Oenophiles Away!

A Wino’s …er… Wine Connoisseur’s Dream Trip

We’re heading back across the Atlantic. This time? To Bordeaux, France!

Preparing for this trip, we have tried to learn as much as possible about Bordeaux and its wine because we, like many Americans who have been raised on knowing wines only by their grape, have always been a bit afraid of French wines. They are a complex blend of varietals that draw upon their environment (their “terroir”) as much as from the fruit itself. Prior to this trip, picking a French wine was often left to our completely unscientific but surprisingly helpful benchmarks: if the wine’s label contains blue, metallic and cursive elements, it has usually proven to be a fine wine.

And in the spirit of “you can’t know too much about good wine,” here’s a little knowledge dump of what we’ve gleaned from the Internet, YouTube (with a tip o’ the hat to Cleveland’s own, Vince Anter, and his V is for Vino wine series. Watch it! We highly recommend it.) and our own guide and mentor, Dan Greathouse.

So, here’s our Bordeaux 101.

First, the geography of the region is a major player in what makes Bordeaux wines so exceptional. The topology of the wine landscape here is divided into three major zones defined by the three rivers that flow through the region. The Garonne River and the Dordogne River meet and combine into the Gironde River (and estuary) that empties into the Atlantic Ocean. This access to shipping enabled Bordeaux, a grape-growing region from Roman times, to become a major exporter of wines, especially during three centuries of English rule (1152-1453).

The rivers create and define the three major wine growing terroirs: the Left Bank, south and west of the Garonne/Gironde; the Right Bank, north of the Dordogne; and the Entre-Deux-Mer, the area between the Garonne and the Dordogne. The mixture of components deposited by these rivers over time (the “alluvium”) is responsible for creating the specific soil compositions in each area that favor particular grape varietals.

On the Left Bank, a former swamp drained for agriculture by the Dutch in the mid-17th century, the soil is gravelly and well-drained. Here, Cabernet Sauvignon is king and constitutes about 67% of the wine in every bottle of red produced. Merlot, Petit Verdot, Malbec, and/or Cabernet Franc finish off the blend.

The Right Bank soil is of a clay & limestone consistency, the properties of which are vital in producing the big juicy berries that the Merlot grape is known for. Blends here tend to be 80% Merlot topped off with a mélange of Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec and/or Petit Verdot.

The Entre-Deux-Mers produces dry and mellow white wines that are recognized for their freshness and approachability. Flagship grape varieties of the region are Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon and Muscadelle.

There’s a lot more that can be (and has been) written by multitudes of experts about Bordeaux wine. But I am neither that writer nor that expert. I am but an imbiber.