Wine region Bordeaux France
Bordeaux (Bordelais in French) is the world's largest contiguous growing region for high-quality wine. The number of existing wine estates, most of which are called châteaux, often varies greatly. A figure as high as 60,000 was quoted for the period around 1950. Today, many of the formerly small wine estates in Bordeaux have been amalgamated and their number is given as between 11,000 and 5,000. Possibly depending on whether you count the many private labels. The size of Bordeaux means that there are considerable differences in the quality of the wines. Only 8% of the total vineyard area is high-quality terroir for fine wines. The Bordeaux AOC appellation applies to simple wines, often private labels, i.e. supermarket wines. The production of small wine estates is bought up by mass producers. It does not yield enough for self-marketing. The Bordeaux Superieur appellation has stricter quality criteria. Here, alongside large producers, you will also find ambitious wine estates that produce their own wine through and through. But quality always comes at a price. For the same money, you can also get a Bordeaux from one of the communal appellations.
The most important wine estates in Bordeaux (around 600) always belong to specific sub-regions and appellations. The names of these wine regions are legendary: Margaux, Saint Julien, Pauillac, Saint Estephe, Listrac, Moulis, Graves Pessac Leognan, Saint Emilion, Pomerol. These regions and their communes in turn have different classifications that designate the value of the main wine / Grand Vin of each chateau.
Typical of Bordeaux are the dry, long-lasting red wines, which are characterised by the Cabernet Sauvignon grape variety in the Médoc and Merlot in Saint-Émilion and Pomerol. White wine accounts for just under 20% of production. The top white wines are the noble sweet Sauternes and Barsac. The dry white wines with the most character come from the Graves area south-east of Bordeaux.
Left bank (MĂ©doc, Graves) - right bank (St.Emilion, Pomerol) and the rest The sub-regions in Bordeaux
The Bordeaux wine-growing region is located in the estuary of the Garonne and Dordogne rivers at exactly 45 degrees north latitude in south-west France. The large harbour city of Bordeaux, located at the mouth of the rivers, gives its name to the wine region and was for a long time the dominant transhipment point for wine and home to the major wine trading houses.
The Bordeaux communes (appellations) with the right soil
The region can be divided into clearly distinguishable areas: on the left bank of the Gironde (as the Garonne and Dordogne are called after their confluence) are MĂ©doc / Haut MĂ©doc with the municipalities of Pauillac, Saint Julien, Saint Estephe, Margaux, as well as Moulis and Listrac. South of Bordeaux on the left bank of the Garonne are Graves and Pessac Leognan, as well as Sauternes and Barsac. The term left bank, rive gauche in French, is often used to describe the wine style of this part of Bordeaux, which is dominated by the Cabernet Sauvignon grape variety.
On the right bank of the Dordogne lies the Libournais with the Saint Emilion and Pomerol appellations. The wines of the right bank, rive droite, are classically characterised by the Merlot grape variety. Bordeaux also includes the areas on the right bank of the Gironde Fronsac, Blayais and Bourgeais and between the Garonne and Dordogne Entre-Deux-Mers. The Fronsac, CĂ´te de Blaye and CĂ´te de Bourg growing areas, as well as considerable parts of Saint Emilion and MĂ©doc, are Bordeaux appellations for wines of rather average quality. Entre-Deux-Mers is mainly home to white wines and red wines of the Bordeaux AOC quality level.
The entire wine-growing region rests on a huge limestone base from the Tertiary period. However, this does not outcrop everywhere, but is mostly covered by glacial deposits of sand and gravel. They were carried in by the Isle, Dordogne and Garonne rivers. In the MĂ©doc, they can be several metres thick. These gravel-sand knolls allow the vines to take root deeply with excellent drainage. This is why most of the top Bordeaux wines, the Grands Crus, grow on them. The deeper soils in the immediate vicinity of the rivers (Palus), on the other hand, are unsuitable for quality viticulture.
In the Libournais, the conditions are more complicated. In Saint-Émilion, the limestone plateau also offers excellent conditions for the vines. Other top vines grow there on molasse, in neighbouring Pomerol partly on gravel sand, but also on clay soils. Remarkably, there are also some top wines that grow on moist soils. This applies to some châteaux in Pomerol, Graves and Sauternes.
The nearby Atlantic Ocean ensures a mild, balanced climate without extreme temperature fluctuations. The large watercourses and the extensive forest area of the Landes also have a balancing effect. However, the different locations (slopes and terrain) create many areas with their own microclimate.
They are characterised by frost-free winters, humid spring months and sunny summers from July to October. The average amount of sunshine per year is approx. 2000 hours with a rainfall of approx. 900 mm. However, the climate varies greatly from year to year, so that the quality of the vintages is very different.
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