The
wine of Bordeaux is often thought of as the pinnacle of perfection
for many wine lovers and wine experts across the world. A prized
bottle of 1990 Chateau Petrus will go for about $2500, if you can
find it. Bordeaux can be some of the most sought after, lovely,
and expensive wine out there. But you need not be scared away. There
are MANY high quality bottles of Bordeaux that can be found in any
price range. You just have to know how to hunt them down.
When I first
started to drink wine I heard people speak of Bordeaux but really
had no idea what the style of wine was or how to go about trying
it. I would stand in the French section of my local wine store and
stare at the labels dumbfounded. I remembered a friend, years back,
telling me that if a bottle of French wine with a chateau on the
front had an even number of windows the wine was good and if there
was an odd number it was bad. Or was it the other way around? You
can see the problem with this. Not only was I getting dizzy, run
over by shoppers, and eyed by the staff, but I was not finding any
wine that I liked and I just knew that the wine snob in me was going
to love this stuff.
One day, after
again standing and staring for about 5 minutes I finally mustered
up the courage to ask a staff-member to recommend a bottle of Bordeaux
within my price range. This is when the barrage of questions started
and I learned that to find a bottle of Bordeaux I would like I would
have to learn about the actual geography of the region. Boo hiss!
Daunted by the
fancy names and words I couldn’t understand, I set off to
learn all I could about this mysterious wine region. Many books,
internet searches, and glasses of wine later, I can walk into a
wine store with confidence and quickly focus in on which bottle
of Bordeaux will please my palate and hopefully my pocketbook. Here
are some of my quick tips for Bordeaux hunting.
The most important
thing to learn is that the wine of Bordeaux is always going to be
a blend of a few different grapes. The main grapes used in Bordeaux
are Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Malbec, Cabernet Franc, and Petit
Verdot. Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot are the major players and
the others are the minors used balance out the composition. Now,
here is where geography comes in. The Bordeaux region of France
is split by the River Gironde. If a chateau is on the right side
of the river the blend will be predominantly Merlot. The left, Cabernet.
In the wine world, the terms Right Bank and Left Bank are used commonly
to describe the style of Bordeaux. Being familiar with these two
terms is crucial in really understanding Bordeaux.
The region/appellation
from which the grapes are grown must be listed on a bottle of wine.
So, now we must figure out which region produces which style of
wine. Below is a quick go-to list for knowing which regions belong
to which bank:
Right
Bank: Pomerol (Where Petrus is made) and St.Emilion. There
are no classifications of First Growth, Second Growth, etc. on the
Right Bank. A growth is, for all intents and purposes, a level of
superiority. A first growth wine will many times be more refined,
sought after, and expensive.
Left
Bank: You have the Medoc, Haut-Medoc, and Graves regions
which are broken down into a number of lesser regions. But you only
have to remember five, because you'll hear about them every day
in the wine world. They are: Margaux, Pauillac, St.Estephe, and
St.-Julien, and Graves.
Still a little
confused? A quick trick when looking for value in Bordeaux is to
look for a wine from a larger producer such as Bourthe, Sichel,
and Moueix. They own many vineyards and produce wine at many levels
across the price and quality spectrum. Another for buying quality
Bordeaux at affordable prices is to look for lesser vintages such
as 2001 and 2002. They aren’t “bad” vintages,
it is just that they will always struggle for recognition after
the gangbuster year of 2000.
Just knowing
these few simple tips can really alleviate stress and confusion
when trying to buy Bordeaux. Now, when you walk into a wine store
you can go right to the French section with confidence. Knowing
you prefer Merlot, you will know to look for wine from Pomerol and
St.Emilion. If you can’t find the region or are completely
boggled, be sure to ask a store professional to help you find a
nice Right Bank Bordeaux in your price range or a high quality bottle
from your favorite bank 2001 or 2002 vintage. You will feel like
such a wine expert using your cool new lingo!
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