaux Classification System
The first and most famous classification system adopted in Bordeaux was established in 1855 and covers only wines produced in the Médoc. The system, which simply called classification of 1855, is based on the quality of producers and not on the production area, a concept that conflicts with the principle of terroir so dear to France on the whole. The system ranks the wines as Cru Classé (basically meaning "classed vineyards") in categories ranging from first to fifth. At the very top is Premier Cru, the first and most important category of the system, and then it continues along to Duexième Cru, Third Cru, Cru Quartième and Fifth Cru, the last category of the system. This classification is used for 60 châteaux of the Médoc and one of Graves. In the Premier Cru one will find many of the most prestigious and expensive wines Bordeaux, such as Chateaux Margaux, Lafite, Haut-Brion, and Cheval Blac. Generally the producers included in the categories of this rating system must operate with very stringent criteria of production and quality, resulting in a significant price increase.
The classification of 1855 also established specific categories for the wines of Sauternes and Barsac by dividing them into Premier Cru Supérieur Classé, Premier Cru Classé and Deuxième Cru Classé. In 1953, the rating system for wines of Graves was also launched. In it there are are no divisions but only one name, Cru Classé, which is attributed only to wines considered of higher quality and prestige. The area of St-Emilion was classified in 1954 using another system and is the only one to be reviewed every 10 years. The highest category of St-Emilion is defined as Premier Grand Cru Classé, followed by Grand Cru Classé and, finally, Grand Cru.
These classifications include only a fraction of the wines produced in Bordeaux, without providing for hundreds of châteaux that still deserve attention. For this reason the class of Cru Bourgeois was established in 1932 as a special category for the châteaux of the Médoc excluded from the classification of 1855. The category was initially conceived in order to classify all those wines intended for consumption daily or frequently, therefore lesser in cost than the Cru Classé. But recently this classification has been annulled by French regulators, and consequently, it is no longer legal for winemakers to designate their wines as such.
Styles of Bordeaux
It is commonly overlooked that most Bordeaux wines are neither famous nor expensive but instead are good as everyday drinking and dinner wines. They are, in the most basic sense, about elegance and intensity of flavor; rarely are they massive or powerful. While there are many good wines to be found, one should still tread carefully in this category. Made up primarily of the generic Bordeaux appellations, labeled simply Bordeaux, or Bordeaux Superieur, it does includes scores of utterly simple wines. Mouton Cadet, which is one of the most well-known wine brands in the world, is one of these. One may just witness the apotheosis of fruit at the most elite level of Bordeaux wine. The famous red Bordeaux which are revered throughout the world can, and do, deliver a wine experience worthy of their iconic status. These wines represent less than five per cent of the region's total production, and are characterized by their ability to continually evolve during years---sometimes decades--of bottle aging.
Only about a quarter of all Bordeaux is white, some dry as well as sweet. And yet with such a relatively small percentage of its total production, certain white Bordeaux wines have attained an iconic status similar to that enjoyed by its most famous reds. The classic recipe for sweet white wines is 80 % Semillon to 20% Sauvignon Blanc. It is in Sauternes where this style reaches its zenith, producing the world benchmark from which all other sweet white wines must compare. Small quantities of rose and sparkling cremant are also made
Jump to: Red Bordeaux, Sweet White Bordeaux, Dry White Bordeaux, Bordeaux Rose
Vine Varieties of Bordeaux
Both dry and sweet white wines also have an important place in Bordeaux. Like the red, white Bordeaux is a blend of wines produced from two or more grape varieties. In most areas, the predominant variety is Sauvignon Blanc, followed by Semillon. The 2:1 proportion of these cultivars in other regions is reversed in Sauternes and Barsac, in which sweet, sometimes botrytized, wines are produced.
The primacy of Semillon in Sauternes is due in large part to the characteristics of the grape that are highly favorable to creating richly sweet wines. For one, it is especially susceptible to the formation of the beneficial mold that is key to the wine's production. But it is also the tendency of Semillon to acquire rich, creamy, honeyed flavors and textures over time that makes it so suitable for Sauternes.
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