Bordeaux

With 117,500 hectares under vine in 2011, Bordeaux has more acreage under vine than any other region in France. Bordeaux constitutes 14% of France’s total vineyard area and typically produces five-to-six million hectoliters of wine each year. With an average Bordeaux domaine holding 14.5 hectares, more than 8,000 winegrowers are plying their trade. From its northernmost vineyards around the town of Saint-Vivien-de-Médoc to the southern edge of Graves, the region of Bordeaux spans over 130 km. At its widest point it extends over 75 km. It includes two major rivers, the Garonne and Dordogne, which converge into the Gironde Estuary before flowing into the Atlantic Ocean. On paper, most land within the Gironde département, save for a band of coastal forest, falls within the basic Bordeaux appellation. The vast area is divided into the following subregions, each with its own set of appellations:

• Médoc
• Graves
• Entre-Deux-Mers
• The right bank
• Blaye and Bourg

On the western banks of the Gironde Estuary and Garonne River, the Médoc and Graves make up the “left bank” of Bordeaux. The “right bank” is a more compact set of wine-producing communes on the opposite bank of the Dordogne River—Saint-Émilion, Pomerol, Fronsac, and surrounding appellations. Blaye and Bourg, sometimes considered part of the right bank, are actually on the eastern bank of the Gironde, opposite the Médoc vineyards. Entre-Deux-Mers is the vast stretch of land between the Garonne and the Dordogne.

Bordeaux’s climate is governed by proximity to the Atlantic Ocean, its influence funneled inland by the Gironde Estuary. The maritime climate is characterized by warm summers and cool winters, without the spikes of temperature and extreme seasonality that befall regions further inland, like Burgundy. Unlike the Mediterranean climate regions of Southern France, maritime Bordeaux lacks a true dry season, with rainfall somewhat evenly dispersed throughout the year. The Médoc actually experiences more annual rainfall—950 mm—than any other major wine region in France. Rainfall decreases slightly further inland in Bordeaux, but it remains a challenge at harvest and in the springtime, when rain can interrupt flowering, reducing yield and inviting rot. July and August are typically the driest months, but precipitation occurs in every month of the year. Bordeaux’s climate, while mild, is therefore notoriously unpredictable, permitting one spectacular year of warmth and sunshine while washing the next harvest out with sustained rain. Bordeaux’s capricious climate and weather events are responsible for wide swings in vintage quality and the resulting price fluctuation at the upper end of the market.

The Dordogne River

The 45th parallel runs just north of Bordeaux, but the balmy Atlantic Gulf Stream current, bringing warm waters up from the Caribbean, keeps its climate mild. Only in rare years do severe spring frosts or frigidly cold winters occur. In terms of temperature, Bordeaux is not a marginal climate for winegrowing, but cold and wet fall weather can spell trouble for late-ripening grapes like Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot. The region falls into Region II on the Winkler Scale, and average temperatures in August (the hottest month) reach 26° C. Unlike most premium Cabernet Sauvignon regions of the US West Coast, Bordeaux does not experience a sizable diurnal shift.

For basic Bordeaux AOP wines six red varieties are authorized: Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, Malbec, and Carmenère. The first three listed make up 99% of the entire red grape vineyard in Bordeaux. Authorized white grapes include Sémillon, Sauvignon Blanc (and Gris), Muscadelle, and an additional complement of diminishing varieties: Ugni Blanc, Merlot Blanc, and Colombard. ((In response to climate change, four more red varieties and two whites were approved for Bordeaux and Bordeaux Supérieur in 2021 by the INAO. These would not be major grapes but rather intended for blending in small amounts.)  Bordeaux’s compact list of varieties today represents a streamlining in the vineyard since the arrival of phylloxera in the 19th century and a surge for Merlot since the terrible winter of 1956 laid waste to many Bordeaux vines. It also reflects a significant reduction in white grape production in favor of reds: by 2011 red grapes accounted for 89% of the total Bordeaux vineyard. Today Merlot is the most planted grape in Bordeaux, and in France. Sémillon remains Bordeaux’s most planted white grape. 

Bordeaux, whether white, rosé, or red, is typically a blend of two or more varieties. In Bordeaux’s climate this has been an important insurance policy: each grape buds, flowers, and ripens according to a different schedule, so weather events like fall rains or spring frosts may heavily impact one variety but leave another relatively unscathed. In Bordeaux’s maritime climate some varieties are more susceptible than others to rot and coulure, disastrously affecting final yields. The choice of variety is also a matter of soil composition—the vigorous Merlot prefers cool clay soils, for instance, while Cabernet Sauvignon needs warmer gravel soils to ripen routinely. But Bordeaux varieties also have a complementary character, and each can bring something beneficial to a final blend.

Finally, when sommeliers speak of a Bordeaux family of grapes, it’s not just for ease of classification—many really are closely related! Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc are the genetic parents of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc is a parent of Merlot and Carmènere, and Merlot and Malbec are half-siblings, with a common genetic parent, the rare Magdeleine Noire des Charentes. Consequently, they can share some similar characteristics in the glass. Green notes—bell pepper, grass, sage, are particularly common in Cabernet Franc, Carmenère, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Sauvignon Blanc. The result of 2-methoxy-3-isobutylpyrazine (pyrazine) that remains detectable in harvested grapes, this green character is common to all related Bordeaux varieties, save Malbec. Petit Verdot and Muscadelle are the outliers in Bordeaux; neither has a direct genetic relationship to the other grapes.

All planting statistics are courtesy of the CIVB.

Merlot (70,711 ha, 2019): Merlot makes up 63% of the red wine vineyard in Bordeaux, and it is the dominant grape in almost all right bank wines. In recent years, it has surged on the left bank as well, particularly in the northern Médoc and the inland Graves, where gravelly soils are in short supply. Merlot may account for half of the blend in Médoc or Haut-Médoc AOP wines, and it is an increasing component in Saint-Estèphe and in many second wines.

Merlot buds and ripens up to two weeks earlier than Cabernet Sauvignon, and it is inclined to overproduce. It needs cool soils like clay to restrain ripening, and it requires severe pruning. Its skins are thin in comparison to Cabernet Sauvignon, leaving its clusters prone to rot. It is also suceptable to coulure because of its early budding. However, it is overall less susceptible to the wood-rotting diseases like Eutypa dieback and esca than the Cabernet vines, and it tends to live longer—if the producer allows it, Merlot can reach 100 years of age, whereas both Cabernet varieties may only make it 60 years. It’s chief disadvantage in Bordeaux’s seemingly warmer modern climate is its rush to produce sugar: in warm years like 2009 or 2010 Merlot can easily hit 16% potential alcohol.

As a blending component, Merlot is prized for its lush blue and plum fruit, its expansive mid-palate, and its warmth of alcohol. It can still be tannic, but never as rigidly as Cabernet Sauvignon. The character of Merlot is at the core of the right bank’s recent ascendance, producing fleshy, supple, generous wines that have found great appeal among drinkers weaned on more fruit-forward wines.

Cabernet Sauvignon (23,461 ha, 2019): Accounting for 25% of the red wine vineyard, Cabernet Sauvignon is the king of the left bank, where warm gravel soils allow it to ripen fully. Its thick skins allow it to resist rot more successfully than Merlot and give it the armor to partially withstand the frequent fall rains that plague Bordeaux. It is a tannic, phenolic grape, and a centerpiece in many of Bordeaux’s longest-lived red wines.  

Cabernet Franc (9,411 ha, 2019): Cabernet Franc makes up 11% of the red wine vineyard in Bordeaux, and it rarely takes center stage. Once it was the key variety of the right bank, but producers in the 20th century, often tending only a handful of hectares, steadily abandoned the grape in favor of the more reliable Merlot. On the right bank it adds acidity and aromatics to Merlot. On the left bank most châteaux prefer Cabernet Sauvignon to Cabernet Franc.

Malbec (1,960 ha, 2019): Malbec originally appeared in the right bank in the 1730s; it navigated to the left bank and became a significant contributor to the wines of the Médoc by the end of that century. (A grower named Malbec brought the grape, then known as Pressac Noir, from the right bank to the left, and gave it its modern name.) Today it is a bit player in Bordeaux.  

Petit Verdot (1,174 ha, 2019): In the Médoc, Petit Verdot rarely exceeds 5% of a château’s encépagement. It is chiefly employed in minuscule amounts to add color, exotic spice, floral perfume, and tannic backbone to Cabernet Sauvignon-based blends. In the right bank it is essentially non-existent. 

Sémillon (6,125 ha, 2019): Making up about 45% of the white wine vineyard, the thin-skinned Sémillon is prone to botrytis and thus the variety of choice for dessert wines in Bordeaux. In dry wines it can be waxy and rich—a good foil for the pungent aromas and acid of Sauvignon Blanc.

Sauvignon Blanc (5,770 ha, 2019): 43% of the white wine vineyard in Bordeaux is devoted to Sauvignon Blanc, and it is on the increase. Dry white wines in Bordeaux often contain a substantial portion of Sauvignon Blanc and may be rich, barrel-aged efforts or racy, grassy wines for the patio. Sauvignon Gris, a grey-skinned and early-ripening mutation of Sauvignon Blanc, is still listed as a separate grape in Bordeaux’s cahiers des charges, but it is genetically identical. Sauvignon Gris is especially popular in Graves.

Muscadelle (705 ha, 2019): Muscadelle is only 5% of the total white wine vineyard in Bordeaux. While not related to Muscat, Muscadelle nonetheless has a similar flowery, grapy, intense set of aromatics. Like Petit Verdot in Médoc reds, a tiny addition of Muscadelle can significantly impact a dry or sweet white wine’s aromatic profile.

There are 39 individual AOPs in the Bordeaux region (The CIVB touts 60 appellations in Bordeaux, but this is an overstatement.) Three regional appellations apply to the entire area of Bordeaux: Bordeaux AOP, Bordeaux Supérieur AOP, and Crémant de Bordeaux AOP. There is a middle tier of appellations that represent whole sub-regions (e.g. Médoc AOP, Entre-Deux-Mers AOP, Côtes de Bordeaux AOP) and a final league of “village” appellations. These may cover a single commune, like Pomerol, but more often they combine a cluster of small communities under the banner of a single village, like Margaux AOP or Sauternes AOP. These “village” appellations are overall much larger than their counterparts in Burgundy’s appellation hierarchy, typically comprising more than 1,000 hectares of vines. There are currently no single vineyard or single estate appellations in Bordeaux. (However, one natural wine producer on the outskirts of the right bank, Château le Puy, is currently petitioning the INAO to grant it AOP status.)

Under the basic Bordeaux AOP, producers have the freedom to produce red, white (sec, off-dry, and medium sweet), rosé, and clairet wines from the standard complement of Bordeaux red and white grapes. The Bordeaux Supérieur label is limited to red and medium sweet white wines from the same wide area, produced under slightly stricter conditions. Bordeaux Supérieur requires red wines to undergo élevage until mid-June of the year following harvest, while basic Bordeaux reds can be sold by the middle of January. Minimum vine density is greater for Bordeaux Supérieur, maximum yields are lower, and minimum potential alcohol is slightly higher. The last criterion, ripeness, is easy to achieve today but was a vastly more important determinant of quality in 1936, when both AOCs were first introduced. Red Bordeaux and Bordeaux Supérieur wines are likely dominated by Merlot and aged in older barriques. American oak and oak chips may be employed. They are generally machine-harvested. The bottom line? In France, basic Bordeaux wines usually fall under six euros per bottle in price; Bordeaux Supérieur ranges from 6-15 euros.

Crémant de Bordeaux AOP is a generic outlet for white and rosé sparkling wines in Bordeaux, made in the traditional method and aged for at least nine months on the lees. Like rosé, it represents only a sliver of overall production—perhaps 200 ha in the entire Gironde département support sparkling wine production.

The Atlantique IGP spans five départements: Gironde, the Cognac-producing départements of Charente and Charente-Maritime, Dordogne, and the western part of Lot-et-Garonne. The IGP gives producers from Bergerac to Bordeaux the freedom to produce red, white, and rosé wines from a dizzying array of varieties, from Cabernet Sauvignon to Meunier to Chardonnay. Very few producers are actually within the confines of Bordeaux; more often, Atlantique IGP vignerons are located in the neighboring AOP regions of Bergerac, Duras, or Cognac.

In the 3rd century BCE, a Celtic tribe known as the Bituriges Vivisci occupied the raised gravel terrace just west of the Garonne River and founded a permanent settlement and trading station, Burdigala—a place to which the tide flows. Already a major commercial outpost for the tin trade, Burdigala fell under Roman rule in 56 CE as the forces of Julius Caesar swept over Gaul. The Romans expanded the city’s role in frontier commerce, fortified it with miles of walls, and planted grapevines. Under their rule Burdigala became a great city of antiquity and capital of the Roman province of Aquitaine. The Roman poet Ausonius, whose writings provide evidence of early winegrowing in Bordeaux, was born in Burdigala in 310 CE.

With the decline of the Roman Empire by the end of the 4th century, Burdigala fell prey to successive waves of Germanic marauders. The Vandals sacked the city in 409 and the Visigoths arrived in 414, subjugating Burdigala’s inhabitants for nearly a century. By 507 Clovis, the first King of the Franks and founder of the Merovingian dynasty, destroyed the Visigoth presence in Gaul and added the city of Burdigala to his territory. Under Frankish control, the city of Burdigala became the city of Bordeaux. It survived seizure by Arabic invaders in the 8th century and a brutal sacking by Vikings in the 9th to reemerge as an important port of trade in the Duchy of Aquitaine by the beginning of the next millennium. In 1137, a young woman named Eleanor succeeded her father William X as the Duchess of Aquitaine, heir to the sovereign realm between the Pyrenees and the Garonne River.

In 1137, within a few short months of her succession, the young Duchess of Aquitaine was betrothed to the son of Louis VI of France, heir to the king. That same year, on Christmas Day, Louis VII and Eleanor were crowned king and queen of France, and Aquitaine was formally annexed into the realm. But war and strife were constant companions during their reign, culminating in the Second Crusade in 1145. Disastrous performances by Louis’ troops on the battlefields of Asia Minor and the Middle East further estranged the two, and the crusaders were eventually repelled at Damascus. Eleanor herself was at the front, and upon the French defeat she fled west to plead with the Pope to annul her marriage to King Louis VII. He refused initially but relented after she bore the king a second daughter. In 1152 their marriage was officially annulled by the church on grounds of consanguinity—essentially, they were too closely related to be wed. (Although who wasn’t, in royal Europe?) The dissolution of the marriage of Eleanor of Aquitaine and King Louis VII of France would have great consequences for France, and for Bordeaux.

Three months after her annulment, Eleanor married Henry II, the Duke of Normandy and future King of England. Henry ascended to the throne in 1154, and Eleanor became Queen of England, transferring the title of the Duchy of Aquitaine to the English House of Plantagenet. For the next 300 years, Aquitaine—including Bordeaux and Gascony—joined under a common banner the other possessions of the House of Plantagenet in Western France, England, Scotland, and Wales. The English monarch ruled Aquitaine from 1154 to 1453, and in these three centuries the English taste for Bordeaux wines was born. The light-colored red wines of the age were called clairet—a term that survives in the modern English term for red Bordeaux, claret.

Position and economics favored Bordeaux’s rise. The city was perfectly situated to export wine by sea to England, and the English kings extended preferential economic benefits to Gascon tradesmen and wines. To galvanize local support for a decade-long war with France over control of Normandy, King John of England (Eleanor’s son) exempted ships leaving Bordeaux from restrictive tariffs. La Rochelle, a port on the Atlantic Coast north of the Gironde and Bordeaux’s chief competitor, capitulated under siege to the French in 1224, leaving Bordeaux as the preeminent exporter to England. At the end of the 12th century wines from the Gascony’s “high country” (Gaillac, Cahors, Bergerac, etc.) represented the majority of exports leaving Bordeaux, but as the English thirst for French wine intensified in the early 13th century, so did the vineyards around the city of Bordeaux expand to satisfy demand, spreading into Graves and the Entre-Deux-Mers. The Bordelaise were eager to protect their own: the police des vins, a code of regulations that governed the export of wine from Bordeaux’s port, shaped the region’s commercial monopoly in the 13th and 14th centuries by limiting the sale of Sud-Ouest and Languedoc wines in favor of those of Bordeaux. With its prime position as a port, a legislated economic advantage and a thirsty London, Bordeaux and its wines gained a reputation far beyond its local borders.

Bordeaux wine exports to England reached their height in the early 14th century, but the English footprint in France did not sit well with French monarchs. King John lost Normandy in the early 13th century; by the early 14th century all that was left of the once-sprawling Plantagenet possessions in France was Aquitaine. Uncertain dynastic succession in France—King Charles IV died without an heir, leaving his relative King Edward III of England in line for the French throne—spawned a century of intermittent conflict between England and France, raging from 1337 to 1453. The Hundred Years’ War saw Edward III attempt to protect Aquitaine and eliminate his rival for the French throne, King Philip VI, first of the Valois kings of France and grandfather of Philip the Bold of Burgundy. The war spanned five generations of rulers; in its course the nations of England and France fully materialized, and at its conclusion with the Battle of Castillon in 1453 Aquitaine reverted to French rule. Bordeaux was French again.

In victory, Bordeaux’s new rulers had no interest in suppressing a profitable trade with England, but a new middleman emerged—one that would have longstanding impact on the trajectory of Bordeaux. The Dutch, who had established Europe’s foremost commercial maritime fleet by the early 1600s, supplanted the English as Bordeaux’s most important direct customers, dominating commercial shipments of wine from the port of Bordeaux in the 17th century. Bordeaux wine, shipped on Dutch merchant vessels, was redistributed throughout the markets of the Low Countries, Northern Europe, and the British Isles. Unlike the English, who originally preferred the light red clairet of the region, most Dutch customers demanded sweet white wines and full-bodied, deeply colored reds. Bordeaux’s vignerons were ready to oblige: the late 1600s witnessed a shift in the areas of Sauternes and Bergerac to sweet white wine production, aided by a Dutch reintroduction of a Germanic technique—burning sulfur candles in barrels prior to aging wine. Terroir had not evolved as a concept; the Dutch eagerly blended the darker wines of Cahors or Southern Europe with the lighter reds of Bordeaux to create sterner stuff more suited to palates of the north. The greatest Dutch contribution to Bordeaux, however, was in the technique of land reclamation honed in native Netherlands. In the mid-17th century, Dutch engineers built a system of canals (jalles) to drain the marshy lowlands of the Médoc, reclaiming the gravelly, alluvial lands north of the city of Bordeaux. A century later this newly unearthed wine region, its climate tempered by close proximity to the Gironde, would be universally viewed as the top red wine area in Bordeaux.

By the end of the 17th century both the English market itself and the role of the Dutch as Bordeaux’s leading tradesmen were at risk. English relations with France frayed in the latter half of the century as economic and political tensions steadily escalated to war. From 1679-1683 and again in 1689-1693 the English Parliament banned the import of French wines and the country turned toward Portugal and Port. In the first decade of the 18th century England and France found themselves on opposing sides of the War of the Spanish Succession, and in 1703 England fortified its relationship with Portugal by signing the Treaty of Methuen. In exchange for abolishing taxes on English textiles, the English lessened tariffs on Portuguese wines, giving them a clear competitive advantage over French products in London. The Dutch faced new difficulties as England and France both recoiled at their monopoly over maritime trade. Oliver Cromwell’s Navigation Acts restricted foreign vessels from trade in English ports from 1660 onward, while Jean-Baptiste Colbert, finance minister in the court of King Louis XIV, ordered the planting of new forests in Tronçais and Limousin to provide oak for ships with which the French could vie for maritime dominance. (These two forests would later yield raw material for wine barrels, too.) The era of Dutch primacy in the Bordeaux trade finally ended in 1709. With peace between England and France, coupled with the convenient excuse of an exceptionally bad harvest—this is the same year that savage winter and spring frosts wiped the slate clean in the Pays Nantais and cleared the path for Melon de Bourgogne—the French government suspended the issuing of passports to the Dutch. This total embargo on Dutch trade was short-lived, principally due to the vociferous complaints of the Bordelaise and others, but the damage was done.

In the 17th century there was another important innovation in Bordeaux: a wine was sold by a brand name rather than a generic category. Château Haut-Brion appears in the cellar notes of King Charles II as early as 1660, and in 1663 Samuel Pepys praised the “Ho Bryen that hath a good and most particular taste.” The limited supply of Haut-Brion made it a sensation in London, which the château’s owner, Arnaud de Pontac III, further exploited by opening a tavern to sell the wine. Open for more than a century, the Pontac’s Head became London’s most fashionable eating-house, selling Château Haut-Brion for a premium. Prior to the 1660s, England bought claret from Bordeaux. Now, the product of one single estate was available in the market.

In the first half of the 18th century the new aristocrats of the noblesse de la robe bought large tracts of the Médoc’s recently reclaimed land and developed its vineyards. Châteaux were erected or improved on the Left Bank of the Gironde, where vines could take advantage of the wide estuary’s ability to moderate severe climatic spikes and the newly uncovered gravel croupes, mounds of warm gravel soil that could drain easily in Bordeaux’s unpredictably wet Atlantic weather. Through marriage and money the new Médoc estates grew into massive plantations. In the early 18th century all three modern Léoville domaines in Saint-Julien and Château Palmer belonged to a single nobleman, Alexander de Gasq. By the 1730s the modern Châteaux Rauzan-Gassies, Rauzan-Seglá, Desmirail, and Marquis de Terme composed a single estate. There was but one Pichon estate, and a nobleman named Nicolas-Alexandre de Ségur presided over Châteaux Lafite, Latour, and Calon in the early 1700s. Lafite and Latour sold by name in England. Indeed, even as the English market was shrinking overall the English appetite for high quality and wines priced at a premium was growing—Haut-Brion, Lafite, Latour and other emergent properties in the Médoc were ready to fill this high-end niche. In the 1700s, the best wines of Bordeaux were destined for London, and the world’s first truly fine wine market was born.

As the Médoc ascended, a new sense of scientific rigor spurred by the Enlightenment made its way into the winery and the vineyard. When expanding vineyards winegrowers could now apply scientific principles and reason to their choice of varieties; thus, a random dispersal of varieties and mixed farming practices began to give way in the early 18th century to more limited, thoughtful, and monocultural parcels. The varieties that would be commonplace by the 1800s appeared for the first time: Malbec arrived in Saint-Émilion in 1730 when a Cahors native purchased Château de Pressac and planted the grape, while Cabernet Sauvignon materialized in Médoc vineyards by the latter half of the century. Treatises on winemaking procedures were encouraged by the Academy of Bordeaux. Bordeaux merchants began selling top wines in cork-finished bottles rather than barrels, a move that promoted longevity. (However, English regulations at the time prohibited the import of bottled wine due to imperfect glass sizes. The biggest market for fine wines still had to buy in bulk!) Improving vineyard and winery operations—from pruning to the preparation and care of barrels—at wealthy Bordeaux estates set the region’s top producers apart from their disadvantaged neighbors and competitors in Gascony and other parts of France. Of course, the Bordelaise were always keen to cement their natural advantages through law. The medieval privilège de la descente, a longstanding competitive advantage conferred by the police des vins which prohibited the transfer of non-Bordeaux wines by boat through the port until November 11 of each year, remained on the books until the Revolution. So did the privilège de la barrique, another protectionist measure that entitled Bordeaux wines alone to storage and shipment in the barrique barrel. Made from superior wood, the barrel gave Bordeaux wines certain advantages in shipping. A 1764 statute aimed at preventing their illicit use further required all Bordeaux wines in barrel to be branded with the château name and the commune of production, an early precursor to appellation law. (The modern size of the barrique, 225 liters, would not be adopted until the 1860s.)

By the end of the 18th century many of the Médoc estates that would become permanently enshrined with the 1855 Classification were already ahead of the pack: Lafite, Latour, Haut-Brion, and Margaux had all achieved reputations in the London market. Then-American ambassador Thomas Jefferson toured Bordeaux in 1787, noting with admiration the four aforementioned wines and those of Count Louis-Amédée de Lur-Saluces’ Sauternes property, Château d’Yquem. And while the end of the century brought revolution in France, its impact was less destabilizing in Bordeaux than in Burgundy. Burgundy’s ecclesiastical vineyards fragmented as the lands were seized by the state and sold piecemeal; during the Reign of Terror Bordeaux’s aristocratic proprietors either fled the country or faced the guillotine. The state confiscated their vineyards alongside those of the church, but Bordeaux properties were more often left substantially intact, as new buyers purchased whole estates. The Ségurs of Latour managed to maintain control of their crown jewel, but Lafite, Margaux, and Haut-Brion were all under new ownership by the first decade of the 19th century. As the 1800s progressed, successive changes of ownership would continue in the upper echelons of Bordeaux. The new buyers were businessmen, industrialists, bankers; with names like Péreire, or Rothschild.

In the early 19th century the word “château” began to appear in conjunction with the great estates of the Médoc. Prior to the 1800s, the wines were simply sold by name—Margaux, Lafite, etc. This tethered the wines of Bordeaux to great, aristocratic houses, giving them a sense of continuity and distinction, an effort generally undertaken by new ownership in the years after revolution toppled the nobility. It did not happen all at once; in the original 1855 Classification only five wines were designated as châteaux, but by the 20th century it was customary. 

 

In advance of the 1855 Universal Exposition in Paris, Emperor Napoleon III invited the Bordeaux Chamber of Commerce to select the region’s best wines for presentation to the public. The chamber in turn looked to the city’s courtiers to quickly draw up a list of the top estates of Bordeaux. The ranking was based on price—as the red wines of the Médoc and the sweet white wines of Sauternes carried the highest price tags, those were the wines that merited classification. The right bank and Graves, with the notable exception of Château Haut-Brion, were snubbed, but this was less a deliberate exclusion and more a reflection of their lack of status in the 19th century, particularly among the salesmen of the city itself. For red wines, the brokers selected 57 châteaux and divided them into five categories of grand cru classé, creating a hierarchy of first through fifth growth. Four estates merited inclusion in the first growth category: Lafite, Latour, Margaux, and Haut-Brion. The brokers chose 21 Sauternes châteaux, dividing them into three categories: seconds crus, premiers crus, and one premier cru supérieur, Château d’Yquem. The division and multiplication of some classed estates (Léoville in Saint-Julien, Doisy in Barsac) and the disappearance of others (Château Pexoto in Sauternes) has affected the overall number of châteaux in each classification—today there are 61 estates classified for red wines and 27 estates classified for whites—but the overall makeup of the 1855 Classification remains essentially unchanged, with one major exception. In 1973, the French minister of agriculture elevated second growth Château Mouton-Rothschild to the status of premier cru classé. The motto of Baron Philippe de Rothschild? “Premier je suis. Second je fus. Mouton ne change.” (First I am. Second I was. Mouton doesn’t change.)

The 1855 Classification does not represent the first attempt to classify the wines of Bordeaux—there were at least two-dozen various classifications undertaken in the preceding 100 years—but it is the most enduring, static, and famous such list ever devised. Its longevity would likely surprise its authors—over 150 years later it still exists, essentially in its original form. Its proponents (typically those châteaux who benefit from their placement) hail the classification as unimpeachable; its detractors deride it as a useless and outmoded list. The rest of the wine world just likes the debate—if the classification were reimagined today, how would it change? Who would move up, who would move down? But attempts to modernize the 1855 Classification, such as that undertaken by the INAO in the 1960s, have never gained traction. A more relevant, self-regulating classification in neighboring Saint-Émilion is routinely mired in legal trouble with every new update. There is little incentive to update the classification—the top producers have no interest in crowding the field nor in having to defend their status; mediocre producers have no interest in losing the best PR they have.

In the second half of the 19th century, three vineyard diseases of American origin arrived in succession in Bordeaux: oidium, phylloxera, and peronospera. Oidium (powdery mildew) first appeared in Bordeaux in 1852, in the sweet wine vineyards along the Garonne. It quickly migrated to the Médoc. The disease crippled yields, and in 1854 France harvested its smallest vintage since the late 1700s. But it was soon manageable through the application of sulfur in the vineyard. Bordeaux thus returned to prosperity in the 1860s, only to witness the unwelcome arrival of phylloxera by 1869. It took hold by the late 1870s and caused widespread ruin. Top estates could afford to replant and graft, but some smaller operations chose a cheaper option—replanting with direct producers, or hybrid vines. Hybrid vines prospered in the hinterlands of Bordeaux, and everywhere in France, during the phylloxera period. (Even in 2011, the fourth-most planted red grape in Bordeaux was not Malbec or Petit Verdot, but Villard Noir, a hybrid.) Many could not afford either route and watched production dwindle, as négociants replenished falling stocks with wines from elsewhere—the Midi, Spain, Algeria. As phylloxera spread in the early 1880s another fungal disease of American origin, peronospera (downy mildew), struck simultaneously. In 1888, a defense was found: the Bordeaux mixture, a copper sulfate-lime concoction. This trio of American-borne maladies hit the bottom of the market hardest, yet each changed vineyard practices permanently for all. Today, sulfur and copper sulfate applications are routine as downy and powdery mildew remain annual threats. And virtually every vineyard in Bordeaux is grafted onto phylloxera-resistant rootstock. Vines that grafted poorly, like Malbec and Carmenère, began to diminish in importance, and the overall number of varieties in the vineyard began to shrink in the years after phylloxera.

The early 20th century the Bordelaise would likely rather forget. Bad vintages and debts piled up; waves of châteaux went up for sale. Markets disappeared with war, revolution in Russia, and Prohibition in the United States. Thousands of hectares were pulled out in the Médoc alone in the 1930s. World War II and the resulting Nazi military occupation gave Bordeaux yet another crucial challenge following years of depression. The Third Reich installed Herr Bömers, the head of Germany’s largest wine company, as weinführer in Bordeaux and tasked him with filling Germany’s orders. Germany had been an important customer of high-end Bordeaux wines since the early 1800s, and at any rate it was the only real point of export for the blockaded port during the occupation. Bömers admired the wines of Bordeaux, apparently maintaining enough civility to become Mouton’s chosen German importer after the war, but it was a fine line for the Bordelaise, who risked accusations of collaboration by doing business with the occupiers. With the end of the war, a little light: 1945 was one of the all-time great vintages of Bordeaux, followed by 1947 and 1949.  

With the war over, Bordeaux limped into the 1950s. Many top estates were unprofitable; they desperately needed to replace aging equipment and old and ailing vines. Vineyard treatments were expensive, and the winter of 1956 that decimated so many vineyards compounded financial problems. The négociants were buying wines for low prices, often negotiating sales sur souches—pricing based on a previous vintage, agreed upon prior to harvest. At the time, most châteaux sold wines in cask to négociants, who completed the élevage and bottled the wine. The first château to begin estate-bottling its entire production was Mouton-Rothschild, in 1924, but the practice did not become widespread until the 1960s. (Paul Draper of Ridge recalls buying Château Montrose in barrel in the early years; he wanted to use the barrel for his wines in Santa Cruz, and so Ridge bottled and sold the wine in San Francisco, essentially acting as a négociant.) In 1972, château bottling finally became compulsory for classified estates in the Médoc.

After a string of washed-out, dismal vintages in the 1970s, Bordeaux returned to form in the 1980s. The 1982 vintage was a breakout, particularly in the mind of the new American critic Robert Parker. Fruit, concentration, and the desirability of new oak increasingly stood out as chief attributes, and the wines of the right bank finally began to take their place next to the great wines of the Médoc. New corporate owners invested in massive Médoc properties too unwieldy and burdensome to bequeath to heirs, and properties that needed work in the winery and the vineyard could suddenly afford to do so. The American market asserted itself, as did an “American palate”—to the loud chagrin of traditional British critics. The 1980s overall had more fine vintages than bad, and the decade concluded with a trio of warm, dry years (1988-1990), music to the ears of Bordeaux’s merchants. After a promising 1990, difficult, rain-spoiled vintages persisted through 1994. But Bordeaux’s most sophisticated producers were starting to catch up to nature; with enough money and attention, through severe selection and the aid of concentrators, the best properties could salvage good quality wine in poor vintages. Second wines were steadily introduced. And wine consultants multiplied: following in the footsteps of Emile Peynaud were Michel Rolland, Stéphane Derenoncourt, Denis Dubourdieu, and others.    

The 2000s opened with the first of many “vintages of the century,” claimed throughout the wine press. 2000 was a very dry summer, and it produced exactly the style of late-picked, ripe, ready wines that Parker and publications like Wine Spectator adored. 2003 was an ultra-hot year producing super-ripe, low-acid wines. It too initially found favor in the American press, but critics quickly washed their hands of it. 2005 was universally lauded as another vintage of the century; 2009 and 2010 received similarly high acclaim. A string of warm vintages, despite a few thinner, rainier interludes (2002 and 2007), signaled the start of a new era for Bordeaux, in which changing climate and a maturity of viticultural and winemaking science could produce blockbuster wines that were riper, more deeply colored, and more powerful than anything before. Many believe these to be the best wines Bordeaux has ever made; others question if they will last. 

In the 2000s, China emerged as the most important export market for Bordeaux. By 2011, the country imported 436,000 hl of Bordeaux wines, greatly outpacing Germany, the second-largest importer in volume, at 275,000 hl. In that same year, mainland China and Hong Kong totaled 682 million euros in imports, more than twice what the UK recorded and far surpassing the US, the third-largest importer by value. On the strength of Asian markets and highly acclaimed vintages like 2005 and 2009, Bordeaux prices shot up. First growths and equivalent wines of the right bank skyrocketed in price, even as the global recession set in. They left the real world. But the rest of Bordeaux is very much stuck on it. A string of disappointing vintages and en primeur campaigns followed 2010. Bordeaux fell off sommeliers’ radar in the US, its much-publicized astronomical prices, aristocratic preening, and brand focus seemingly incongruous with a desire to celebrate the artisan and return to authenticity. Fraud was in the news. China itself was growing its domestic wine production and becoming a more sophisticated market. Even pricier wines took a hit, as China banned party officials’ use of public funds to purchase luxury goods (read: Bordeaux wines) in 2012, resulting in an 18% drop in export value in 2013 from the previous year. But Bordeaux remains resilient as France’s largest still wine exporter, and while the Chinese market stabilizes others improve, like Japan and the US. Some in Bordeaux are even showing a new willingness to engage their final customers, the people who actually drink the wines.

The Place de Bordeaux is a three-tier, de facto system of wine production, brokerage, and sales that controls the trade of wine in Bordeaux. The production tier (château) was historically operated by the aristocracy or the church, while the sales tier (the négociant) was the merchant class. In the 1600s Dutch and English traders set up some of the first modern négociant firms in Bordeaux, and German and Irish firms appeared in the 1700s. The broker tier (the courtier) evolved in the 17th century, both as an intermediary between the two social classes and as a necessary conduit to the new estates of the Médoc, an unknown territory to the Bordeaux-based merchants who, at the time, were more comfortable buying from the nearby properties of the Graves. For a commission, courtiers sourced wines and negotiated prices between buyer and seller.

At the high end, the system has allowed producers to manage risk and recoup production and inventory costs by selling wine futures to the merchants, delivering the actual product somewhere down the line. This en primeur system remained an internal mechanism until the 1980s, when the increasing influence of Robert Parker and the press, coupled with new consumer interest, brought the public into the futures game. Every spring, the en primeur tastings joined the traditional players (merchant, broker, producer) with an increasing number of international writers, importers, and even retailers, all to taste out of barrel, pronounce scores, uphold allocations, and await pricing. A short while later, scores are released, then prices, and wine futures are released to the trade and general public in successive tranches, each priced higher than the last, until all is sold. The wines may not reach the final buyer for two years or more. The level at which classified Bordeaux fluctuates in price from year to year would be considered absurd in any other wine region of the world, but that’s en primeur. Château Latour made headlines when it chose to opt out of the en primeur campaign from the 2012 vintage onward, but as of yet no other key property has followed its lead.

Bordeaux’s ambassadors and enologists are quick to point to soil as a key ingredient in the recipe of the region’s wines, but the dimensions of a vineyard are much more malleable than in Burgundy. While rights to the grands and premiers crus of Burgundy are won or lost through ownership, cru classé producers in Bordeaux can add or subtract from their holdings (and therefore their blends) in a much freer fashion. Over time, many of Bordeaux’s wealthier château owners have added new parcels, sometimes swallowing smaller châteaux whole. Rarely are these new parcels directly adjacent to the original château properties. In the Médoc and Pomerol, producers can freely add the product of new parcels to their grands vins, provided those parcels lie in the same AOP stated on the label. In Saint-Émilion, adjoining a new purchase to an existing grand cru classé property is more bothersome due to the INAO’s management of the classification, but estates are nonetheless increasing in size. This is not to suggest that the greatest châteaux are routinely adding the product of inferior vineyards to their grands vins—but the potential exists. It is instead likely that new purchases provide fruit for second wines or separate labels intended to broaden the scope of corporate portfolios, but enough blending scandals have occurred in the last 50 years to raise a little skepticism.

New students of Bordeaux and Burgundy often inquire about the apparent lack of influence from Napoléon’s laws of inheritance in Bordeaux. In Bordeaux, as in all of France, one’s descendants (or other close relatives in the absence of children) are entitled to equal shares in any property held upon one’s death, but all heirs are required to pay an inheritance tax—and that tax can reach almost 50% of the value of the property! The taxable percentage increases as the property value rises, making direct inheritance an unaffordable goal for many, particularly the would-be heirs of massive estates and châteaux in the Médoc. Some keep ownership in the family by forming a société civile, which eliminates the actual transfer of property by creating shares in a real estate-owning company. But most sell. In the 19th and early 20th century château owners commonly sold to their agents of commerce, the négociants, or to bankers; by the early 21st century the buyers were more likely insurance companies, luxury conglomerates, French billionaires, Chinese investors. In fact, wealthy foreigners have long expressed interest in the regal châteaux and vineyards of Bordeaux’s left bank as symbols of status (even before 1853, when the London-born Baron Nathaniel de Rothschild purchased a château named Mouton). The value and prestige of a Bordeaux vineyard simply makes sale a more attractive proposition than inheritance in many cases.

For such a large vineyard area with numerous red and white varieties, Bordeaux’s vine training is relatively uniform. Most vines are trained on vertical trellises in the Guyot system; double is common on the left bank and simple on the right. Cordon-training is rare throughout Bordeaux, save for those vines intended to produce sweet wines. Traditional in Sauternes, cordon-training produces smaller berries that attract botrytis; Guyot cane-training produces slightly larger berries that tend to develop grey rot instead. Vineyard density varies according to region. It is highest in the Médoc, where the premier appellations require a minimum 7,000 vines per hectare. Many top properties employ 1x1 meter spacing, similar to the vineyards of the Côte d’Or. Canopy height is also smallest in the Médoc, where bunches hang one meter off the ground to take advantage of the stony soil’s radiant heat. On the right bank density is lower: Saint-Émilion and Pomerol mandate 5,500 vines per hectare, and rows are separated by 1.3-1.5 meters. Right bank soils are generally shallower; roots cannot penetrate the limestone bedrock and therefore spread outward rather than dig down. The canopy is higher, too, in this more frost-prone inland region. Density is lowest in the Entre-Deux-Mers region, where vineyards that produce only basic Bordeaux AOP wines may be separated by up to 2.5 meters.

Modern Bordeaux is slowly moving toward organic viticulture. At the very least, a goal of 100% involvement in an environmental process has been stated as a goal, and as of 2017, they were at 60%. On par with the national average, about 8% of Bordeaux’s vineyards were certified organic or in the process of conversion in 2017, but in the Médoc adoption is especially slow. With the routine threat of wet weather and rot, many producers in Bordeaux prefer conventional approaches, or something akin to lutte raisonnée. Powdery and downy mildew are constant threats. Yet herbicide and fertilizer use is gradually being reduced, and many leading châteaux work certain parcels organically on a trial basis. Bordeaux mixture and similar fixed copper sprays are actually considered organic, even as copper levels build with repeated usage. Sulfur treatments applied to stymie the spread of powdery mildew are also acceptable in organic regimes. Another key tool used to ward off rot is de-leafing, by machine or manually. After véraison, many vineyards in Bordeaux are stripped of greenery in the fruit zone, giving the fruit needed ventilation into the humid late summer and early fall.   

Interest in biodynamic viticulture in Bordeaux’s is slowly growing. As of 2018, there were 47 Demeter-certified estates. Most properties fully investing in the philosophy are far from the juggernaut regions. There are still only few classified estates that are fully certified. Winemaker Jean-Michel Comme of Château Pontet-Canet reports their success: “With the biodynamic approach, everything is more even. You can harvest full parcels. It is much more efficient than sorting.” He reports fruit ripening earlier and has abolished the practices of green harvesting, leaf thinning, trimming, and hedging at the estate. The vineyard, wild and alive, is a visual departure from the more manicured rows of its Pauillac neighbors. 

At ambitious properties, winemaking begins with a severe selection in the vineyard and the winery. Green-harvesting, in which bunches are removed during the summer months, has been a routine occurrence in Bordeaux’s modern era. In theory the practice reduces vigor, producing smaller berries that will yield more concentrated wine. (Of course, there are those, like Comme, who question the wisdom of the practice.) During harvest, too, which is conducted by hand and by parcel at better properties, fruit is rejected both in the vineyard and by sorting in the winery. Two sorting machines are currently en vogue: the optical sorter, which allows a producer to automatically reject fruit that does not meet a certain color quality and size, and the density sorter, in which grapes are run through a sugar-water solution. Those denser than the solution (and therefore ripe enough to appear in a grand vin) sink and are selected; those that float are rejected. At some of the most hallowed estates, however, proprietors have shelved the expensive machines and simply sort with lots and lots of hands.

Past the sorting table, de-stemming is routine for Bordeaux red wines and may even occur by hand at some of the tiniest properties of the right bank. Chaptalization may occur but is often not necessary. When water content is too high, some well-funded estates choose to concentrate must through other means, like vacuum distillation or reverse osmosis. (When employed in California, such technologies reduce alcohol content; in Bordeaux, the intent is usually the opposite.) Like saignage, they are especially useful techniques to employ during wet and cool vintages, but winemakers downplay their prevalence otherwise.

Fermentation can occur in any number of vessels, of every shape and size: large wood casks, stainless steel tanks, epoxy-lined underground concrete tanks and above-ground naked cement vats. Dry and sweet white wines often undergo fermentation in barrique. Some estates use several styles, preferring different formats for different grapes or parcels. Remontage, the traditional means of cap management for red wine fermentations in Bordeaux, is widespread, but the Burgundian approach of pigeage has its defenders—it produces a more even extraction by breaking up the cap but risks over-extraction with a phenolic and color-rich grape like Cabernet Sauvignon. Malolactic fermentation for red wines occurs either in tank or in barrel and, unlike Burgundy, begins by the end of the harvest year (after all, the press will be around in April, ready to taste and score the young wines). For a top red grand vin, élevage—the “raising” of wine in barrel—typically lasts around 18-24 months. Traditionally racking occurs every three months, although some top consultants prescribe less. White wines usually do not undergo malolactic fermentation, save for the most acidic vintages, and barrel maturation for even the best dry white wines rarely extends past 12-15 months. The best red wines of Bordeaux, regardless of origin, are typically aged entirely in new oak, often from a selection of different coopers. The barrel is the 225-liter French oak barrique. Modern dry whites rarely see more than 50% new oak, an evolving show of restraint. 

Micro-oxygenation, a technique borrowed from Madiran, has been part of the winemaker’s arsenal in Bordeaux since the late 1990s and may be employed during fermentation or aging to soften green, rustic and tannic edges. A more controversial form of oxygenation, however, occurs during élevage. Cliquage, where moderate doses of oxygen are applied to the finished wine in barrel, is used to simulate the larger oxygen exposure traditionally accomplished through racking. Some top estates and top consultants advocate for the practice, noting that it can counter reduction invited through bâtonnage, yet critics contend that it is produces short-term gain at the expense of long-term stability.

There are two schools of thought regarding assemblage in Bordeaux. One side prefers to create the final blend early in the year after harvest, in time for the April en primeur tasting. (A chief criticism lobbed at the annual tasting is that scores are awarded to barrel selections, not complete wines.) The opposing perspective would prefer to blend just before bottling, in order to isolate and observe the maturation of separate components for as long as possible. Bottling typically occurs in April, preceded by fining and/or filtration. Some winemakers prefer one or the other; some bottle without either. Bordeaux, a creature of habit, is finished with a cork, although the closure is not mandated by AOC law.

Since the breakout 1982 vintage, the production of a second wine has become common practice among the better estates of Bordeaux. The usual premise given is this: in order to maintain high quality in the grand vin, an estate will direct less impressive lots or imperfect fruit into a second wine. But the reasons for second wine production today are numerous, and estates tend to be less transparent about the blend and origin of fruit in a second wine than the components of a grand vin. A winemaker may compose a second wine from lots rejected for the grand vin at assemblage, or use young vine parcels that lack the maturity needed for the grand vin, or even develop specific vineyards solely for second wine production. Some producers purchase entirely separate château properties and use the name of the new estate for a second wine. Often the final blend represents a combination of these approaches. Second wines in the Médoc tend to have a greater percentage of Merlot than grands vins, offering greater approachability. Second wines usually see less new oak. As Bordeaux estates grow in size, second (and sometimes, third) wine production is purposeful rather than an accidental result of severe selection.

The Médoc, a peninsula of lowland, marsh, and forest, is bounded by the Atlantic and the Gironde, and north of the city of Bordeaux. The 100-km long peninsula is subdivided into two sectors: the northern “lower” Bas-Médoc and the southern “upper” Haut-Médoc. Winegrowing only occurs on the eastern edge of the Médoc, never more than a dozen kilometers inland from the Gironde, and the best vineyards and châteaux properties are located in the Haut-Médoc. The western sections of the Médoc are covered in coastal pines—the manmade Landes Forest—that help to shield the region’s vineyards from Atlantic weather and winds. Apart from forest, vine, and château, the landscape of the Médoc is unremarkable, its topography flat save for the gentle inclines of its gravel croupes. Home to all but one 1855 classified estate, the Médoc houses some of Bordeaux’s most majestic, and largest, estates.

There are eight AOPs in the Médoc. The Médoc AOP itself is the broadest appellation but is generally reserved for wines from the most challenging vineyard sites—i.e., the Bas-Médoc, those vineyards north of the commune of Saint-Estèphe, where the forest’s ability to buffer Atlantic winds and rain is reduced. Once routinely hard and unripe, Médoc AOP wines have been improved in recent decades with an infusion of Merlot, which performs more ably in the wet, windy clay vineyards of the Médoc’s northern reaches. High quality is possible, but only through vigorous vineyard management. The Haut-Médoc has its own appellation in the southern sector of the peninsula, where the concentration of gravel at the water’s edge increases. Within the Haut-Médoc are six smaller commune appellations: Saint-Estèphe, Pauillac, Saint-Julien, Margaux, Listrac-Médoc, and Moulis. The first four are considered the premier appellations of the Médoc and are adjacent to the Gironde; Listrac-Médoc and Moulis are further inland. Wines labeled Haut-Médoc AOP are typically produced to the west of Saint-Estèphe, Pauillac, and Saint-Julien, or south of Margaux. There is a small strip of Haut-Médoc land north of Saint-Estèphe, home to Château Sociando-Mallet, one of the leading unclassified estates of the Médoc.

Saint-Estèphe is the northernmost commune AOP in the Haut-Médoc, where the last of the great gravel croupes run their course, surrounded by low-lying clay and sandy soils. The Jalle de Breuil marks the southern boundary of Saint-Estèphe and divides Château Cos d’Estournel from Pauillac’s Château Lafite-Rothschild. Awarded second growth status in 1855, Cos d’Estournel and Montrose are the leading châteaux of Saint-Estèphe AOP. With only five total classified estates, the commune is frequently dismissed as the Médoc’s least impressive, and its typical style characterized as rustic, aggressive, and sturdy, requiring years to soften. However, in past decades a greater percentage of Cabernet Sauvignon was planted in a commune with a high proportion of clay; today, the overall percentage of Merlot is growing and the resulting wines can be richer and softer. 40% of the commune’s 1,250 ha are now planted to Merlot.

Home to three first growths and the deepest croupes of gravel in the Médoc, Pauillac is the most important site for Cabernet Sauvignon in Bordeaux. The appellation’s northern boundary is marked by Château Lafite-Rothschild; Château Latour sits on its southern edge. There are 1,100 ha of vines in the commune and most are planted to Cabernet Sauvignon; it represents 70-80% of the total encépagement, and the most prestigious Pauillac grands vins include 80-95% Cabernet Sauvignon in warm vintages. Pauillac classic style is power—dark, firm, brooding wines that require years in the cellar to unclench. 

Lodged between Margaux and Pauillac, the Saint-Julien AOP includes the commune of Saint-Julien-Beychevelle as well as a few specific parcels in neighboring Cussac-Fort-Médoc, Pauillac, and Saint-Laurent—parcels that were included among the holdings of châteaux classified in 1855, given dispensation under AOC law to retain the Saint-Julien title even as neighboring vines did not. With 920 ha under vine, it is small yet densely planted. Saint-Julien cannot claim any first growths, but overall there are eleven classified growths that now control 85% of the commune’s production, the highest proportion of classed vineyards in any Médoc appellation. Like Morey-Saint-Denis in the Côte de Nuits, the Saint-Julien wine style is typically defined by what it is not: elegant without being Margaux, firm without the power of Pauillac. Like its neighbor to the north, Cabernet Sauvignon is the dominant variety, at home in its deep gravel soils.

10 kilometers of land classified only as Haut-Médoc, just as likely used for corn, sunflowers, or wheat cultivation as wine, separates the southern edge of Saint-Julien AOP from the boundary of Margaux. The Margaux appellation covers 1,500 ha of vines spread throughout four communes: Margaux-Cantenac, Soussans, Arsac, and Labarde. The appellation is broader than its neighbors to the north, typically lower in elevation, and it has a wider diversity of soil. There are shallower gravel beds in Margaux, which result in Cabernet Sauvignon maturing a few days more rapidly here than in Pauillac, but there is also sand, limestone, and clay, particularly as one moves outward from the cluster of great properties in Margaux and Cantenac. About 65% of the appellation is planted to Cabernet Sauvignon. The 21 classified châteaux of Margaux, led by Châteaux Margaux itself and the always over-performing third growth Château Palmer, account for about 70% of its total vineyard area. Stylistically, the wines are often more aromatic and silkier than those produced further north, although they may be a touch lighter in body.

The Moulis and Listrac-Médoc AOPs, located between Saint-Julien and Margaux, are set back from the shoreline of the Gironde, separated from the estuary’s edge by a strip of land qualifying only for the Haut-Médoc AOP. The Moulis appellation, granted in 1938, shares the western edge of the Grand Poujeaux croupe with Saint-Julien and maintains access to some good gravel soils. There are no classified producers here; however, historically the commune has produced plenty of Cru Bourgeois wine, led by Château Chasse-Spleen and Château Poujeaux. The more northerly Listrac was the last commune to achieve AOC status in the Médoc, in 1957. In both communes, lack of proximity to the Gironde can keep Cabernet Sauvignon from ripening routinely, and Merlot is on the increase.

South of the Haut-Médoc, the region of Graves extends 50 km from the city of Bordeaux along the western bank of the Garonne River to the commune of Langon, just south of Sauternes. The Landes Forest separates Graves from the sea. The northern half of Graves, around the city of Bordeaux itself, is its most historic zone and the source of its best dry wines, white and red. But it has shrunk dramatically in the last century, as relentless urban expansion paved over a majority of its vineyards. The southern sector of Graves lacks the renown of the north, yet Bordeaux’s top sweet wine appellations, Sauternes and Barsac, are enclaves within it. In fact, Graves is the only major region of Bordeaux to produce top examples of all three main styles of Bordeaux: dry red, dry white, and sweet white wine. As its name implies, Graves is dominated by gravel soil, deposited by the shifting course of the Garonne over many millennia. This is clearest in the northern sector, where croupes of gravel nearest the city of Bordeaux resemble those of the Médoc. In the south, there is a larger proportion of sand and limestone.

There are two regional AOPs in Graves, Graves and Graves Supérieur. Graves AOP allows dry red and dry white production, while Graves Supérieur authorizes only sweet white production, with most appellation wines finishing around 40-50 g/l of residual sugar. Despite historic value both names, like Médoc, are too often consigned to the more common wines of the region. With the creation of the Pessac-Léognan AOP for the northern sector, the use of the regional Graves appellation is a good sign the producer hails from the south.

A century after the 1855 Classification, a commission of Bordeaux courtiers sanctioned by the INAO undertook a classification of the dry white and red wines of Graves. They drafted a first list of châteaux in 1953, based on pricing, reputation, and tasting. Some châteaux qualified for only one color of wine; some qualified for both red and white. In a departure from the 1855 template, there would be only one category: cru classé. The initial list was revised, several châteaux were added, and a finalized classification was made official in 1959. 15 châteaux were included: seven received cru classé status for red wines only, two for whites, and six for both colors of wine. When Château Couhins (classified for white wine) split into two estates in 1968, the number of cru classé properties increased to 16. The Graves Classification is theoretically not set in stone, nor is it subjected to routine revisions like Saint-Émilion. No new property has been admitted, but two existing estates disappeared in the 2000s: Château La Tour Haut-Brion (classified for red wine) produced its final vintage in 2005, and Château Laville Haut-Brion (classified for white wine) produced its final vintage in 2008. Both properties now supply fruit for a second red wine and a new white wine under the Château La Mission Haut-Brion label. 

By the 1980s, the northern Graves had long been in decline. Phylloxera, followed by hard years of war and depression, made its mark. Vineyards were converted to commercial woodlands. And suburban development steadily connected Bordeaux with dozens of smaller surrounding communes, erasing once-valuable vineyard land. 5,000 ha of vines in the mid-19th century had dwindled to 500 one century later. Many once-regal properties were derelict. Yet this remaining land, located between Martillac and Mérignac (yes, the airport) on the outskirts of the city, included Château Haut-Brion and every other classified estate in Graves, the region’s purest gravel soils, and the most important dry white wine vineyards in all of Bordeaux.

As the vineyards shrunk, proprietors of the classified estates grew increasingly alarmed. Their worries found voice in André Lurton, who had arrived in Graves from the Entre-Deux-Mers in 1965 and took control of the majority of the classified Couhins property in 1968. By the mid-1970s he was president of the Syndicat de Hautes Graves and pressing for the creation of a new AOC to differentiate the Northern Graves from the south. A more distinctive appellation, coupled with a new wave of vineyard investment and château restoration in the 1980s, could finally stem the tide and save the region from the threat of obliteration. In 1987 the INAO created Pessac-Léognan AOC by decree, aligning the wines of ten communes (all suburbs of Bordeaux) under the new banner. Unlike the commune appellations of the Médoc, Pessac-Léognan allowed the production of both red and dry white wines, and its cahier des charges implemented stricter controls than those of the basic Graves appellation. The new appellation marked a successful turning point for the region; today there are 1,700 ha of vines in Pessac-Léognan, as new buyers and existing estates reclaim abandoned historic vineyards.

About 80% of Pessac-Léognan production today is red. Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot are of almost equal importance in its vineyards—Château Haut-Brion, alone among the first growths, actually has more Merlot than Cabernet planted—and blends can vary widely from producer to producer. The dry white wines are typically blends of Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon, although there are a few examples of pure Sauvignon produced. White wines from estates like Haut-Brion and Domaine de Chevalier are widely praised, but the oak-aged, Sauvignon-based whites of Pessac-Léognan still serve a niche market, representing only a small proportion of the total vineyard.  

The sweet wine enclaves of Sauternes and Barsac are located in the southern Graves along the left bank of the Garonne River. Produced from Sémillon, Sauvignon Blanc and Muscadelle, these wines achieve great complexity due to the development of Botrytis cinerea, known as pourriture noble or the noble rot. The tradition of producing sweet wines from botrytized fruit is strongest in Sauternes, where it dates to at least the early 18th century. Held aloft by rich Europeans and Russian courts in the 1800s, the wines of Sauternes were classified alongside those of the Médoc in 1855 and were divided into first and second growths, with one château achieving the rank of premier cru supérieur: Château d’Yquem. Yet the style of Sauternes was bastardized by a profusion of cheap, mass-produced sweet Graves wines by the mid-20th century; even at the best estates it became difficult to afford the expensive and laborious process of producing true botrytized wine. As in the Northern Graves, however, the 1980s brought a turnaround in fortune, and the authentic production of botrytized wine in Sauternes has returned in force.

The small communes of Sauternes, Bommes, Fargues, Preignac, and Barsac make up the Sauternes appellation and its 2,200 ha of vines. Sauternes’ vineyards are situated near the confluence of two rivers, the Ciron and the Garonne, which encourages the development of morning mists and humidity in the early autumn—conditions ripe for botrytis. When the mold attacks the grape, it permeates the skin and dehydrates it, so that sugar, acidity, and glycerol content are heightened. The wines achieve an intense spiced complexity that would be impossible to duplicate through normal dehydration; with time the afflicted grapes can imbue a bouquet of honey, saffron, dried fruit, ginger spice, even iodine. The noble rot is fickle, however, and does not attack grapes evenly, requiring the producer to pick the grapes individually, in separate forays into the vineyard (tries). Harvesting in tries successives is an expensive proposition, a necessary component to producing top-quality botrytized wines and a procedure mandated by AOP law. Abandoned by most in the downturn of the 1960s and 1970s, 3-4 tries are conducted in an average year by modern Sauternes estates. Château d’Yquem famously conducted 11 tries over ten weeks in 1974, only to reject the final wine. Yes, in the worst years and despite best efforts, weather and rot will conspire to ruin the harvest altogether. The recent history of Sauternes, from the 1970s through 2012, is littered with examples of great estates electing not to release a particularly poor vintage.

New oak, while rare in most sweet wine production, is as prevalent in Sauternes as it is in the best red wine estates of the Médoc. And in Sauternes barrel fermentation is common—top wines are generally fermented in barriques and aged in them as well. During fermentation and élevage sulfur dioxide is a necessary tool, used to reduce volatile acidity, a constant threat in Sauternes, and to ward off the risk of re-fermentation. Chaptalization and cryo-extraction are both permitted, despite essentially confirming failures in the vineyard. With concentration through botrytis, aided, if necessary, by chaptalization or cryo-extraction, Sauternes can hit a finished alcohol level of 14% while climbing into a residual sugar range of 120-160 g/l. It is a viscous, golden, textural sweet wine with the fragrant tones of both new oak and botrytis.

In Barsac, the largest commune of production, producers may choose to label their wines under the separate Barsac AOP, but many choose the more recognizable Sauternes. Historically Barsac wines were a touch drier, but today the appellations are essentially identical. If producers from either appellation choose to produce dry white wines, a growing fad and a growing economic necessity, they are limited to the Bordeaux AOP, as the communes of Sauternes are excluded from the boundaries of Graves. The most coveted Bordeaux blanc (and occasionally Bordeaux Supérieur blanc) wine from Sauternes belongs, not surprisingly, to Château d’Yquem. Its “Ygrec” white first debuted in 1959 and was made intermittently until 2004, when production commenced annually.

The three communes of Cérons, Podensac, and Illats lie just north of Barsac and are entitled to make sweet white wines under the Cérons AOP or dry white and red wines labeled Graves. Most growers take the latter approach. The Cérons appellation has existed since 1936 and has the potential to rival Barsac, but growers here generally lack the inclination or the funds necessary to make great botrytized wine in the style of Sauternes. New oak and tries successives run up the bills, and the risks are great. Botrytis develops less reliably than in Sauternes, permitted yields are higher, and the resulting wines are less concentrated.

Across the Dordogne River and opposite Entre-Deux-Mers are the appellations of Saint-Émilion, Pomerol, Fronsac, and their “satellites.” Collectively, these 10 AOPs are informally known as the right bank, encompassing 12,400 ha of vines and producing 10% of Bordeaux’s wines. All of it is red. Bourg and Blaye may be considered right bank appellations as they lie across the Gironde from the Médoc, as are the Côtes de Bordeaux zones east of Saint-Émilion, Castillon and Francs.

Elevation, topography, climate, and soil undergo subtle shifts from the left bank to the right. The land climbs slowly as one moves inland, reaching elevations around 90 meters at the right bank’s highest points. In the Médoc it is rare for vineyards to surpass 15-30 meters in elevation. While there are flat plains in the right bank, too, Bordeaux’s interior regions tend to have more interesting landscapes—raised plateaus, rolling hills, and more variable exposures—than the left bank, where the topography is fairly flat. The right bank is drier, with greater temperature swings from summer to winter. Spring and fall frosts are a graver concern. The alluvial gravel deposits that typify the great vineyards of the Médoc and Graves are much less common in the right bank. While there is gravel in Saint-Émilion and Pomerol, cool clay and calcareous clay soils are widespread throughout the right bank. These environmental factors conspire to create an environment more suitable for Merlot than Cabernet Sauvignon.

Throughout the right bank, the general encépagement is around 70% Merlot and 30% Cabernet Franc. Merlot ripens easily in the right bank’s cooler, clay-riddled soils and is generally more adaptable, less susceptible to disease, more evenly ripening, and longer-lived than Cabernet Franc. Merlot first surged in popularity after phylloxera struck in the 19th century, and its adoption intensified with the devastating winter freeze and spring frosts of 1956, which crippled or killed many existing vines. The thinner skins of Merlot do attract rot, a disadvantage noted by the INAO, who encouraged growers to plant Cabernet Sauvignon in the 1970s. Seeing their error, producers rarely cultivate the late-ripening Cabernet Sauvignon today. Cabernet Franc, the region’s traditional grape, stands in for the structure of Cabernet Sauvignon in right bank blends and tempers the fruitcake and jam of Merlot with brighter acidity and restrained alcohol. Petit Verdot is almost non-existent on the right bank. There is a smattering of Malbec, and three or four producers are playing with a revival of Carmenère. There are a few white grape vineyards in Blaye and Bourg, but they are otherwise very rare on this side of the Gironde and Dordogne. Throughout the core appellations of the right bank, white wines only merit the basic Bordeaux AOP.

Average estate size marks another key distinction between the left and right banks of Bordeaux. In the expansive Médoc and Graves château properties can easily amass 60 or 80 hectares of vines; in the right bank even the largest estates rarely exceed 20 or 25 ha. Many are much smaller, covering only a handful of hectares. In the Right Bank, particularly in Fronsac and the satellites, it is still routine to encounter individually owned châteaux rather than properties possessed by insurance giants and the like. However, estates on the right bank are consolidating in ownership, and domaines are growing in size. Subsequent to the surprise omission of Christian Moueix’s 11-hectare Château Magdelaine from the 2012 Saint-Émilion Classification was the announcement that its vineyards would be united with Moueix’s Bélair-Monange as a consolidated 23.5-hectare premier grand cru classé property. In the 2015 Decanter Bordeaux supplement, writer Stephen Brook cites Jonathan Maltus of Saint-Émilion’s Château Teyssier, who suggests the commune’s average domaine size has doubled from 3.5 ha to seven in two decades’ time. Chinese investors have taken particular aim at the right bank, eyeing its charming landscapes for quaint countryside villas as much as wine. In all of Bordeaux, Fronsac has the highest percentage of Chinese-owned estates.

The right bank’s long history of small, family-run estates and the region’s relative affordability helped inculcate the culture of the garagiste. The garagiste movement, sparked by Valandraud in Saint-Émilion, rapidly swelled in the 1990s but has subsided in recent years. A vin de garage serves to identify both size and intent: whether or not they are actually produced in a garage, the wines are small-production, low-yielding, extracted efforts that undergo severe selections and luxuriate in new oak. They are the antithesis of terroir; they are triumphs of technique typically produced from mediocre soils in lesser sectors of Bordeaux’s famous appellations.   

From the edge of the Saint-Émilion AOP on the right bank of the Dordogne, the spire of a towering Romanesque cathedral first comes into view. A beacon visible across a sea of vines, the cathedral stands at the center of the commune of Saint-Émilion, a beautifully preserved cité medieval of steep cobblestone streets (tertres), ecclesiastical monuments, and a massive king’s keep, draped in red for each year’s harvest festival. The city and its surrounding vineyards were designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999. It was an important religious center in the Middle Ages, and the village traces its viticultural heritage to Roman times—the poet Ausonius was born in Burdigala but lived here in the 4th century, his name lent to Château Ausone. Nearby Libourne facilitated English trade after the union of Eleanor and Henry, benefitting the wines of nearby Saint-Émilion, yet its importance diminished after the Hundred Years War. When the wines of the right bank started to build foreign audiences again in the 1700s, it was Fronsac, not Saint-Émilion, that first rose to prominence. The Revolution brought a sea change, subduing the power of Saint-Émilion’s clerics and abolishing its governing Jurade, administers of the town since the end of the 12th century. By 1855 the wines of Saint-Émilion had not yet piqued interest among Bordeaux’s courtiers, but vineyards—and the Libourne wine trade—were expanding. In 1884, Saint-Émilion winegrowers formed one of the first professional syndicats in France to further their collective aims and raise the status of the region’s wines. In the late 1800s and early 20th century, interest in Saint-Émilion accelerated as new audiences throughout France and Northern Europe turned to the right bank even as the traditional UK Bordeaux trade continued to favor Left Bank wines. At the end of the 20th century, the red wines of Saint-Émilion reached a new pinnacle, buoyed by traditional stars like Château Cheval Blanc and Château Ausone, new garagisteupstarts, fashionable consultants like Michel Rolland and Stéphane Derenoncourt, and a groundswell of critical adoration.

Between the Dordogne and Barbanne Rivers, nine communes in total produce Saint-Émilion AOP wine from 5,500 hectares of vines. The most historic growing areas are on the slopes, or côtes, of the limestone plateau near the commune of Saint-Émilion itself. Ancient caves dug by the Romans snake through the rock beneath hillside vineyards, and the cool clay soils atop the plateau reward the early-ripening Merlot. Consequently, most of Saint-Émilion’s classified estates surround the medieval town at the core of the appellation. Near the gravelly terrace of Pomerol on the northwestern sector of the plateau, the topsoil shifts from clay to warmer gravel and the proportion of Cabernet Franc rises. This small graves zone, on Saint-Émilion’s perimeter, is home to Château Figeac, one of the few Saint-Émilion properties with a substantial amount of Cabernet Sauvignon planted, and Château Cheval Blanc, a property that often blends more Cabernet Franc than Merlot into the grand vin. Both the côtes and the graves zones have achieved renown, and every single premier grand cru classé estate is situated in one or the other.

The conventional division of côtes and graves in Saint-Émilion is, admittedly, an oversimplification of the region’s complicated topography and shifting soil profiles. And it leaves out the sprawling valley of the Dordogne, where much 20th-century vineyard expansion occurred. As the vineyards flatten at the base of the côtes and fan out into a wide plain along the Dordogne, the soils turn sandier, and the wines become lighter and more forgettable. There are some small patches of gravel in the Dordogne valley, but overall this is not a sector of high potential. In fact, those vineyards closest to the river may only apply the regional appellation, Bordeaux AOP.    

Unlike other premier communes of Bordeaux, Saint-Émilion has two red wine-only appellations: Saint-Émilion AOP, established with the initial wave of AOCs in 1936, and Saint-Émilion Grand Cru AOP, introduced in 1954. Saint-Émilion Grand Cru AOP wines must be estate-bottled, unlike the basic Saint-Émilion AOP, which can be blended and bottled by a négociant. Additionally, there are lower maximum yields and a longer élevage required for the Grand Cru category. While the two AOPs share exact geographic boundaries, most Grand Cru estates are located on the limestone côtes and plateau rather than in the river plain. All classified estates must produce Saint-Émilion Grand Cru AOP wines, but the classification is a separate distinction. On a wine label “Saint-Émilion Grand Cru” indicates an appellation; “Saint-Émilion Grand Cru Classé” indicates a classified producer within that appellation.

Confusingly, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru Classé and Saint-Émilion Premier Grand Cru Classé were separate AOCs, introduced alongside Saint-Émilion Grand Cru in 1954! However, the cru classé AOCs did not comply with the EU definition of an appellation, and in 1984 the classifications of grand cru classé and premier grand cru classé were eliminated as appellations. From 1954 to 1984, there were four separate AOCs for Saint-Émilion; today, there are two.

Saint-Émilion was snubbed in the 1855 Classification, but one century later its vignerons envisaged a classification of their own, drafted in accordance with the INAO. This resulted in the creation of three new AOCs in 1954: Saint-Émilion Grand Cru, Saint-Émilion Grand Cru Classé, and Saint-Émilion Premier Grand Cru Classé. (The latter two were eliminated as appellations, but not classifications, in 1984.) Unlike the 1855 Classification, the Saint-Émilion Classification was not set in stone; revisions were intended every decade, with the possibility of promotion and the specter of demotion pushing classified estates to continually strive for quality. To be considered, each estate would be required to submit wines to the Saint-Émilion Wine Council (the winegrowers’ syndicat) for tasting. The first list of premier grand cru classé (divided into A and B tiers), grand cru classé, and grand cru estates was completed in 1955 and legally enacted in 1958, with updates in 1969, 1986, 1996, 2006, and 2012. The 2006 revision jeopardized the continued integrity of the system as a group of demoted châteaux brought legal action and scuttled the results. The matter percolated in French courts for several years, resulting in a 2009 compromise that allowed châteaux promoted in 2006 to retain their new status while demotions were rendered invalid.    

To maintain the classification’s unique means of quality control and shield it from future legal problems, the Saint-Émilion Wine Council shifted authority over the classification to the INAO with the 2012 classification, and created an appeals process for demoted châteaux. The current classification, published in 2022, was entirely conducted by the INAO in accordance with set principles: analyses of soil, topography, viticultural, and winemaking techniques; an examination of the estate’s reputation; and a tasting spanning a decade of vintages. The current list includes two premier grand cru classé A estates: Pavie and newcomer Figeac. There are 12 premier cru classé B estates and 71 grand cru classé properties. As with 2006 and 2012, the 2022 classification was not without controversy. Four formerly ranked châteaus withdrew from classification: Cheval Blanc (Classe A), Angelus (Classe A), Ausone (Classe A), and Château La Gaffelière (Classe B). Unlike the classified estates of the Médoc, producers may not simply add or subtract vineyards at will, and properties are not necessarily classified in total. For instance, only 27 of Château Angelus’ 29 hectares of vineyards are ranked as premier grand cru classé A. Has the new system satisfied everyone? Clearly not. With legal troubles brewing anew, critics still maintain it is about brand and reputation rather than vineyard and wine. The wines must be sold on the Place de Bordeaux, through négociants, in order to gain the visibility necessary to be classified. Nonetheless, the Saint-Émilion Classification represents Bordeaux’s best attempt yet at creating an evolving, relevant list of cru classé châteaux.

Adjacent to the commune of Saint-Émilion is the Pomerol AOP, one of the world’s most important sites for Merlot, where 150 producers farm roughly 800 hectares of grapes. Encircled by the Isle and Barbanne rivers and the town of Libourne, the commune of Pomerol is easy to miss; its châteaux are less ostentatious—the futuristic Cheval Blanc, a stone’s throw from Pomerol on the western fringe of Saint-Émilion AOP, sports far more conspicuous flash than any of the acclaimed properties coming into view. Less than four kilometers wide, Pomerol’s small size is underscored by a comparison to Burgundy: as the smallest “village” appellation in Bordeaux, Pomerol contains roughly double the vineyard acreage of Gevrey-Chambertin.

The mention of Pomerol quickly brings the blue clay of Petrus to mind, but the appellation’s soil profile is not constant. Pomerol lies on a gently rising plateau composed of three separate terraces formed by Ice Age deposits of sand, gravel, and clay.  At its lowest level, near the town of Libourne and the Dordogne, light sandy soils create lesser vineyard terrain, but as the plateau slopes upward glacial deposits of gravel began to accumulate. The gravel here is more fragmented, less rounded, and shallower than that of the Médoc, but it warms the soil of the plateau and enables the grape to ripen a few days earlier here than in Saint-Émilion. The surface gravels of Pomerol’s plateau are laid over, and often amalgamated with, clay and interweaved with bands of crasse de fer—iron-rich sand deposits celebrated by some producers as part of the “magic” of Pomerol’s terroir. The third terrace, located at a higher elevation in eastern Pomerol, consists of purer, water-retaining clay with some gravel. This is clearest at the buttonière (“buttonhole”), an area of deep blue clay at Pomerol’s highest and easternmost point, spanning just 20 hectares. Petrus is centered on this unique soil, upheaved through the gravel and iron pan of the plateau, and it extends into the Saint-Émilion vineyards of Château Cheval Blanc, southeast of the estate. Several of Petrus’ neighbors in Pomerol also cross into the buttonière, but only Petrus can claim vineyards that are almost entirely situated on this patch of thick blue clay. Petrus is therefore one of the only great Bordeaux properties to produce a mono-varietal wine: in most years, the grand vin is 100% Merlot.    

Merlot today makes up about 70% of the total vineyard area in Pomerol, but it was not always so—Cabernet Franc was the region’s most planted grape prior to the disastrous winter of 1956. When replanting, growers favored Merlot: it was more reliable in the vineyard and more in tune as Pomerol hit its stride with generous, hedonistic, pleasurable wines. Cabernet Franc’s proportion in the field is actually rising today, as growers fret about increasing warmth and Merlot’s ruthless efficiency as a sugar factory. Cabernet Franc makes up 25% of the vineyard, with the remainder given to Cabernet Sauvignon. (Much of Pomerol’s Cabernet Sauvignon resides in the vineyards of Château de Sales, by far the appellation’s largest producer.) There is very little Petit Verdot or Malbec in Pomerol.

Most of the great estates of Pomerol are clustered at its eastern nucleus, surrounding the church of Pomerol—the commune’s only real landmark—and fanning outward from standard-bearer Petrus. Vieux Château Certan, Lafleur, l’Evangile, Trotanoy, Clinet, la Conseillante, Petit Village and Le Pin are all less than one kilometer from the fabled estate, high up on the plateau. Château le Bon Pasteur, owned by consultant de rigueur Michel Rolland prior to its 2013 sale to Chinese interests, lies due east of Petrus in the hamlet of Maillet. Pomerol has no classification of producers like the other premier appellations of Bordeaux, but position on the plateau—and therefore, soil quality—is a surprisingly good arbiter of potential. At the very least, those estates grouped on the upper terraces and plateau tend to produce vastly more expensive wines. Style is another question. Among the treasured wines of Pomerol one can find late-picked, supple, ultra-rich styles seemingly plucked from the New World, and hard-edged, tannic, backward examples that remain steadfastly in the Old.

Pomerol.

The red wine regions of Fronsac AOP and Canon Fronsac AOP are relatively unknown in comparison to the more illustrious members of the right bank neighborhood. As one Canon Fronsac winemaker laments, “we fell asleep”: the wines of Fronsac were the most prized of all the right bank in the 18th and early 19th centuries, particularly the claret of Canon, but with time Fronsac receded in importance. After phylloxera struck producers moved their vineyards closer to the river, where regular flooding prevented the insect’s incursion—but the rich muddy soils made unremarkable wines. The reputations of Saint-Émilion and Pomerol enlarged while the value of Fronsac diminished. The region is justifiably proud of its heritage—the name “Fronsac” derives from the Tertre de Fronsac, a fortress Charlemagne built to repel invaders, and in the 17th century Cardinal Richelieu bought the land and title to the Duchy of Fronsac for his family. Fronsac was served at Versailles, and splendid châteaux of the 18th and 19th centuries dot the landscape. They are reminders of an illustrious past and hopeful symbols of a restored future—one that can only be reclaimed by the work and tenacity of its growers, operating a 10-minute drive, and worlds apart, from Pomerol.

The Fronsac and Canon Fronsac AOPs together represent about 1,100 ha of vines spread throughout seven communes. Fronsac itself is the largest, while producers in Saillans typically offer the highest quality of wines. The Isle River, a tributary flowing south into the Dordogne, separates Fronsac from Lalande-de-Pomerol, and the Dordogne itself divides Fronsac from the Entre-Deux-Mers. There are south-facing hillsides opposite the valley of the Dordogne in Canon Fronsac, and the larger Fronsac AOP contains both slope and valley. (The best hillside sites in Fronsac are in the communes of Saillans and La Rivière.) Fronsac’s river valleys, usually picked mechanically, still produce unambitious wine, but the hillsides in both appellations can support high-quality winemaking. Harvests occur after those in Saint-Émilion or Pomerol, and while appellation guidelines originally required a small proportion of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc are clearly more suitable choices in Fronsac. An encépagement including 80-100% Merlot is not uncommon among the top estates of Fronsac and Canon Fronsac.

Is one appellation superior to the other? Canon Fronsac is typically held in higher regard. With only 300 ha of vines, it is the smaller and more uniform AOP. However, the best hillside sites of Fronsac can rival those of Canon Fronsac, and they share the same soil profile: Fronsadais molasse, a mixture of soft limestone and clay. (Vineyards high on the slopes and plateaus have a greater proportion of limestone throughout both appellations.) The wines are similar: rustic at the low end but plusher and rounder when more ambition (and money) is applied. For many estates desiring an international presence, modern Pomerol style and the consultants who deliver it serve as a guide. Château Grand-Renouil and Château Gaby are among the top tier of properties in Canon Fronsac. Some of the best estates in Fronsac today include Château Dalem, Château de La Dauphine and the Michel Rolland-owned Château Fontenil. The largest property in the region is Château de La Rivière.  

Four satellite appellations are located to the north of Saint-Émilion itself: Lussac-Saint-Émilion AOP, Puisseguin-Saint-Émilion AOP, Montagne-Saint-Émilion AOP, and Saint-Georges-Saint-Émilion AOP. Originally there were six AOCs, including Montagne, Saint-Georges, Puisseguin, Lussac, Sables and Parsac. Sables was absorbed by Libourne and its vineyards shifted to the Saint-Émilion AOC, while Parsac disappeared as an administrative commune in 1973. Only a church remains in the former town; its surrounding vineyards now qualify for Montagne-Saint-Émilion AOP. (The idle Parsac-Saint-Émilion AOC was erased from the INAO’s books completely in 1994.) The four remaining AOPs all inhabit soils similar to those of Saint-Émilion—various combinations of clay, gravel, and limestone—but they are hillier and cooler, with harvests occurring after those in Saint-Émilion. Encépagement is similar too; Merlot is the dominant grape.

The Barbanne River, a small stream, divides Saint-Émilion AOP from the satellite appellations north of town. (It’s also a historic linguistic boundary, dividing langue d’oc in the south from langue d’oil in the north.) The south-facing vineyards of Montagne-Saint-Émilion—the “mountain”—rise up from the north bank of the Barbonne to nearly 100 m.a.s.l., and the appellation produces the greatest volume of wines among the satellites. The commune of Saint-Georges, like Parsac, was annexed by Montagne in 1973, but the AOP remains in use. It is the smallest satellite appellation in both size and production, and its producers may choose to label their wines as Montagne-Saint-Émilion instead. North of Montagne-Saint-Émilion are Lussac and Puisseguin. Lussac is the northernmost satellite and has about twice as many hectares of vines as Puisseguin and vies with Montagne in terms of sheer production. Puisseguin is the highest in elevation—it is therefore one of the last places in the right bank to harvest each year. Puisseguin borders Castillon.

Local vignerons do not speak of broad stylistic differences between the four satellites. Wine profiles here as elsewhere in Bordeaux are driven by the château first—and its available finances, intent, and audience. The largest producer in the region is Puisseguin-based cooperative (Producteurs Réunis), which is responsible for 20% and 40% of the production of Puisseguin and Lussac, respectively. Machine-harvesting is common in the satellites, and used—or American—oak barrels are a common sight in cellars. (That said, one of Lussac’s most serious properties, Château La Rose Perrière, is owned by the Bordeaux-based tonnellerie Sylvain. Their barrels are, obviously, a cut above.) Overall, good wines from the Saint-Émilion satellites can equal or surpass basic Saint-Émilion AOP wines, while retaining more moderate levels of alcohol and rusticity.

Across the Barbanne River and west of Montagne-Saint-Émilion, Pomerol has one satellite of its own: Lalande-de-Pomerol AOP, comprising the two communes of Lalande-de-Pomerol and Néac. The vineyards of Lalande-de-Pomerol AOP are less than a five-minute drive from the greatest châteaux of Pomerol, and the appellation’s best vineyards inhabit similar clay and gravel soils, with traces of crasse de fer running beneath them. As in Pomerol Merlot dominates, accounting for three-quarters of the total vineyard area. Of all the appellations north of the Barbanne, Lalande-de-Pomerol sets the bar highest, rewarding better winemaking practices and encouraging outside investment.

The “land between the seas,” Entre-Deux Mers is the name given to the vast swath of land between the Garonne and Dordogne Rivers. The region achieved AOC status solely for white wines back in 1937—further restricted to dry whites in 1953—and expanded to dry Red wines in 2023. Merlot dominates the region’s vineyards today, destined for Bordeaux and Bordeaux Supérieur AOP wines. In fact, nearly three-quarters of Bordeaux AOP wines are produced in the Entre-Deux-Mers region. In the early 2010s there were about 1,500 ha in production for Entre-Deux-Mers AOP; the whole area between the rivers likely contains 40,000 ha of vines or more.

The Entre-Deux-Mers AOP itself occupies a weathered limestone plateau overlaid with cool clay and sandy clay soils that rises to 100 meters above sea level—a high elevation for Bordeaux. Entre-Deux-Mers is one of the coolest growing areas in the entire Bordeaux region, hence the original endorsement for white grapes. Vines are typically trained high to avoid frost, with grape bunches hanging one meter off the ground rather than huddling close to the soil. Bordeaux AOP reds from the region tend to be lighter-bodied and unambitious, often they are the products of co-operatives or generic brands; Entre-Deux-Mers AOP white wines likewise are usually inexpensive and meant for immediate consumption. Once the key variety, Sémillon has slid in favor of Sauvignon Blanc, with more and more winemakers hewing to fashion and producing pure varietal Sauvignon wines. New oak is rarely a feature in this rural area, far from the resplendent châteaux of the Médoc.

Entre-Deux-Mers AOP wines from nine communes along the border of Côtes de Bordeaux-Saint-Macaire AOP are entitled to carry a geographic designation: Haut-Benauge. (The Haut-Benauge designation may also be applied to off-dry Bordeaux AOP whites from the same area.)

The Entre-Deux-Mers AOP, which stretches eastward from the convergence of the Garonne and Dordogne to the western edge of Bergerac AOP, does not actually extend to the banks of the Garonne south of the city of Bordeaux as its boundaries do not overlap either the Premières Côtes de Bordeaux or Côtes de Bordeaux-Saint-Macaire AOPs. Côtes de Bordeaux-Saint-Macaire produces dry and sweet white wines, occasionally with a touch of botrytis. Premières Côtes de Bordeaux AOP, a thin ribbon of hillsides on the right bank of the Garonne, was re-envisioned with the launch of the Côtes de Bordeaux AOP in 2009 as a sweet white wine-only appellation, mandating at least 34 g/l of residual sugar. Sémillon is the appellation’s dominant grape. (Producers in the region now have the choice of releasing red wines as Côtes de Bordeaux AOP.) Three superior sweet wine appellations—Cadillac, Loupiac, and Sainte-Croix-du-Mont—lie within the Premières Côtes, their vines inhabiting raised plateaus escalating sharply from the eastern bank of the Garonne. Unlike Premières Côtes de Bordeaux wines, which may be machine-harvested and are typically moelleux rather than truly dessert sweet, the sweet whites of these appellations strive for higher quality. Hand-harvesting in successive tries is required in all three appellations, minimum sugar levels are slightly higher, and base yields are lower. Botrytis is typically present in the wines of all three appellations, but selection is far less rigorous than in Sauternes and Barsac—most estates simply can’t afford the meticulous attention or the extremely low yields—and the resulting wines therefore rarely show the same level of concentration. All three appellations are in slow decline, spurred by modern indifference toward sweet wines and overlooked in the shadow of Sauternes, just a few kilometers away.

Other regions in the “land between the seas” that do not overlap the Entre-Deux-Mers AOP include Graves de Vayres AOP, a small zone just west of Libourne framed by the Dordogne River, and the larger Sainte-Foy, which is sandwiched between Entre-Deux-Mers AOP and Bergerac. Most growers and producers in Graves de Vayres release their wines under the more recognizable regional appellation of Bordeaux. The former Sainte-Foy AOP was absorbed into the Côtes de Bordeaux AOP in 2016.

Côtes de Bordeaux AOP debuted in 2009 to rebrand and unify numerous outlying appellations in Bordeaux under a common banner in the marketplace. The appellation comprises four disconnected sectors: the Premières Côtes de Bordeaux on the western fringe of the Entre-Deux-Mers, the area adjacent to the eastern borders of the Saint-Émilion and Puisseguin-Saint-Émilion AOPs, a large area between Entre-Deux-Mers and Bergerac, and a massive zone north on the eastern bank of the Gironde that conforms exactly to the boundaries of Blaye AOP. Other than a similar hilly topography and a shared peripheral sensibility, the different sectors have separate identities and traditions. And while the cumulative effect of the appellation is to join these regions in Merlot-based red wine production—it is the only style authorized under the broad Côtes de Bordeaux name and represents over 95% of the region’s total output—some distinctions are preserved through the development of separate regulations for five geographic designations: Castillon, Francs, Cadillac, Blaye, and Sainte-Foy. The Cadillac geographic designation spans the Premières Côtes de Bordeaux sector; Castillon and Francs compose the sector in the eastern right bank. (Blaye is Blaye.) Castillon and Cadillac are reserved for red wines subject to more stringent viticultural requirements, while vignerons in Blaye, Francs, and Sainte-Foy have the option to produce white wines as well. Castillon, site of the battle that brought the Hundred Years War to an end and an extension of the limestone côtes of Saint-Émilion, has been reinvigorated with new investment as Saint-Émilion winemakers flood the more affordable area with new projects.

In tandem with the new appellation’s debut, several existing appellations and designations were subsumed or substantially redrawn. The Côtes de Castillon AOC adjacent to Saint-Émilion and Sainte-Foy AOP ceased to exist. Côtes de Francs, north of Castillon, was dropped as a geographic designation of the regional Bordeaux appellation. Cadillac AOP and Premières Côtes de Bordeaux AOP remain as sweet wine appellations, but red wines were dropped from their cahiers des charges. Like Côtes de Castillon, the Premières Côtes de Blaye AOC was absorbed into the new Côtes de Bordeaux appellation. Changes were afoot for Bourg too, but producers in that region withdrew their interest in joining Côtes de Bordeaux at the eleventh hour.

Located north of the right bank and across the Gironde from the Médoc, the regions of Bourg and Blaye have been growing vines since Roman times. Like Bordeaux, the towns of Bourg and Blaye were important access points to the Gironde and the open sea in the Middle Ages, but trade in wine suffered with the development of the Médoc across the water. Phylloxera and the mildew epidemics of the 19th century hit the entire region hard, and recovery came slowly; many growers in the 20th century preferred to contribute to generic Bordeaux blends rather than strive to develop the region’s various appellations as name brands in their own right. Prior to the delimiting of Cognac in 1909, much of Blaye’s harvest was not even used for wine—it went into the pot stills of the Charente directly to its north. In the more recent past, however, both regions have started to show potential, with Bourg leading the way.

Bourg is the smaller of the two areas—the Bourg AOP, established in 1936 for red wines and expanded to include whites in 1941, covers just 15 communes. Its namesake, the port town of Bourg, is located on the eastern bank of the Dordogne just upriver from the Gironde. Close proximity to the estuary reduces the impact of frost and hail while creating one of Bordeaux’s windiest winegrowing areas. Bourg’s terrain exhibits more varied topography than that of the Médoc or nearby Blaye, with dramatic hills, limestone cliffs, and sharp ridgelines rising throughout the appellation. Merlot is the key grape, making up about two-thirds of the vineyard encépagement, but with some warm pockets of gravel amidst the clay and a climate moderated by the Gironde, Cabernet Sauvignon is its foremost blending partner, occupying about 20% of Bourg’s vineyard acreage. Unusual for vineyards on this side of the tracks, Cabernet Sauvignon’s prominent role gives Bourg reds more structure and tannin than those in neighboring Blaye. The region also has the highest concentration of Malbec vines anywhere in Bordeaux: the grape has surged in recent years to account for 10% of total plantings. White wines from the region are a rarity: white grapes account for only 25 ha out of 4,000 in the appellation. Bourg’s star producer is undoubtedly Château Roc de Cambes:  a Saint-Émilion vigneron named François Mitjaville bought the run-down property in 1987 and showed the world the potential of Bourg. A new generation of young growers and winemakers has followed him, elevating Bourg’s class even more.

Blaye is a much more expansive region of mixed agriculture. Elevation ebbs and flows but the rolling landscape is overall gentler than in Bourg, with some low-lying areas near the Gironde too close to the water table to sustain vines. Clay and limestone are the building blocks of the soil, and Merlot is the dominant grape here, too. Cabernet Sauvignon performs less reliably in Blaye than Bourg, but it is still the second-most planted red grape. In the past Blaye had more vineyard land devoted to white grapes, for wine and distillation, but the region’s focus today is firmly on red wine production—less than 5% of the region’s 6,500+ hectares of vines are planted to white grapes. Unlike Bourg, which has a single AOP (known alternately as Bourg or Côtes de Bourg), Blaye has a confusing system with multiple options for producers. Red wines may be labeled either as Blaye AOP or Côtes de Bordeaux AOP, with or without the Blaye geographic designation. Theoretically Blaye AOP is a stricter appellation requiring slightly lower yields, a greater density of planting, and one of the lengthiest minimum élevage periods in the entire Gironde département—reds may not be sold until March 31 of the second year after the harvest. Dry white wines composed of the standard Bordeaux complement of Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon are released under the Blaye geographic designation of Côtes de Bordeaux AOP. In reflection of the region’s position as a historical crossroads between Charente and Bordeaux, a few rare white blends based on the Cognac grapes Ugni Blanc and Colombard are released as Côtes de Blaye AOP.