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Everything you always wanted to know about

Bordeaux but were afraid to ask.

With 200 portraits of brands

every wine enthusiast should know.

Rolf Bichsel

Best of

BORDEAUX

200 legendary châteaux and their wines

Knowledge | History | Travel

‘Best of Bordeaux'

A publication by VINUM, Europe's wine magazine

©

November 2016, first edition, Intervinum AG, ZUrich

ISBN Print: 978-3-033-05899-6

ISBN E-Book: 978-3-033-05916-0

AUTHOR

Rolf Bichsel

EDITOR

Roland Köhler

PUBLISHER

Intervinum AG, Zurich

www.vinum.ch

Publishing manager: Nicola Montemarano

Assistant/coordinator: Barbara Schroeder

Marketing: Dana Muñoz

Sales: Peter Heer, Catherine Sereno

Assistant/administration: Manuela Deganello

DESIGN, IMAGES AND PRODUCTION

Cover image and graphics concept: Marco Bräm

Translation: Hancock-Hutton, Bordeaux

Photos: Vinmedia, Bordeaux

Production: Hans Graf

This document is protected by copyright.

All copyright and publishing rights for this publication, in whole or in part, are reserved.

Any use or exploitation of this in whole or in part, in particular translation, reprinting, duplication, microfilming,

storage and use on optical or electronic data carriers, requires written permission from the publishers. Use of this

document shall in principle generate a payment liability. Violations are subject to the sanctions of copyright law.

The content of this issue has been carefully checked. However, the authors, editors and publishers accept no

responsibility for its accuracy.

Legal notice

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and other timepieces with the NOMOS swing system and the

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!Bon appétit+ with Bordeaux.

Bordeaux wines are a delight. Discover fine wines from our extensive range of Bordeaux

and en primeur wines, suitable for red meat or hearty dishes. You can find additional wine

recommendations at mondovino.ch. Coop does not sell wine to young people under age

18. Available at large Coop supermarkets and at coopathome.ch and mondovino.ch

Our wine experts recommend:

Pessac-Léognan Grand Vin

Château Haut-Bergey

2011, 75 cl

33.95

(10 cl = 4.53)

Les Tourelles de Longueville

2e Vin du Château Pichon

Baron 2012, 75cl

39.50

(10 cl = 5.27)

Saint-Emilion Grand Cru

Château La Tour Figeac

2012, 75 cl

38.95

(10 cl = 5.19)

7

Foreword

I ran aground in Bordeaux in 1986 as a pia-

nist in a jazz club, and stayed on. I wanted

to keep tinkling the ivories and ended up do-

ing so, just di

ff

erently to how I imagined. Be-

cause life sometimes takes us in unexpected

directions, I became a wine writer and my

new home became my subject matter. Ever

since, I have tasted hundreds of great Bor-

deaux wines every year, with a degree of

shame as wine is not designed to be spat

out. Bordeaux has changed radically over these past 30 years. There is no other

region producing such quantities of such stylish wines. Bordeaux has an unfor-

tunate reputation for producing rare luxury products, but in reality the peak has

become much broader, and even so-called lesser vintages offer wines which are

outstanding in terms of both price and style. There are hundreds of good Bor-

deaux wines, only a few of which are expensive objects of speculation. On my

first en primeur tour, there were barely a dozen tasters trying 120 wines. Today,

several thousand Bordeaux palates (or aspiring palates) taste up to a thousand

wine samples over the course of a week without any guilty conscience what-

soever. There is also a downside to the sheer quantity of interesting Bordeaux.

Whilst people who knew a couple of dozen labels and three top vintages could

once call themselves connoisseurs, now it takes a university degree. This book is

an (insu

ffi

cient) attempt to turn the tide. I have tried – with all the compromises

and inconsistencies such an undertaking entails – to reduce the top Bordeaux

wines everyone should know to 200 brands. This is the best overview I can of-

fer of my world of fine Bordeaux, whilst also including a few other lesser-known

estates as representatives of the many others. All of this is based on my own

experience: I make no claim to objectivity when it comes to wine.

I originally wanted to reduce the historical notes about the estates to a couple

of lines which could be read anywhere. When compiling the first portraits, I was

tearing my hair out wondering whether I was repeating the error of cheerfully

repeating all of the commonly held misconceptions ever published, but my

Bernese stubbornness required a di

ff

erent approach. Checking sources and his-

torical data, studying marriage certificates and trawling through online archives

cost me an extra year of work. However, the subject matter was worth the effort:

true Bordeaux history contains ten times more adventure than what is usually

peddled.

Rolf Bichsel

Bordeaux lives

8

Contents

200 years of wine adventure

The Bordeaux story 10

Fact and fiction 12

Ausonius and the Romans 14

Bordeaux melting pot 18

The New French Claret 20

New luxury 24

Early years 26

Trade triangle 29

Fairy-tale chateaus 32

Class society 33

1855 classification 34

Global trade 38

Brand and style 41

The theatre of aging 42

Profit calculations 44

The Bordeaux-makers 45

Division of labour 48

Oenologists 51

History overview 53

9

Geography and appellations

Médoc and Haut-Médoc 54

Pessac-Léognan, Sauternes, Graves 56

Saint-Emilion, Pomerol 57

Map of listed estates

Right bank 58

South Bordeaux 60

Médoc and Haut-Médoc 62

Guidance 64

200 legendary châteaux and their wines from A to Z 67

Travel and discover

269

City of Bordeaux 270

Right bank 272

South, Médoc and Atlantic 273

Selected addresses for visitors to Bordeaux 274

Bordeaux service

Cuisine 280

Glass and decanter 282

Storage and aging 285

Vintage overview 288

l

10

Introduction

200 years of

wine adventure

Bordeaux is one of the oldest winemaking regions in the world.

However, what we know as ‘grand vin' (‘great wine') first emer-

ged during the 17th and 18th centuries. This development invol-

ved immigrants from a variety of countries – Bordeaux wine is a

universal product to the core.

The Bordeaux story

Success did not come about by accident, and great wines are born of great

terroirs: ‘mother vine' (as the cliché has it) is happiest growing in sand, gravel

and clay, sinking her roots deep into the womb of grandmother earth and bus-

ily siphoning mineral crystals, vitamins and aromas into her grapes that grow

and thrive before becoming Lafite Rothschild. Ten little Romans are said to

have discovered the excellent terroirs of the Gironde, laid down their spears and

cultivated the ancient Cabernet Sauvignon. Dionysus served as their wine con-

sultant and was outwitted by Bacchus who introduced barrel aging, and if they

had not died laughing they would still be blithely fertilising wine history with

absurd rubbish. If terroir were reduced to such ridiculous tales, then two thirds

of Bordeaux would onlybe only be good for growing radishes.

The truth is much more prosaic. As the Gauls – or more precisely, the Gallo-

Romans – liked to put a few drinks away (their only other pleasures were bread

and games) and wine was too expensive to import, they began planting their

own vines in around the second half of the first century. To do so, they first

11

needed a grape variety that could withstand the capricious Atlantic climate:

Biturica, mentioned by Pliny the Elder and the agronomist Columella, and pos-

sibly a cross of varieties introduced from Spain and the Balkans. They planted

this wherever space could be found, gobbling up the terroir. And when they har-

vested more wine than they could drink, they sent the surplus to the newly con-

quered northern provinces of Brittany and Britain which had no lack of thirsty

throats but had had no success in growing vines despite numerous attempts to

select more resistant varieties. This required ships and a port, and Burdigala was

thus founded (thank you Jupiter), at least if historians are to be believed, as their

friends the archaeologists have not yet managed to find the Roman docks which

they presume to have existed in the most enterprising locations of the city.

One thing is certain: Bordeaux became the largest, most important wine city

in the world, as the half-moon-shaped meander of the Garonne – into which

numerous streams flow and where the original inhabitants of Bordeaux estab-

lished a settlement – was not only easy to defend, it also proved to be a perfect

natural port thanks to all the inflows from rivers such as the Lot, Tarn, Aveyron,

Baïse and Gers which chose the Garonne as their outlet. Then, and now, it acts as

an interchange and is the inevitable final stage of a journey from the hinterland

(nearly a quarter of modern France) along the almost 100 kilometre Gironde

estuary to the Atlantic, and offers links to the world's interconnected oceans.

In Bordeaux, the tides are still so strong that the river goes into reverse every

eight hours – acting as the perfect outboard motor for Roman galleys. By the first

century AD, Burdigala was already an emporium and a trade port, as recorded

by the historian Strabo.

Without its port, Bordeaux would now be part of a region called Libourne

rather than the other way around, for the right bank of the Dordogne in Saint-

Emilion – where Atlantic influences are more tempered and olive trees and cork

oaks are able to survive in clay and gravel soils – contained what was an ideal

Lafite Rothschild

12

History Fact and fiction

winemaking terroir for the Romans, rather than the sandy and gravelly river

sediment on the left bank of the Garonne to the north and west of the city where

the Romans probably grew their vines, or the scree to the south which Bordeaux

locals planted from the 16th century. And least of all on the gravel hilltops of

the Médoc, which only became accessible all year round once Dutch engineers

had drained the surrounding marshes using a sophisticated system of channels

and sluices. But even so, Saint-Emilion and Pomerol, whose winemaking his-

tory apparently has Roman roots (the name is a reference to fruit cultivation,

with ‘poma' meaning apple but also fruit in general, so why not grapes?), stood

at the gates of the city of Libourne, which failed to rival Bordeaux despite its

small port. Rural Libourne thus produced wine primarily for personal use until

the mid-18th century.

In fact, the ditches and furrows which the Romans supposedly carved out of

the limestone rock to facilitate the rooting of their vines (as mentioned in nu-

merous scholarly books) have been shown by recent research to date from the

18th century. Furthermore, scholars have long been arguing about the location

of the remains of the grandiose Villa Lucaniacus belonging to Roman statesman

and poet Ausonius. But they are hardly likely to be slumbering in Saint-Emilion

and are thus of no use as proof of the wonderful wines which the town is sup-

posed to have already been producing at the time.

Arnaud II. de Pontac

13

Fact and fiction

Ausonius went down in Bordeaux history because he scratched ‘Oh father-

land, famous for its vines' into a clay tablet, inscribed it on parchment or some

other material, and also noted in passing that he owned around 25 hectares of

vineyards alongside a few hundred hectares of agricultural land. This does not

mean very much, however, as no true Roman estate would have done otherwise,

as wine was a way of raking in extra wealth, prompting Diodorus Siculus to com-

ment in the first century BC: ‘The avaricious temperament of many Roman trad-

ers exploits the Gallic passion for wine. On the boats which follow the waterways

or by wagons which roll across the plain, they transport wine, from which they

make fantastic profits, going as far as trading one amphora for one slave, in such

manner that the buyer brings his servant to pay for the drink.'

The Roman scholar, politician and poet Decimus Magnus Ausonius was born

in Bordeaux in around 310 (other sources refer to Vasate or Bazas) and died after

a long career in 395 on his family's estate in la Réole in southern Gironde. There is

virtually nothing to associate him with Saint-Emilion. The legend that he owned

a winery there emerged in the 17th or 18th century, and I cannot help thinking

that there are prevailing mercantile and chauvinist interests in this interpretation

of history. Here are the facts: Ausonius's writings mention a villa called Lucani-

acus which ‘could rival a palace in Rome' and could apparently be reached from

Ausonius

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Ausonius and the Romans History

Condat with a team of mules. In 1806, local historian Suffrein published a history

of Libourne, which he took to be the former Condat. In Gallic the name means

a place located at a confluence: today around 100 different ‘condats' have been

identified from those times, including what are now Cognac and Angers. Libourne

does not appear on the list. It was on the basis of this meagre evidence that Suf-

frein established Ausonius' villa as being in Saint-Emilion, where Gallo-Roman

artefacts have indeed been found. However, after archaeologists found the foun-

dations of a large Roman villa near Saint-André / Montagne, Suffrein's thesis was

dismissed as pure fabrication. Researchers still argue about which excavations

can be attributed to Ausonius, who owned estates in Bordeaux and Saintes but

spent a large part of his life in Milan and Trier. Whether Suffrein (whose thesis

sought primarily to demonstrate the importance of Libourne as far back as Ro-

man times) was influenced by Jean Cantenat, who renamed his estate with the

unpronounceable name of Rocblancan as “Ausone” in around 1781, or was instead

inspired by the research findings of local historians and amateur archaeologists,

is something we will probably never know. One thing is certain: during this pe-

riod, various other estates in the region (Pétrus, Conseillante and Beauséjour)

also gained finer-sounding (and thus more tempting) names. This small digres-

sion should not be viewed as an accusation of the falsification of history, but is

rather simply designed to illustrate how fact and fiction are often intertwined in

Bordeaux.

Since the most important Atlantic port in southern France came to be in Bor-

deaux, the ocean is still shaping its destiny today, and Bordeaux became the

northernmost part of south-western France to continue successfully growing

fine red wine – for Bordeaux is on the Atlantic, and not on the Mediterranean or

even the Amazon despite many opinions to the contrary! True Bordeaux locals

never go out without a cap and an umbrella, not to mention the local women

who are constantly on the alert and generally under cover, always holding onto

their skirts when walking through the city: if Billy Wilder had filmed ‘Some Like

It Hot' in Bordeaux rather than New York in 1959, Marilyn Monroe's lovely knees

could have been exposed without the need for subway grating. Here the west

wind howls, bringing rain, gales and legendary summer storms, the weather is

sometimes so capricious that the mercury gets the hiccups, and without check-

ing the weather report it is impossible to know whether you should be pulling on

a T-shirt or a woollen jumper, in the height of summer or the depths of winter.

‘A true Bordelais', as I was told with a raised finger by none other than Jacques

Chaban-Delmas, ‘never goes out walking without an umbrella'. I did it anyway

and turned up at an appointment to interview the city's legendary former may-

or soaked to the skin, dripping on the polished and waxed parquet floor of the

city hall like fresh laundry throughout our conversation. On 4 August 2003, the

thermometer here shot up to an exuberant 40.7 degrees Celsius, but on 8 August

16

History Bordeaux melting pot

1924 it remained stuck at just 1.5 degrees. However, even the greatest climatic up-

heavals can be tolerated whenever there are riches to be made. Mankind peered

at Bordeaux's legendary terroirs like Moses peered at God in Mann's trilogy ‘Jo-

seph and His Brothers', and thus helped them into existence. Resourceful minds

adapted the terroir to their needs and people also adapted to suit the terrior (or

less concisely: after Armenians or Greeks or Mesopotamians or whoever accus-

tomed the vine – a climbing plant from shaded forests – to the alkaline clay and

limestone soils and the burning sun and persuaded it to produce grapes which

could be made into wine, the Gallo-Romans who had already begun making wine

on the right bank but also wanted to produce it on this side of the river, adapted

the plants to the acidic soils and cheerfully damp climate on the left bank of the

Garonne). They therefore created terroir in its broadest sense, terroir consisting of

time and space, terroir made from history and nature, terroir, inextricably linked

to humans and their destiny.

The Bordeaux melting pot

More than a single lifetime would be required to investigate the thousand-

year family tree of a thoroughbred Bordelais. The Bituriges, who according to

legend founded Burdigala and introduced Vitis Biturica (the first ancestor of

Cabernet), were not the only contributors to the archetypal Bordeaux blood-

line. Novem Populi was the name of a south-western Roman province where

nine peoples were supposed to have settled. In fact it was not nine but nearly

thirty tribes who accepted Roman rule more or less willingly and with it, almost

inevitably, Roman genes: love is blind, not pure-bred. Over the centuries they

were joined by Visigoths and Saracens, Britons (themselves a mixture of Angles,

Saxons and Normans), followed by the Jews, Navarrese and Lombards, along

with the Dutch, Irish and Scots, not forgetting the Hanseatic and Baltic peoples

as well as South Sea Islanders, North Africans, Senegalese, Italians, Spaniards

and Portuguese: for 2,000 years Bordeaux has been a trade city, as cosmopolitan

as Hong Kong, Rio and New York put together, and has long been a magnet for

anyone in search of wealth and success.

Bordeaux has never got anywhere in military terms – people dominated here

not by the sword but rather with plough and sickle or abacus and stylus. The Ro-

mans never had a garrison here, remaining in Blavia (Blaye) on the right bank of

the Gironde. Citizens adapted to conquerors in public and were decadent in se-

cret. The dark chapter of the Second World War with its submarine port, depor-

tation station and Maurice Papon, Secretary General of the Gironde from 1942

to 1944 who was convicted of being an accomplice to crimes against humanity

in a sensational trial in 1998, and of the world of wine which disintegrated into

collaborators, emigrants and silent victims and which suffered from a severe

18

shortage of manpower, is an inglorious story that has not yet been fully told:

Bordeaux prefers to leave its evil spirits alone and its bodies deeply buried. How-

ever, its reputation was never truly damaged: even the worst characters were

unable to resist the otherworldly charms of the wine and its native land, like

the allure of a lady of easy virtue. Bordeaux is a city which runs wild in beauti-

ful finery during the day and then at night is redolent of the demimonde like a

perfume that bewitches the senses.

It is ironic that the Bordelais have a woman – Eleanor of Aquitaine – to thank

for making wine into such an all-powerful asset, because for a long time, the

Bordelais would not even allow women into their cellars for fear of them turn-

ing the grape juice sour. But these same Bordelais would happily squander their

money in the city's brothels or the city theatre (which was built in 1738 only

to burn down 17 years later, leading to the construction of the current Grand

Théâtre by the architect Victor Louis, now a major attraction of this city that

was named a World Heritage Site in 2007). And these same Bordelais would

conclude their transactions –generally in private alcoves – so loudly that the few

real culture lovers persuaded the king's intendant to establish France's first pub-

lic park, or Jardin Public, in Bordeaux in 1746, where good male society could

finally swagger in the open air or the shade of the Atlas cedars.

19

Eleanor of Aquitaine was the granddaughter of William the Troubadour Duke

of Aquitaine, the wife of the French King Louis VII before an annulment was

granted. She was also a crusader and the incestuous lover of her uncle Raymond

of Poitiers. In 1151 she married the heir to the English throne Henry IIPlantagen-

et who was ten years her junior, for whom she produced eight children includ-

ing Richard the Lionheart and John Lackland whom Ivanhoe fans will know

from Walter Scott's chivalric novel, before instigating a plot against her husband

and consequently being imprisoned for ten years. There are numerous legends

about this determined lady. Only one of these is relevant to us, and it is demon-

strably true: thanks to her, Bordeaux came under English rule for 300 years, and

thus became the island kingdom's wine cellar, in top vintages brimming over

with the equivalent of Switzerland's current annual production.

Vines were then planted in the ‘palus' – fertile alluvial soils along the Garonne,

which to the west of the city joins up with the Dordogne, into which the Isle

flows at Libourne. This land definitely has no shortage of water. Bordeaux owes

its reputation not the greatest terroirs in the world, but instead to deep soils that

are rather unsuitable for top wines from today's perspective. The region pul-

sates to the rhythm of the tides and is shaped by a rainy Atlantic climate. This

once again demonstrates that terroir has as much to do with commercial policy

and a strategic transport location as it does with geology and climate.

20

History The new French claret

The wines from these soils were a translucent, clear, bright red colour like

virtually all of the ‘red wines' produced in the cultivation area we now call

France up until the mid-19th century. The English called it claret, which in

Britain remains a synonym for Bordeaux to this day. These wines were not even

particularly elegant or refined, as people would sometimes have us believe.

Instead, they had a robust constitution in order to withstand the rigours of

shipping in reasonable condition and so that they only turned sour once poured

into the purchaser's glass. Without a doubt, they would have been sweet and

sparkling as happens to wines today if we leave them to their own devices,

which was the practice at the time. The few historic sources citing wines with

their origins (Andely, Rabelais, Villon) make no mention of Bordeaux until the

late 16th century.

The New French Claret

The concept of a Grand Vin, differing from standard wine like a prince from

a pauper, came to the owner of a plot called Ho Brian (Haut-Brion) to the south

of Bordeaux between 1550 and 1650, a flash of inspiration which should earn

him a heartfelt tribute from any halfway grateful Bordeaux fan. Of course, the

various Jeans and Arnauds de Pontac (in Bordeaux as elsewhere, first names

are re-used throughout multiple generations, making genealogical research a

particularly exacting activity), were thinking not of winemaking posterity, but

rather of their own pockets and economic survival. During this same period of

history, Columbus ran aground in the Bahamas in 1492, Magellan circumnavi-

gated the globe for the first time in 1519, and in 1582 German doctor and natural

historian Leonhart Rauwolf wrote a 500-page volume recounting his Oriental

travels, which included a passage on Turkish drinking habits (page 105): ‘among

the rest they have a very good drink they call Chaube that is almost as black as

ink and very good in illness, especially of the stomach.' In 1550 the first coffee

house opened in Istanbul, Venice began brewing mocha in around 1600, and

bags full of ‘Chaube' beans were first listed on the London and Marseille port

registers in around 1650. The assiduous Rauwolf revealed that the Turks viewed

coffee as a replacement for wine, the consumption of which was a punishable

offence across the entire Ottoman Empire (with the exception of short periods

of drinking freedom).

If the Bordelais in general (who had been making a living from winemaking

for more than 300 years) and the de Pontacs in particular (who were heavily reli-

ant on it because they gave with one hand and took away with the other) wanted

to defy the nascent competition, they had to come up with something whether

they liked it or not. Their local wines, which were only successful because A) the

water was so dangerous to drink that it had to be disinfected with this wine and

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22

B) all other wines from surrounding areas and the remaining southwest were

refused access to the port until after Christmas, could not bear comparison with

other generally more powerful and transportable drinks such as coffee, tea and

chocolate. This also applied to brandy and there was strong competition from

Portugal – military and economic partners of England since the 1386 Treaty of

Windsor – and Spain whose ‘sack' from Jerez was sold by the Vintner's Company

in London from 1565. Did Shakespeare have Falstaff drink Bordeaux? Absolutely

not! The womaniser declaimed in the 1597 play Henry IV, part 2: ‘A good sherris-

sack (...) ascends into the brain (...) and warms the blood'. No mention of claret!

A successful product cannot just be plucked out of thin air: you first have to

analyse the production conditions, the market and sales opportunities. If the

conditions do not match the consumers' needs, you invest in clever marketing.

You identify consumer motivators – people who define the spirit of the age – and

allow them to test the product, invite them to a good meal or a relaxing few days

on a yacht. That is exactly what the de Pontacs and their neighbours skilfully

did – they analysed the natural conditions and made the best of them. Because

they had gravel mounds rather than the fertile sediment along the banks of the

Garonne, they simply gathered up the latter from every mud deposit they could

find in order to improve their gravel soils (anyone who believes that vines will

grow in stone alone will end up bitterly disappointed) and then planted their

23

rows of vines into this mixture. The vines seemed to take to it well, but would

the results meet the expectations?

After many years of testing and selection, the resulting wine was red in colour

but sadly also rather tart and angular, and not at all sweet or easy to drink. It also

had a rather unique aroma – in the truest sense of the word. The Londoner, Sec-

retary to the Admiralty and Member of Parliament Samuel Pepys did not write

in his oft-cited diary in 1663 that he had drunk a wine that tasted better than

any other, but rather that he ‘drank a sort of French wine, called Ho Bryan, that

hath a good and most particular taste that I never met with', and which – reading

between the lines – left him surprised and very undecided, perhaps thinking

‘this tastes a little strange, but if others like it then I will probably enjoy it as

well'. However, the fields and farmland which the de Pontacs gained as a dowry

were very unforgiving, so the family developed new cultivation techniques and

selected and planted suitable vines, all with the bailiffs at the door. They simply

made a virtue out of necessity and turned a disadvantage into an advantage.

Opaque colour and tannic flavour? Something for men of the world to savour

and keeps much better than the pink sauces of their competition, particularly

once wine was sold in glass bottles, the production of which gradually improved

from the 16th century onwards (King Charles II of England's cellar book from

1660 records the purchase of 169 bottles of Hobrion at the price of 21 shillings

Château Calon Ségur

24

History New luxury

4 pence per full bottle), stopped with a cork (the use of which also gradually

came into fashion), left to mature for a while and served in delicate Venetian

crystal glasses rather than the drinking horns, pewter mugs or leather cups of

the common people. If left to mature for a while, this new wine gradually de-

veloped astounding smoothness, a well-balanced taste and a stunning bouquet

the like of which no one had ever experienced before. And to ensure that the

wine would not be confused with others and would become its own brand, it

was named after its producer and place of origin and ultimately transformed

into a luxury product with the clever suggestion that it might be of noble origin

and have bathed in the twilight of a cellar in a chateau owned by some ancient

aristocracy. But more on that later.

After the end of the English Civil War (1642–1650) London became the intel-

lectual and cultural capital of Europe, knocking Paris off the podium. Not even

the plague to which a fifth of the city's population fell victim in 1665 or the Great

Fire of September 1666 (which actually claimed very few lives but caused mas-

sive destruction) could not compromise this development: London had made it

to the top and was there to stay. Shortly after the Great Fire, the Pontacs opened

a tavern in the capital called the Pontac's Head which quickly became the best

eatery in the city. It served up French specialities and its own wine, and soon

anyone who was anyone was seen there. Although Jonathan Swift complained

that the wine was much too expensive at seven shillings a flagon, other intel-

lectuals such as the philosopher John Locke became veritable ambassadors for

the brand. Locke paid a visit to Haut-Brion in 1677, carefully examined its terroir,

studied cultivation techniques and set about solving the mystery as to why the

Pontacs' wine tasted so delicious that ‘the rich English would order it for any

price'. He also noted: ‘The wine of Pontac, so revered in England, is made on a

little rise of ground, lieing open most to the west. It is noe thing but pure white

sand, mixed with a little gravel. One would imagin it scarce fit to beare anything.'

And suddenly everyone wanted some, and the de Pontacs were able to sell Ho

Brian at ten or twenty times the price of standard claret, pay off their creditors

and a

ff

ord younger courtesans.

However, the competition never sleeps. What was just right for the de Pontacs

was sacred to the de Ségurs, de Rauzans or de Lestonnacs, and the Bordeaux

bourgeois (who were all also ship-owners and merchants, and often lawyers or

notaries and bankers and always city parliamentarians) thus triggered what you

might call a veritable cultivation war in Bordeaux. And when the gravel mounds

to the southwest, west and northwest of the city (what is now Pessac-Léognan)

were requisitioned and seemed particularly suitable for producing this new

style of French wine which the Brits called ‘new French claret', Bordeaux's

moneyed aristocracy simply purchased the endless hunting grounds of the Mé-

doc, now dried out by the Dutch. These were characterised by the numerous

Château Lafaurie-Peyraguey

Sauternes

1945

Château Lafaurie-Peyraguey, Sauternes, 1945

Tasting note by René Gabriel:

Medium dark bright gold, freshly picked apricots,

caramel, orange peel, Butterscotch.

Exhibition: 10 to 24 May 2017, studio visits on request.

Pierre Aerni, Burgstrasse 4, CH-8604 Volketswil, e-mail: aerni@sauternes-art.ch

www.sauternes-art.ch

sauternes-art.ch

Tasting Notes Metamorphoses

27

Early years History

flat gravel knolls transported from the Pyrenees by the Garonne in prehistoric

times, which are very good at regulating the water balance thanks to their gentle

undulations and the excellent filtration capacities of their soils (preventing the

vine roots from rotting in overly damp ground, or conversely from drying out

excessively in the Atlantic weather with the exception of a few days or weeks

between mid-July and mid-August that cause the delay in ripening which is one

of the secrets behind great Bordeaux). The fact that producers also flirted with

rather dishonest methods to acquire these suddenly extremely precious soils

is illustrated by the case of Pierre de Mazure de Rauzan who was involved in

estates such as Latour, Pichon Longueville, Rauzan Gassies and Rauzan-Ségla

as founder, director or owner: he would lend small producers money in an ap-

parently benevolent fashion, and when they were unable to pay it back he pock-

eted their land.

Another illustrious estate owner Nicolas Alexandre de Ségur, the ‘prince of

vines', popularised his wines Latour, Mouton, Calon and Lafite at the court of

the French king from 1716 onwards via the intermediary of the Marechal de

Richelieu. Lafite was said to be a treatment for gallstones. Legend also has it

that the Marquis de Ségur adorned his waistcoat with polished Médoc pebbles

rather than precious stones in order to demonstrate the source of his wealth.

Another regular consumer of his wines was the first British Prime Minister Sir

Robert Walpole, ensuring that Ségur wines enjoyed success in London. Be-

tween 1705 and 1711, the ‘London Gazette' newspaper (founded by the journalist

Henry Muddiman in 1667 and still in existence today) listed privateer booty for

auction, including on 22 May 1707 hundreds of barrels of Haut Brion, Margaux,

Latour and Lafite which all fetched impressive prices several times higher than

standard ‘claret'. So it is no surprise that local merchants began looking for more

affordable alternatives. As the four aforementioned top wines were virtually

una

ff

ordable in the 1727 vintage, one Bordeaux broker wrote a letter to the cel-

lar master to the heir to the throne suggesting a replacement which he tastily

described as follows: ‘Never in my life have I tasted a Chateau d‘Issan so good

as this vintage. It truly is a wine full of charm which I would very much like to

send to the Prince.'

From then on, new Bordeaux from fairy-tale Bordeaux chateaus became a

status symbol of the rich and beautiful. In the second half of the 19th century,

Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria-Hungary could be counted among Issan's fans,

and the ambassador and future US President Thomas Je

ff

erson said ‘there can-

not be a better bottle of Bordeaux wine than Margaux 1784'. Château Margaux

was praised by Rossini and drunk by Engels, who gave a simple answer to a

question from Karl Marx's daughter Eleanor about what he considered to be the

greatest expression of happiness: ‘a Château Margaux 1848'.

28

Trade triangle

The ‘vignoble bordelais' as we know it today, with its grand historic brands, ac-

tually emerged during the 18th century. Any claims by estates to have produced

top wine prior to 1650 can be considered pure speculation or even somewhat

fanciful. This new style of winegrowing initially spread across the best soils of

the Haut-Médoc peninsula, or more precisely throughout a strip of land a couple

of kilometres wide running along the Gironde containing the best gravel soils

around Margaux and its satellite villages, Saint-Julien, Pauillac, Saint-Estèphe,

Saint-Seurin de Cadourne, Moulis, Listrac and Saint-Laurent. Based on the Mé-

doc model, it then also emerged in the Libourne area (Fronsac, Saint-Emilion,

Pomerol), whose wines were primarily sold in northern France and the Benelux

region thanks to a few capable merchants in the city of Libourne. The global

Bordeaux trade first took an interest in this little corner in the late 19th century

when wines from the Médoc and Graves were in short supply after the phyllox-

era crisis: the vines in the limestone soils of Saint-Emilion withstood the insidi-

ous pest for somewhat longer, and the draining of the Pomerol plateau (which

was often knee-deep in water during the winter) enabled top-level winemak-

ing on a wider scale. The driving force behind this rapid development was Bor-

deaux's moneyed aristocracy, made rich by ‘triangular trade' with the colonies.

I have already suggested that coming to terms with the past is not really one of

The city of Bordeaux

29

Bordeaux's strengths, and one aspect is missing or even completely ignored in

many analyses of Bordeaux, namely the inglorious chapter of the slave trade.

Bordeaux, with Liverpool and Nantes, was for a long time one of its major hubs.

This is how scheming merchants did it: they gathered capital (as already men-

tioned, many Bordeaux citizens were part-time bankers), bought or chartered

a couple of ships, loaded them up with goods (wine) in Bordeaux, sent these

across the world, invested the profits in ‘black ivory' from Africa that they trans-

ported to the colonies, where these slaves were exchanged for ‘colonial goods'

such as coffee, cocoa or sugar which made their way back to Bordeaux – so as

well as making a bigger profit, they only indirectly got their hands dirty. So many

wine estates were created with capital earned from the slave trade that the phi-

losopher Montesquieu, living in neighbouring Labrède, definitely had first-hand

knowledge of what he was talking about when he penned the following: ‘the cry

for slavery is the cry of luxury and voluptuousness, not of public felicity.' How-

ever, in many learned books this chapter reads as follows: in the 18th century

Bordeaux became rich from trade and attracted numerous immigrants from

countries all over the world such as England, Ireland, Scandinavia, Germany

and Switzerland. They generally settled in the Chartrons (‘Carthusians') district

like generations of immigrants before them: originally marshland outside of

the city proper. By the late Middle Ages, Chartrons – with its barrel stores from

Château Gruaud Larose

31

Trade triangle History

which barrels could be rolled directly onto cargo ships – had already become a

traditional winemaking district and remained so until the 1980s. Bordeaux grew

quickly and was soon bursting at the seams, becoming the third-largest city in

France (behind Paris and Lyon), and was able to afford one of the 18th century's

most beautiful (and today one of the best maintained) collections of buildings.

For centuries Bordeaux survived skirmishes and military campaigns un-

scathed or with little damage. Its strategic location was too important, the in

fl

u-

ence of its residents was too great, and too much money was at stake, so Bor-

deaux was forgiven any transgression. During the ‘Fronde' from 1748, Bordeaux

was a sponsor and bastion of this uprising against the power-hungry holder of

the increasingly absolutist French crown. The city's surrender on 3 August 1653

brought an o

ffi

cial end to the protest movement. Despite a few punishments,

such as Bernard de la Nogaret de la Vallette, Duc d'Epernon and owner of Beych-

evelle (who had remained loyal to the government) razing the chateau belong-

ing to agitator Blaise de Suduirault to the ground (although it is still not entirely

clear whether this was to settle a private or a political score) – Bordeaux's mer-

chant nobility remained virtually unscathed, and happily continued making

wine and enjoying its extravagant lifestyle. During the French Revolution, the

parliamentarians once again backed the wrong horse (although who really man-

aged to pick the right one in the bloody confusion?), were declared enemies of

the young nation and made the acquaintance of Madame la Guillotine. There

were many other executions in Bordeaux, and anyone wanting to escape the

sca

ff

old was forced to leave their land and allow it to be con

fi

scated, with nu-

merous estates being put up for auction. However, from a modern pragmatic

perspective, the Revolution was just a turning point that brought an influx of

new blood and capital, as many estates were acquired by different aristocratic

families during the Restoration. In the years after the Congress of Vienna, a large

number of citizens quickly came into money, began by acquiring a patent of no-

bility (sold in bulk by the reinstated French crown which was constantly short

of money), and as the crowning glory of their career and a symbol of power and

success, they acquired a real chateau, surrounded by vines of course. (Nouveau

riche) bankers or businessmen then replaced Bordeaux's old moneyed aristoc-

racy who had ruled the winemaking roost in the 17th and 18th centuries, and as

merchants, notaries, doctors or tradesmen were constantly forced to buy a seat

in the city parliament, rather than inheriting it from a father or uncle. This was

almost as essential for a first-class Bordeaux citizen as a service pistol once was

to a Swiss who wanted to join the ranks of high society.

32

History Fairy-tale chateaus

Fairy-tale chateaus

Today only a few, well known wine estates such as Lafite, Latour or Margaux

actually date back to medieval manors (or ‘seigneuries' in French, a form of ad-

ministrative district where the local lord dispensed justice and reigned supreme).

Most of these also had an old, generally dilapidated castle, or more specifically

a fortress, as a chateau is by definition not a residential building but rather be-

gan life as a military defence facility. These dark, damp stone palaces with their

thick walls and arrow-slit windows had long since been uninhabited, or only oc-

cupied when necessary. From the Renaissance onwards, the old chateaus gave

way to more comfortable Italian-style villas known as ‘maisons nobles'. The ac-

tual ancestral seat declined into a symbol of old ancestry and high nobility. One

of the first actual wine chateaus was Haut-Brion which the de Pontacs built in

1550 as a country house, summer residence, and symbol of their estate, wealth

and perhaps even their vineyards which surrounded it. However, the Bordeaux

wine chateau primarily found in the Médoc is a 19th-century invention. In 1787,

Jefferson spoke of Haut-Brion without the Château pre

fi

x, and only mentioned

two examples: Château de la Fite and Château Margau, both old seigneuries.

Only La Tour, also an old seigneurie, had to renounce its chateau title and was

relegated to a mere ‘cru'. Many ‘chateaus', including the one at Latour, were only

built after the o

ffi

cial 1855 classi

fi

cation we will soon be examining in further

detail: it was not until after this publication (which listed all estates still without

their ‘chateau') that the term for a wine estate became an essential prefix, and

a real chateau building played a vital role in establishing its image. The build-

ers of these more or (generally) less tasteful edifices were the nouveau riche,

entrepreneurs or bankers such as the Douats, Pereires or Rothschilds. They

found their ideal creator in the form of architect Louis-Michel Garros, the inven-

tor of every possible ‘neo' style (neo-Renaissance, neoclassical etc.) who was as

happy to plunder English Gothic as the French Renaissance. The first chateau

commission given to Garros, who settled in Bordeaux in 1863 after studying in

Paris, was Fonréaud in Listrac. This was followed by numerous others including

Lachesnaye, Malescot-Saint-Exupéry, Lascombes and Ducru-Beaucaillou. Gar-

ros was the true inventor of the ‘wine chateau', later also creating many other

variants in Béziers, where other levels of society came into money virtually

overnight thanks to the liquor and mass wine trade. His interpretation of the

‘chateau' clearly refuted the principles of the era's other great eclectic architect

Viollet-Le-Duc (to whom we owe renovation of Carcassonne, a childhood dream

of a knight's castle in Languedoc as controversial as it was successful), whose

1858 handbook of architecture complained that the term ‘chateau' should be

reserved for just medieval buildings with all newer forms being described as

a ‘maison des champs', or country house: ‘A country which has abolished the

aristocracy and thus all privilege cannot seriously build “chateaus”. For given

33

Class society History

the partitioning of an estate, what is a chateau other than a flash in the pan, an

extravagant structure which perishes with its owners without leaving the slight-

est reminder.' How can he be so right and yet so utterly wrong!

Class society

On 18 April 1855, the Bordeaux Syndicate of Wine Brokers addressed a letter

to the Bordeaux Chamber of Commerce which began as follows: ‘Dear sirs, on

the fifth of this month we were honoured to receive a letter from you in which

you asked us to send you a complete list of classified red wines in the Gironde

and of our great white wines. We have collected all the information we need

in order to comply with your request, and are able to provide you with the at-

tached list.' The list contained 56 names of red wine estates in the (Haut) Médoc

region and one from Graves (Haut-Brion) as well as 21 names of (sweet) white

wines from Sauternes and Barsac, all divided into five categories from 1ème to

5ème Cru Classé: this was the handwritten original of the oldest and most fa-

mous of all the o

ffi

cial wine rankings, namely the 1855 classification, created on

the occasion of the Universal Exposition in Paris and adopted by head of state

Napoleon III. One estate (Cantemerle) was left out and subsequently added a

year later, and in 1973 an estate moved up from the second category to the first:

Mouton-Rothschild. Other than this, the classification has never been changed,

and the fact that it has since grown to 61 red and 27 white wine estates is the

result of estate partitioning and the merging of certain estates with others.

The history of the classification alone would fill volumes. Let us simply note

that this cataloguing of Médoc wines plus Haut-Brion into two, then three, and

ultimately five categories was already taking place in the early 18th century.

‘Crus' (or ‘growths', meaning wines whose grapes were grown in a speci

fi

c loca-

tion) were described as ‘Grand' (‘great') if they di

ff

ered signi

fi

cantly from ordi-

nary everyday wines (consequently known as Crus Ordinaires) in terms of both

quality and price, and were thus reserved for a financially stronger class of pur-

chasers. The four current Premiers Crus Margaux, Latour, Lafite and Haut-Brion

were described by an English wine merchant as ‘topping growths' as early as

1723. In 1740, a list of wine-producing municipalities was published giving the

three categories of Premier, Second and Troisième Cru. The Premiers include

Pessac (or rather les Crus de Pontac, in the plural), Pauillac, Saint-Julien, Mar-

gaux, Sauternes and Barsac. The wine enthusiast, French ambassador and fu-

ture American President Thomas Jefferson visited Bordeaux in 1787 and scrib-

bled a list of the best wines in his diary – with three categories from Premier

to Troisième Cru. He is therefore occasionally described as the founder of the

Bordeaux classification, and a couple of the estates Jefferson listed still use him

as proof that they were already famous and sought-after. This is not entirely un-

34

History 1855 classification

true. However, it is scarcely conceivable that Jefferson came up with his classifi-

cation by himself – he quite simply did not have the time, as he spent just three

days in Bordeaux. He arrived in the city from Toulouse/Agen/Langon on 24 May

and travelled on towards Blaye and La Rochelle on 28 May, probably never even

entering the Médoc.

He mentions that he crossed the Garonne near Langon, near Sauternes where

the Gironde's best white wines were produced, which automatically puts him in

southern Graves and means he must at least have passed through Preignac and

Barsac. He also wrote: ‘We find the plains entirely of sand and gravel, and they

continue so to Bordeaux. Where they are capable of any thing, they are in vines.'

He definitely also paid a personal visit to Haut-Brion: he writes that he examined

its sandy and stony soils, extremely different to the chalk soils of ‘Pontac' which

he also investigated. Haut-Brion had belonged to the de Fumels since 1749. It is

unclear which estate he means by ‘Pontac belonging to a M. Lamont': he could

perhaps be describing what is now Carmes Haut-Brion, sitting on a limestone

base next to the present-day Haut-Brion and originally belonging to the Pontacs,

who bequeathed it to the Carmelites. Je

ff

erson is not always as unfailingly pre-

cise or reliable as is sometimes claimed, and was simply writing a diary which

was only published after his death.

Nevertheless, in his travel journal he always clearly notes facts deduced

from his own experience or insight. This does not apply to the ‘classification',

suggesting that it was a generally accepted list: he most likely simply asked a

Bordeaux broker or merchant to dictate a list of the best and most expensive

wine, perhaps the broker Desgrands whom he cites as a source of information

at another point. Incidentally, Jefferson was not only interested in wine – he also

showed an interest in activities such as strawberry production near Agen, ice

manufacturing in northern Italy, to which he devoted several pages, and ox feed

production or the fact that oxen were virtually the only source of motive power

used in Bordeaux, which will be of interest to all of the estate owners now using

horse-drawn ploughs to cultivate their vine rows as part of the booming organic

movement.

The state-certi

fi

ed classi

fi

cation of 1855 came about after Bordeaux mer-

chants heard rumours that the Burgundians, who had gained direct access to

the Atlantic and Mediterranean following the opening of the Canal de Bour-

gogne (1832), were wanting to have their wines o

ffi

cially classified at the 1855

Paris Universal Exposition. The Bordelais simply decided to beat them to it. In

1855, Dijon-based doctor and researcher Lavalle did indeed publish a compre-

hensive work covering all wines in the Côte d'Or, which is still a treasure trove of

information about the region. There was never any mention of the state's bless-

ing. However this was also no longer relevant, as the initiative taken by the Bor-

deaux Chamber of Commerce and the city's wine brokers gained Bordeaux and

Eric de Rothschild

36

its new-born ‘Crus Classés du Médoc, de Sauternes et des Graves' an ingenious

advertising campaign which is still benefiting the region today. It is therefore no

surprise that two other Bordeaux appellations have since emulated this rank-

ing system, namely Saint-Emilion and Graves (now Pessac-Léognan), which

have also been operating their own classifications since the mid-1950s. Graves

has a similar static system to their model, whilst the Saint-Emilion classifica-

tion is updated every ten years. Whether or not this is an advantage remains

open to question: sometimes, it seems to me that the biggest beneficiaries are

the lawyers who are constantly appealing against the recently adopted reclas-

sifications, on behalf of those who have been declassified of course. The value

measured by all of this cataloguing, often based on quality but also nearly al-

ways on high prices, is something that wine enthusiasts are capable of deciding

for themselves. We should note that state-sanctioned classifications are not the

same as state protections of origin (AOC), which have applied in France since

1937 for the geographical origins, style and production conditions of a particu-

lar area. In Bordeaux a distinction is drawn between regional appellations (e.g.

Haut-Médoc) and village appellations (e.g. Margaux, Sauternes, Pomerol) within

the base appellation (Bordeaux), and Saint-Emilion has two appellations, name-

ly Saint-Emilion and Saint-Emilion Grand Cru, with the latter awarded annually.

The Saint-Emilion classification on the other hand di

ff

erentiates between Grand

Cellar of Pichon Baron

37

Crus Classés and Premier Grands Crus Classés A and B, and is updated around

once a decade. Still clear?

The 1855 classification is first and foremost a historical legacy with obliga-

tions: not a single estate under that classification currently fails to produce

at least good and generally excellent wines, with the same also applying to

Saint-Emilion Premiers Crus Classés and Graves Crus Classés at the very least.

Whether or not historical classifications can or should be updated remains open

to question: to me, it is like wanting to banish Picasso or Braque from the pan-

theon of fine art because their works were not painted on an iPad. The fact that

Lafite is still Lafite and Margaux is still Margaux does not prevent any wines with

lower classifications or no classification at all from tasting even better than them

on occasion, but this alters nothing about the historic context and significance

of either. I do not believe in objectivity when it comes to art or top wine – this

drinkable product of agricultural cultivation and handcrafted production that

arouses so much passion. Objectivity is the first step on the road to cultural fas-

cism.

38

History Global trade

The power of the brand

Between 1700 and 1870, Bordeaux was synonymous with great, elegant red

wines and also a new colour (Bordeaux red), all of which quickly conquered the

world. Dry white wine also continued to be produced, but in the 19th century

in particular had to give ground to the production of exclusive sweet wines en-

joyed by more than just female foodies. This utterly blissful period – when the

vineyards of the Gironde were literally bursting at the seams and in addition to

the true top terroirs also occupied soils that would have been better used for

growing corn – was brought to a terrible end by the phylloxera crisis, stock mar-

ket crash and two world wars. This was a long drawn-out tragedy, as the region

constantly fought back but was ultimately forced to surrender. By the late 1940s,

Grand Crus existed only in memory in many areas. The Bordeaux wine as we

know it today is not centuries old, but is in fact now only barely reaching retire-

ment age. Bordeaux's return to its current lofty heights began around the turn of

the millennium, with the enthusiastic adoption of new technology which in the

best cases works hand-in-hand with age-old experience, and observance of the

golden rule that if you want to stay healthy and keep chalking up profits then

you have to master the art of selling your products, which requires international

distribution along a well-oiled, seamless chain stretching from the owner or a

director of an estate, who is responsible for the wine's quality and typicity (i.e. its

recognition factor), via merchants and wholesalers to general agents in distant

lands. This is how it works in Bordeaux: producers make wine from a selected

terroir using specially adapted grape varieties, which when blended ensure a

very particular style whose key characteristics are body, density and tannins

which develop as time passes. This style is elevated to the position of a system

and a brand which insists on its uniqueness. The producers cannot keep all the

profit for themselves, as A) they would be the only people willing and able to

brag about its uniqueness and B) they would be unable to a

ff

ord a global dis-

tribution network which is expensive to maintain, multiplies production costs

and forces the profit curve into a downward trend. So they have twenty, thirty

or fifty merchants on hand who must all sing the same tune for advertising and

distribution purposes. In return, they must be paid, which is no problem at all as

they simply increase the purchase price.

As investment in a brand is only worthwhile if it is spread out consistently

over a long period of time, clever merchants corner the market on certain wines

(those viewed as the most legendary, most expensive or most sought-after) be-

fore harvesting has even finished. This is what is now called ‘vente en primeur',

presented with great fanfare in the spring after the harvest. It involves purchase

via subscription, previously called ‘vente sur souche' or ‘option' and simply

means hogging the wines before they have even been bottled. This brings a

third partner into play, namely the broker or courtier, acting as a link between

Château Montrose

41

Brand and style History

estates and merchants. Why not sell direct? Quite simply because the broker

is a neutral party representing the interests of both partners, who would other-

wise be trying to get the better of one another. Brokers themselves do not sell

wines but simply take a fixed margin of four per cent, so it is in their interest to

regularly procure su

ffi

cient quantities, correctly assess the sales situation, the

demand and also the quality of the wine, and in the best cases justify a high

price (which helps the owner) whilst also ensuring that the wine remains af-

fordable to trade partners, who would otherwise go bankrupt or take their busi-

ness elsewhere. And to prevent brokers from deciding to engage in dumping

and undermine prices rather than following the unwritten rule of adhering to

a price guideline, sly sellers have been known to offer their daughters' hands

in marriage: the world of top Bordeaux is one huge family and solidarity rules

among family members, at least o

ffi

cially. Despite all the gloomy predictions,

this system which is so often written off has never functioned so well as over

the past twenty years, with the piper being paid (whether we like it or not) by

Bordeaux fans like us all over the world.

The theatre of aging

The road to success is a rocky one made of gravel, up to ten metres deep. The

benefits of this soil are that it drains water yet still always remains damp, is a

good heat store on frosty nights, requires the two or three grape varieties which

for centuries have proven their ability to root properly in the capricious climate,

and allows the grapes to ripen at leisure, so slowly that they become crisp and

thick-skinned, assimilate sugar (but not too much) and break down acidity be-

fore over-ripeness and rot set in. Wine pressed from these grapes and drunk

immediately turns out ink black, tart and almost undrinkable, tasting of grape

stems and pomace – ugh – one for the masochists. Instead, you would be better

sticking to fruity Burgundy, meaty Spanish examples or wines from the areas

around Saint-Emilion or Pomerol, which have smoother tannins (other than all

the New World copies which are now thankfully becoming rarer: the fashion

for over-extracted wines which reached its peak between 1995 and 2005 has

faded as quickly as it arrived). However, if you allow great Bordeaux from these

special soils to mature then it becomes unbeatable in terms of balance, airiness,

elegance and finesse, making it ideal for speculation, as great Bordeaux (particu-

larly Cabernet-based wines) goes on and on and keeps as well in a cellar as gold

bars, only tasting much better. And because modern winery technology now

means that the wines taste pleasant earlier but lose none of their aging ability,

great Bordeaux has remained ultra-modern and the whole world cannot get

enough of it. However, not even God knows how many cases are sold and drunk

and how many are stored and hoarded – perhaps because Peter is speculating

42

with Bordeaux on the Lord's behalf. If the flyers advertising special offers and

premium-price cellar clearances which land in our mailboxes at times of crisis

are anything to go by, there is no shortage of great Bordeaux.

Profit calculations

Contrary to popular belief, there is no real correlation between wine quality

and selling price in Bordeaux. ‘Année vert, année cher', the elderly can be heard

to say: the less there is available, the more expensive the wine becomes. Bor-

deaux is a prime example of the law of supply and demand, and thus a strong-

hold of assets. The fact that Engels was a fan of Margaux (as claimed by Karl

Marx's daughter) is a peculiar irony in the history of winemaking, as speculation

with great Bordeaux does pay off: anyone who has gambled with skill over the

past 20 years will have pocketed healthy profits. Running a Grand Cru is there-

fore a rewarding enterprise – to a varying extent. Over the past hundred years,

the average value created by actual winemaking (including on top estates) has

been a meagre five to eight per cent. Grand Crus are monuments of wine his-

tory, so everything looks better if we examine the ‘valeur vénale', or estate value,

which (depending on the time of the purchase) can increase by up to 1,000%

not including investment, sometimes causing inheritance taxes to rocket and

also creating high levels of debt if inheritances are divided up. However, for

those who bought and sold at the wrong time it can also mean a -50% loss.

Nevertheless, if considered over the past twenty years, the top estates are true

treasure troves. Translated into bottle terms, no one in Bordeaux can produce

wines for less than 1.5 euros per bottle, and top quality for less than 5 euros is

an illusion. However, nowhere do production costs rise much above 20 euros,

which allows fortunate producers to gild many taps, employ many gardeners,

dig many pools, sponsor many artists and much more: in terms of the prices cur-

rently being applied (and depending on their level of debt, as mentioned above),

in good years this means profits of 50% or more. But remember, this only ap-

plies to the top 20 or 30 most famous estates – wineries in the 40th to 500th

positions have similarly high production costs but invest considerably more in

marketing and sales whilst having to sell their wines at significantly reduced

margins. As in most other high-quality wine regions, the widest range of per-

fectly respectable wines in Bordeaux from a quality perspective can be found at

between 20 and 40 euros. Depending on the expenditure incurred, profits in the

red wine sector range from moderate to good, but can start plummet in a flash

when loans take their toll, crisis looms on the global market and the tax authori-

ties are at the door. The situation is equally fraught at the other end of the scale:

the 500th to 1,000th positions are occupied by wines whose style has nothing

in common with the Grand Crus but which are still called Bordeaux, and whose

History The theatre of aging

Barrels at Pédesclaux

44

History Profit calculations

existence is therefore based on maintaining the pretence that they are similar to

a Grand Cru but available for much less money.

For Bordeaux simply suggests Grand Cru and implies a complicated, exces-

sive, high-quality wine. Instead of unsuccessfully tagging along behind this idi-

otic ideal, winemakers either side of the Grand Cru line (which is a world of its

own) would be better off setting their minds to producing good, fresh, fun wines

for cheerful consumption as an increasing number of winemakers are now do-

ing – modern wines for everyone, rather than being forced to struggle between

heaven and hell at the limit of profitability. If Tuscany can do it, then why can't

Bordeaux – in the Côtes or Entre-Deux-Mers – do the same? Every month Gi-

ronde winemakers throw in the towel, countless producers are surviving by

the skin of their teeth, and average prices in Bordeaux are still no better than

in Beaujolais or Côtes du Rhône. Don't forget that Bordeaux floods the global

market with around a billion (1,000,000,000) bottles of wine every year, more

than 90% of which have nothing in common with Grand Crus, and the mere fact

that some of this is described as Bordeaux Supérieur implies that there must be

plenty of ‘Bordeaux Inférieur'!

Thanks to the Internet, we now have the ability to compare the prices of

world-famous brands in an instant. Online trade in Bordeaux is flourishing (and

for the time being is not upsetting the traditional system, just traditional Bor-

deaux merchants). Grands Crus are available via numerous channels, and the

margins that an intermediary can make are on average relatively modest (un-

less they go into cellaring and create added value from long aging). To this can

be added competition from major (French) distributors who are increasingly

seeking to circumvent the primeur-courtier-merchant system and use Grands

Crus as lures. Special offers arrive in our mailboxes and the (executive) staff

of Bordeaux Grands Crus are the first to run to the supermarket. Things look

rather different at the other end of the scale, with rules that bring to mind the

ills of the agricultural economy. Producers are receiving barely enough money

to survive, sellers are trusting in the power of a recognisable name and fanning

the flames of misunderstanding until they are blazing, slashing the margins of

wines bought cheap which have to compete with Grands Crus, and once again

wine enthusiasts are pulling chestnuts out of the fire and getting their fingers

burnt on illusory bargains. And because the rest of the wine world grumbles

about Bordeaux in public but emulates it in private, there are very few real al-

ternatives.

45

The Bordeaux-makers History

The Bordeaux makers

Well, first there are the North Africans. Although they do not drink great Bor-

deaux, they play a major role in producing it, for which they are paid a pittance.

They are also Muslims, which poses no problems, as the Bordelais have always

shared Old Fritz's view that everyone should be holy in their own way. Although

Bordeaux has always been Catholic, it has successfully traded with Israelites,

Protestants and Anglicans who had become the ultimate controllers of global

trade, and its vines are now cultivated by Muslims, particularly in the historic

left bank regions of Bordeaux, largely by (local) women. Despite the high unem-

ployment rate, your average Frenchman does not want to get his hands dirty

with hard vineyard labour. Men sit on tractors and drive full barrels through the

winery. Manual work such as foliage treatment, vine pruning, hoeing between

the canes where the machines cannot reach, and sorting has always been per-

formed by the wives, and the men are happy that way. ‘Petites façons' (‘small

work'), was what they called the work of female hands, namely breaking up the

soils between the vines with a pickaxe, whilst the men performed the ‘big work'

consisting of clattering proudly through the vines with a team of oxen and whis-

tling to the girls slaving away in the dirt below. Tribute should also be paid to all

of the female figures past and present who have accompanied their husbands

in the vineyard. They also play a leading role during the harvest, at the sorting

table, in the o

ffi

ce (who else ensures that orders are ful

fi

lled, samples are sent,

visitors are welcomed, coffee is brewed and thousands of other ‘minor details'

are taken care of?) and even at the head of the company or in the cellar: the Fac-

ulty of Oenology in Bordeaux now has more female students than male, which

is as it should be.

What makes Bordeaux so unique is the fact that production on an almost in-

dustrial scale began here in very early times. This made the division of labour

and specialisation essential, demanded a large amount of technical know-how,

and soon required its own oenological faculty: techniques such as sulphuring

barrels, injecting copper sulphate, modern pruning and organic lactic acid deg-

radation were discovered, studied or further developed in Bordeaux, in recent

years by researchers and in earlier eras by experienced directors of well-known

estates and a host of nameless vineyard workers and cellar masters – the collec-

tive memory of Bordeaux winemaking covers centuries. Estates are and were

expansive – by the 18th century Léoville already had 200 hectares of vines, and

the six Premiers Crus on the left bank together produce a million bottles a year.

If an estate owner proudly explains to an awed visitor the tricks he has used

to get the latest vintage to the wine press but then cannot find the light switch

on the tour, and praises the beauty of his neighbour's vineyards whilst visiting

the terraces, there is no need for concern, as he is being watched at a distance

by the backstage crew, all competent, knowledgeable and just happy that the

Star oenologist Michel Rolland

48

History Division of labour

owner lets them follow their instincts. What would Lafite be without its director

Charles Chevallier, Yquem without Pierre Lurton or winemaker Sandrine Gar-

baye, Pichon Baron without Jean-René Matignon, Cantenac Brown without José

Sansfin to name but a few, and what would all of these figures be without the

hardworking bees and drones buzzing away behind them? The owners who can

be found in the cellar of their Grand Cru even when the press is no longer there

(I am thinking in particular of Lucien Guillemet at Boyd Cantenac) are excep-

tions to the rule and of no detriment to quality – in fact, quite the opposite. In

the best cases, the owner and director develop a form of symbiosis as at Pontet

Canet for example, where the dynamic and enterprising Alfred Tesseron and

the dour tinkerer Jean Michel Comme have formed an almost ideal business

marriage which has now inspired a wine whose like the estate (and the world)

has never before seen.

And consultant oenologists? Without them nothing would happen, and the

most important are not always the most famous. It is impossible to avoid the Pe-

ynaud legend, not so much because of his research work as because of his ability

to describe wine in words used by no one before him. The greatest, most price-

less merit of a Michel Rolland is the fact that he has enticed and encouraged

winemakers to head into their vineyards and really taste their grapes in order

to better understand their substance and potential. Although tales of Stéphane

Derenoncourt may have been exaggerated and occasionally become the stuff

of legends, it is thanks to him (among others) that Saint-Emilion now has 200

good wines rather than just 20. However, the nuts and bolts of winemaking is

also carried out by many others, the Dubourdieus, Boissenots, Pasquets, Nav-

arres, Olliviers and the rest, men and women who want nothing more than to

do good work in the background, whether as researchers, analysts, laboratory

technicians or consultants striving to create the perfect blend.

There can be no theatrical success without critics or an audience. What is

the value of critics? Without them there would be absolutely no activity in the

English-speaking world. Parker and co. remain the weather gods of Bordeaux. In

Europe their importance and in

fl

uence (positive and negative!) is rather mod-

est, although some dream of following in Parker's footsteps. This is as it should

be – good critics should have an opinion, which you may or may not share. The

important members of a theatre-going audience are not those who go to a per-

formance because they want to be seen, but rather those who go because they

are interested in the play and form an opinion with the help of critics (rather

than one single critic). Anyone who reads between the lines and deduces that

you can only be a Bordeaux connoisseur by being whizzed seven times around

oenological university in a chauffeur-driven limousine with a minibar has to-

tally missed the point. Let's not leave Bordeaux to the speculators and captains

of industry. Anyone who would have us believe that Bordeaux belongs in a

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51

Oenologists History

neoclassical stucco villa with a liveried English servant in white gloves shak-

ily pouring an ancient Margaux into a decanter in candlelight to the sounds of

chamber music from a Russian string quartet flown in for the occasion, has been

sadly deceived. Bordeaux is not classic and aristocratic, Bordeaux is luxury, and

thanks to its increasingly broad range has remained astonishingly affordable.

Bordeaux is fashion and fun, Bordeaux is something for modern people, Bor-

deaux is young and urban, and if Bordeaux were music it would not be merely

Mozart echoing from the loudspeakers, but also techno, lounge and dub. There

is just one facet of Bordeaux which does not fit our fast-paced era: Bordeaux

needs time and leisure.

52

History Overview

56 BC Crassus conquers the Bituriges: Burdigala (Bordeaux) becomes Roman.

According to the historian Strabo there is virtually no home-grown wine, with

the drink instead being imported from Iberia and southern Italy.

71 BC Pliny visits Bordeaux – the city is entirely surrounded by vines.

400 AD The teacher and rhetorician Ausonius describes Bordeaux as ‘charac-

terised by rivers and vines'.

1154 Bordeaux comes under English rule. Wine becomes the city's most impor-

tant export product and ensures the wealth of its inhabitants.

1214 The inhabitants of Bordeaux persuade King John of England to abolish all

export taxes on wine. The ports of Bordeaux become the world's most impor-

tant wine ports at this time.

1241 Henri III Plantagenet extends the privileges of Bordeaux citizens. Wines

from other regions can only enter the city after 25 December, and thus cannot

be shipped. This privilege continues (with a few interruptions) under suc-

cessive French kings until being finally abolished in 1776 by Turgot, the first

French liberal.

1303 Bordeaux exports 102,724 tonneaux (one tonneau = four barriques = 900

litres = 1,200 modern bottles) of wine, or 924,518 hl, around the equivalent of

Switzerland's entire current annual production or around 120 million bottles!

1550 Jean de Pontac builds a ‘Maison Noble' amid his vines to the south of the

city of Bordeaux, which becomes a centre and symbol of winemaking, and

thus invents the wine chateau.

1660 François-Auguste de Pontac opens a tavern in London. It serves a wine

called Ho Bryan, which unlike the light red ‘clarets' is dark in colour and has

a ‘most particular taste', as Samuel Pepys wrote three years previously in his

famous diary. New French Claret is now in fashion.

1724 Boucher, the King's governor, bemoans the Bordeaux aristocracy's plant-

ing fever, and in 1725 forbids the planting of any new vineyards – a ban which

stands for thirty years but is e

ff

ectively ignored.

1755 Three-quarters of the income from Bordeaux's 70 top families comes

from the sale of their own wine.

1787 Future American President Thomas Jefferson travels to Bordeaux and

records his impressions in a diary. Some of the estates he names and admires

include Lafite, Margaux, Latour, Haut-Brion and Yquem.

1855 Based on previous rankings and on the prices fetched by wines, the

Bordeaux chamber of commerce establishes the first o

ffi

cial, state-sanctioned

An overview

of Bordeaux history

53

Overview History

classification of Bordeaux wines to coincide with the Universal Exposition in

Paris. It divides 88 estates from Haut-Médoc and Sauternes plus Haut-Brion

from Graves into categories, ranging from 1ème to 5ème Cru Classé.

1860 The agronomist Jules Guyot introduces the pruning method that is

named after him, requiring vines to be grown on wires. This modern vine tech-

nique is hereafter used throughout the Gironde. Alexis Millardet and Ulysse

Gayon invent ‘Bouillie Bordelaise' (three parts copper sulphate to one part

caustic lime) as a way of combating downy and powdery mildew, which had

been damaging crops for a decade.

1863 Phylloxera comes to Bordeaux and gradually attacks all of the vineyards

across Europe. Only the richest estates have the means to combat the pest

successfully.

1922 Twenty-year-old Philippe de Rothschild takes the reins of Mouton and

revolutionises the Bordeaux wine world. He initiates bottling at the producing

estate (‘mise en bouteille au château'), and (re-)introduces so-called second

wines and artist-designed labels.

1946 This year marks the birth of modern oenology: laboratory chemist Emile

Peynaud submits his thesis and becomes a professor at the Faculty of Oenol-

ogy. He revolutionises both the art of winemaking and the language of wine.

1956 The beginning of modern winemaking on the right bank: frost destroys a

significant proportion of the vines in this area. The vineyards are restructured

and Merlot thus becomes the main variety in this part of the Bordeaux wine-

growing region.

1973 Minister of Agriculture Jacques Chirac signs the only change to the 1855

classification: Mouton-Rothschild becomes a Premier Cru Classé.

1983 American wine critic Robert Parker declares 1982 to be the vintage of the

century, and thus triggers a wine boom surpassing any other. The prices of

Grands Crus quadruple: whilst the merchants are initially the first to pro

fi

t, es-

tates make record profits in vintages such as 1989, 1995, 2000, 2005 and 2009.

1991 Former bank clerk, innkeeper and wine merchant Jean-Luc Thunevin

acquires a small, unfavourably located plot in Saint-Emilion, creates a brand

called Château Valandraud, and thus invents ‘garage wine', triggering a verita-

ble wine revolution in the area and influencing developments over the next

few years.

54

Appellations Médoc

Bordeaux geography

Bordeaux covers around 120,000 hectares of vines in the

département of Gironde. The Garonne and the Dordogne rivers

split the region into the left bank of the Garonne (Médoc,

Graves, Sauternes) and the right bank of the Dordogne (Saint-

Emilion, Pomerol and Fronsac).

Médoc / Haut Médoc

16,300 hectares of vines I 1,400 chateaus I 150 million bottles a year

A headland stretching for almost a hundred kilometres between the Atlantic

to the west, and the Gironde Estuary, where the Garonne and Dordogne rivers

meet, to the east. In terms of wine style, a distinction can be drawn between

the southernmost part of the Médoc (the Haut Médoc) with its seven village

appellations and the northern part, the Médoc proper. Unlike the villages, which

have very uniform terroirs, the soils of the larger area are heterogeneous. Gently

undulating knolls of coarse gravel alternate with sand, clay and limestone soils.

The two main Bordeaux varieties of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot are almost

equally well represented and produce wines ranging in style from tart to elegant.

Margaux

1,400 hectares of vines I 90 producers I 10 million bottles a year

The southernmost village appellation (and therefore the closest to the city)

bears the name of a single village but in fact covers five: Margaux, Arsac, Can-

tenac, Labarde and Soussans. The soils consist of deep, well-draining gravel

mixed with sand and clay. Cabernet Sauvignon (which makes up the majority of

vineyards) does particularly well on the characteristic gravel hilltops whilst Mer-

lot prefers clayey plots. The best examples of Margaux wine can be recognised

by their exceptionally refined tannins, which turn out to be delicate and fresh

rather than compact and angular. The raspberry aroma found in young wines

here often reveals a perfect level of ripeness.

Moulis

600 hectares of vines I 40 producers I 4 million bottles a year

Moulis sits between Margaux and Listrac in the centre of the Médoc. Terroir-wise

Moulis is a compendium of almost the entire Haut-Médoc, containing examples

of almost all of the peninsula's different soil types: gravel, sand, limestone and

clay. The range of wines is similarly extensive, made from around 50% Cabernet

Sauvignon with Merlot, a little Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc. The best exam-

ples are well balanced and smooth.

55

Right bank Appellations

Saint-Julien

920 hectares of vines I 26 producers I 6.5 million bottles a year

A substantial proportion of Saint-Julien's vineyards are to be found alongside

the Gironde estuary and in the middle of Haut-Médoc – so it is no surprise that

the appellation (in which the majority of wines come from classified estates) is

regularly described as the most reliable and consistent in the Médoc region. The

appellation covers a gravel-rich area 5 kilometres long and 3.5 kilometres wide.

Saint-Julien has by far the most uniform terroir in the Médoc. The proportion of

Cabernet Sauvignon used here is similar to in Pauillac. The juicy, elegant, excep-

tionally sensual and smoothly ample qualities of Saint-Julien wines make them

some of the most popular and well loved of any produced in the Médoc.

Pauillac

1,200 hectares of vines I 110 producers I 9 million bottles a year

Pauillac with its tiny harbour is the most important location in Haut-Médoc. It is

surrounded by the world-famous sites of three Premiers Crus, a handful of ‘su-

per seconds' and a number of ambitious estates following close behind. The ex-

tremely lean, deep gravel soils in the form of flat hilltops mixed with a little clay

and sand on the fringes, around two thirds of which are planted with Cabernet

Sauvignon, produce wines o

ff

ering density, structure, sophistication and power.

Saint-Estèphe

1,200 hectares of vines I 150 producers I 10 million bottles a year

Saint-Estèphe is the most northerly village appellation in the Médoc. It contains

only five classi

fi

ed but around 40 unclassi

fi

ed estates, which also produce ex-

cellent wines in good years. Saint-Estèphe is a goldmine for treasure seekers

56

Appellations South Bordeaux

more interested in content than classification. Around half of the soils combin-

ing quartz, deep gravel and sand and clay over limestone are planted with Cab-

ernet Sauvignon, with Merlot making up an impressive 40%. The style ranges

from angular and robust (basic wines) to elegant and spirited.

Pessac-Léognan

1,600 hectares of vines I 75 producers I 10 million bottles a year

The fact that the cradle of Bordeaux (and thus of Grand Vin) in and around the

two Bordeaux suburbs of Pessac and Léognan has de

fi

ed urbanisation is virtu-

ally a miracle, and a tribute to the efforts of the chateau owners who fought for

the creation of their own appellation which has existed since the 1986 vintage.

Ever since, this appellation has produced both red wines (80% of bottles) and

dry whites on assorted undulations of gravel and sand. The rare limestone soils

are kept for the white wines. The best reds are elegant, slender, well structured

and suitable for laying down. The white wines are fruity and juicy, assuredly

ample and lively yet always well balanced and good for laying down.

Sauternes

2,200 hectares of vines I 200 producers I 4 million bottles a year

Barsac is part of Sauternes but not vice-versa, and these two villages together

with Bommes, Preignac and Fargues are situated on the left bank of the Garonne

around 40 kilometres south of Bordeaux. Semillon is the main variety at 80%,

supplemented by Sauvignon and some Muscadelle, growing on gravel, sand,

limestone and clay soils. The grapes are harvested late in multiple harvests. One

hectare in Sauternes produces around 1,500 to 2,000 bottles of sweet wine. Sau-

ternes wines have gained aromatic precision, finesse, freshness and sophistica-

tion. They are sweet and fruity but not clumsy, even quite light in their own

way. They make delicious aperitifs, are excellent accompaniments to modern

cuisine as well as Asian dishes and snacks, and can be drunk young or left to

age for decades.

Graves

3,500 hectares of vines I 240 producers I 20 million bottles a year

Graves begins at the city gates of Bordeaux: Pessac-Léognan is a village appella-

tion in this underrated region. It extends for around 60 kilometres along the left

bank of the Garonne as far as Langon and has characteristic gravel soils (‘graves'

in French) mixed with sand and clay. Around three quarters of its wines are pow-

erful, characterful reds. The whites offer structure and sophistication.

57

Right bank Appellations

Saint-Emilion

5,500 hectares of vines I 800 producers I 35 million bottles a year

Nine communes around the small town of Saint-Emilion, around 50 kilometres

east of Bordeaux, are entitled to use this AOC. The principal variety is Merlot.

The Saint-Emilion Grand Cru designation is reassessed every year, while the

Saint-Emilion Grand Cru Classé A (4 estates), Premier Grand Cru Classé B (14

estates) and Grand Cru Classé (65 estates) classifications are reviewed every ten

years or so. The best wines come from the limestone plateau and its slopes of

clay over limestone around the town, and from a gravel, clay and sand terrace

to the north-west of the region (commune of Figeac – Cheval Blanc). The soils at

the foot of these slopes (Pied de Côtes) consist of clay, sand and gravel. Merlot

(around 60%) is supplemented by Cabernet Franc and a little Cabernet Sauvi-

gnon. Specific locations have a signi

fi

cant impact on the style: subtle and excep-

tionally elegant but with good aging potential (plateau), lively and dense medi-

um-bodied wines (slopes and lowlands), particularly fruity with character and

finesse (Figeac), characterised by woody notes and rich in extract in the style of

a Bolgheri (modernists), or compact and sharp (lowlands along the Dordogne).

Pomerol

800 hectares of vines I 150 winemakers I 4 million bottles a year

Pomerol, an oval four kilometres long and three kilometres wide on the right

banks of the Garonne and Dordogne, is the smallest of the large Bordeaux ap-

pellations in terms of size. The best ferrous loam soils with varying proportions

of clay and gravel can be found on the ‘plateau' around the church. In the west

towards the Isle – the Gironde's third river – the soils contain clay and sand and

produce lighter wines. In the east, Pomerol adjoins the vineyards of Saint-Emil-

ion (Figeac and Cheval Blanc estates). Merlot is the main variety at 80% and

produces elegant, velvety, full-bodied yet smooth wines.

Fronsac / Canon-Fronsac

1,100 hectares of vines I 150 producers I Around 8 million bottles a year

These two neighbouring appellations stand on a horseshoe-shaped chain of

hills between the Dordogne and the Isle, at a somewhat higher altitude than

those in Pomerol and Saint-Emilion in a relatively windy location, which has a

major impact on the maturation process and style of wine. Only a few winemak-

ers, mostly members of the Expression de Fronsac cooperative, produce great

wines. Clay over molasse and limestone soils, around 80% of which are planted

with Merlot, produce the most ‘Italian' of all the Bordeaux wines with angular

yet also astonishingly fresh tannins, offering extract and high levels of alcohol

which ensure long aging in the best examples.

The best wine bars,

restaurants, hotels

and other selected

addresses for visitors

to Bordeaux

Beginning on page 274

58

Map Pessac-Léognan, Graves, Sauternes, Bordeaux

Pessac-Léognan, Graves,

Sauternes, Bordeaux

5 Château Bastor Lamontagne

14 Château Bouscaut

18 Château Brondelle

20 Château Caillou

27 Château Carbonnieux

33 Château Climens

36 Château Couhins

37 Château Couhins Lurton

38 Château Coutet

39 Château Crabitey

44 Château D‘Yquem

48 Château de Fargues

50 Château de Malle

51 Château de Myrat

54 Château de Rayne Vigneau

56 Château Doisy Daëne

57 Château Doisy Védrines

66 Château Filhot

73 Château Gilette

81 Château Guiraud

83 Château Haut Bailly

86 Château Haut-Brion

99 Château La Mission Haut-Brion

100 Château La Mission

Haut-Brion / Laville Haut-Brion

102 Château La Tour Blanche

107 Château Lafaurie-Peyraguey

112 Château Lamothe Guignard

120 Château Latour Martillac

126 Château Les Carmes Haut-Brion

130 Château Malartic Lagravière

143 Château Nairac

145 Château Olivier

148 Château Pape Clément

163 Château Rabaud Promis

164 Château Rahoul

167 Château Raymond-Lafon

168 Château Respide Medeville

169 Château Rieussec

171 Château Seguin

172 Château Sigalas Rabaud

174 Château Smith Haut Lafitte

177 Château Suduiraut

180 Château Thieuley

190 Clos Floridene

192 Clos Haut Peyraguey

197 Dourthe N° 1

The next six pages list all of the chateaus portrayed in this book. They are

divided into the three main areas (south Bordeaux, Médoc, right bank) and

listed in alphabetical order: the number represents the page on which the

full description can be found.

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18

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36

38

39

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48

50

51

54

56

56

57

66

81

8

86

99

100

102

107

112

120

126

130

143

14

148

163

164

167

168

169

171

172

74

177

180

190

192

197

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Ba

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La

Gare

Manhot

Laulan

La Burthe

La Baslide

Mareuil

Souis

Cazalis

Pompéjac

Cudos

Estiou

Gardit

Pussac

Hazéra

Troupins

Brouquet

La

Tuilerie

Le Martat

Bizoc

Cabanac-

et-Villagrains

Peyron

Le Marheuil

Bonois

Escoussans

Cantois

St-Pardon

Arveyres

La

Sauve

Gourd

Saric

Capian

Lorient

Mailleau

Baurech

St-Caprais-

de-Bordeaux

Eyrans

Bel-Air

La House

Trigan

Chambéry

Argelouse

Jouanhaut

Lays

La Trougne

Laagassey

Bourideys

St-Michel-

de-Rieuiret

IIIats

La Sableyre

Ste-Marie

St-Léger-

de-Balson

Brouquet

Origne

Pujols-

sur-Ciron

Beautiran

Bernos-Beaulac

Parempuyre

Roaillan

Noaillan

Le Nizan

Mazères

Landiras

Balizac

Lucmau

Guillos

Louchats

Villagrains

Barsac

Cérons

Verdelais

Cardan

Bouit

Langoiran

Paillet

St-Selve

Virelade

St-Morillon

Fronsac

Génissac

Saint-

Loubès

Montussan

Baron

St-Quentin-de-Baron

St-Germain-

du-Puch

Targon

Dardenac

Tizao-de-Curton

Quinsac

Camblanes-

et-Meynac

Latresne

Cénac

Carignan-

de-Bordeaux

Ste-Eulalie

Cadaujac

Canéjan

Léognan

Bassens

Artgues-prés-B.

Bruges

Le Haillan

Sore

Beaulac

Villandraut

Uzeste

Bazas

St-Symphorien

Hostens

St-Magne

Saucats

La Brède

Gradignan

Bouliac

Préchac

Beguey

Créon

Fargues-

St-Hilaire

Bégles

Talence

Pessac

Le Bouscat

Cenon

Floirac

Lormont

Ambarès-

et-Lagrave

Blanquefort

Nérigean

Yvrac

Blésignac

Cadillac

Bommes

Langon

Libourne

Mérignac

BORDEAUX

©

Huber Kartographie GmbH

0

3 km

60

Map Médoc

Médoc and villages

2 Château Angludet

6 Château Batailley

11 Château Belgrave –

Vignobles Dourthe

13 Château Beychevelle

15 Château Boyd Cantenac

16 Château Branaire Ducru

17 Château Brane Cantenac

21 Château Calon Ségur

24 Château Cantemerle

25 Château Cantenac Brown

29 Château Chasse Spleen

31 Château Cissac

32 Château Clerc Milon

35 Château Cos Labory

40 Château Croizet Bages

41 Château d‘Armailhac

42 Château d‘Escurac

43 Château d‘Issan

46 Château Dauzac

47 Château de Camensac

49 Château de Lamarque

52 Château de Pez

55 Château Desmirail

59 Château du Tertre

60 Château Ducru Beaucaillou

61 Château Duhart-Milon

62 Château Durfort Vivens

63 Château Ferrière

67 Château Fonbadet

68 Château Fonréaud

74 Château Giscours

75 Château Gloria

78 Château Grand Puy Ducasse

79 Château Grand Puy Lacoste

80 Château Gruaud Larose

82 Château Haut Bages Libéral

84 Château Haut Batailley

85 Château Haut Marbuzet

88 Château Kirwan

97 Château La Gurgue

98 Château La Lagune

104 Château La Tour Carnet

106 Château Labégorce Margaux

108 Château Lafite Rothschild

110 Château Lafon-Rochet

111 Château Lagrange

113 Château Langoa Barton

116 Château Larose Trintaudon

117 Château Lascombes

118 Château Latour

123 Château Léoville Barton

124 Château Léoville Las Cases

125 Château Léoville Poyferré

128 Château Lynch Bages

129 Château Lynch Moussas

131 Château Malescot Saint Exupéry

132 Château Margaux

133 Château Marquis d‘Alesme

134 Château Marquis de Terme

136 Château Meyney

137 Château Monbrison

138 Château Montrose

142 Château Mouton Rothschild

146 Château Ormes de Pez

147 Château Palmer

151 Château Pédesclaux

154 Château Phélan Ségur

155 Château Pibran

156 Château Pichon Comtesse

157 Château Pichon Baron

158 Château Pontet Canet

159 Château Potensac

160 Château Pouget

161 Château Poujeaux

162 Château Prieuré Lichine

165 Château Rauzan Gassies

166 Château Rauzan Ségla

170 Château Saint-Pierre

173 Château Siran

175 Château Sociando Mallet

178 Château Talbot

189 Clos du Marquis

195 Cos d‘Estournel

198 Les Forts de Latour

199 Pavillon rouge

J

c

J

St-Genès-

de-Blaye

w

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F

F

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F

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F

F

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F

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F

F

F

F

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F

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F

D

2

175

42

59

23

25

21

22

21

32

31

6

11

16

13

29

25

17

15

24

35

40

41

43

46

49

52

55

59

60

61

62

63

67

68

74

75

78

79

80

82

85

88

97

98

47

106

104

108

110

111

113

116

117

118

123

124

125

128

129

131

132

133

134

110

13

137

138

142

146

147

151

154

155

156

157

158

160

161

162

165

166

170

173

175

178

195

198

199

197

159

189

84

Gut

Berle

Louise

G

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La

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P

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ous

G

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g

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to

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Che al

n

d

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G

u

y

Larivière

Labric

Paloumey

Labarde

Cantenac

Ligondras

Beaulieu

Segonnes

Pinsoles

Louens

Auquin

Peybois

Lagorce

Linas

Caychac

Hastignan

Cerillan

Issac

Le Tronquet

Hourton

La Rue

La Plec

Maubourguet

Gèmeillan

St-

Raphaël

Pimbalin

Le Comte

Linas

Le Pys

Les

Gombaudins

Lescouley

Les Eycarts

Le Pez

Picot

Bedillon

Tronquats

Au Chalet

Villeneuve

Le Devès

Sadouillan

Mongarni

Les

Chalets

La

Providence

Cordes

Petit

Ludée

Touleron

Bernones

Le Mayne

Grand Ludée

Romefort

Les Trois

Moulins

La Bastide

Berdillan

Berron

Devidas

St-Queyran

Pudos

Baudan

Libardac

Le Tris

Le Pas-d'Ozelle

Vitrezay

Chez-

Bouché

Benon

Bernos

Lafon

Donnissan

Courbiac

Coudot

Coudot

Beychevelle

Saussac

Mourlan

Picard

Senajou

Rionet

Sémignan

Villeneuve

Marcillan

Ballac

Le

Fournas

Artigues

Bages

Pichon-

Longueville

Labrousse

Blanquet

Le Reynats

Le

Caussade

Marbuzet

Leyssac

St-Corbian

Le Trale

Lugagnac

Cazeaux

Lagune

Lagunan

Haut-Bré

Bouries

Passan

Gausseron

St-Gaux

Liard

St-Yzans-de-Médoc

Biail

Lescapon

Trembleaux

Meillan

Conneau

Artiguillon

Marque

Canquillac

Plautignan

Potensac

St-

Trelody

Peyressan

La Gorce

Port-de-

Lamena

Port-de-la Maréchale

Loudenne

Queyzans

St-Christoly-

Médoc

Le Breuil

Port-de-By

La Lagune

Bégadanet

Troussas

Mounic

Le

Poujeau

Sénejac

Port

Cônac

La

Parfaite

Port des

Callonges

Fréneau

La Belle-

Étoile

Les Drouillards

Bouinot

Arsac

LeTaillan-

Médoc

St-Aubin-

de-Médoc

Parempuyre

Le Pian-

Médoc

Ludon-

Médoc

Macau

Soussan

Margaux

Avensan

Brach

Listrac-

Médoc

Arcins

Lamarque

Villeneuve

Plassac

Fours

St-Androny

Le

Pontet

Anglade

Braud-et-

St-Louis

Saint-Sorlin-

de-Conac

St-Bonnet-

s-Gironde

St-Thomas-de-Conac

St-Georges-

des-Agoûts

Cussac-

Fort-Médoc

St-Julien-

Beychevelle

St-Sauveur

Cissac-

Médoc

Vertheuil

Gaillan-

en-Médoc

Prignac-

n-Médoc

Blaignan

Civrac-

en-Médoc

Bégadan

Couquèques

Ordonnac

St-Seurin-de-Cadourne

Queyrac

St-Germain-

d'Esteuil

Salaunes

Moulis-

en-Médoc

St-Ciers-

sur-Gironde

Castelnau-de-Médoc

St-Médard-

en-Jalles

Ste-

Hélène

St-Estèphe

Pauilla

St-Laurent-

Médoc

Lesparre-

Médoc

Blaye

©

Huber Kartographie GmbH

0

3 km

8

w

F

F

F

F

F

F

F

F

8

186

70

45

140

127

28

30

64

65

71

76

87

92

93

95

103

119

122

135

139

144

152

153

182

188

193

194

34

58

105

G

est

a

s

Dore

Dore

Gourdon

Port

du Noyer

Graney

La Rivière

Port de Tressac

Vincent

Marchesseau

Musset

Catusseau

Fi

N

Luchey

Gont

Meyney

St-Aignan

Lugon-et-

I'lle-du Camay

Saillans

Lalande-

de-Pomerol

Port de

Génissac

St-Sulpice-

de-Faleyrens

St-Pardon

Arveyres

Saint-Michel-

de-Fronsac

St-Germain-

de-a-Rivière

Gabaron

Les

Billaux

Pomerol

Vayres

Fronsac

Libourne

Map Right bank

Fronsac, Pomerol

1

Château Angélus

3 Château Ausone

4 Château Balestard La Tonnelle

7 Château Beau-Séjour Bécot

8 Château Beauregard

9 Château Beauséjour

Héritiers Du

ff

au-Lagarrosse

10 Château Bélair Monange

12 Château Berliquet

19 Château Cadet Piola (+)

22 Château Canon

23 Château Canon la Ga

ff

elière

26 Château Cap de Mourlin

28 Château Certan de May de Certan

30 Château Cheval Blanc

34 Château Clinet

45 Château Dalem

53 Château de Pressac

58 Château du Domaine de l‘Eglise

64 Château Feytit Clinet

65 Château Figeac

69 Château Fonroque

70 Château Fontenil

71 Château Franc Mayne

72 Château Gazin

76 Château Gombaude Guillot

77 Château Grand Mayne

87 Château Hosanna / Quintus

89 Château L'Arrosée

90 Château L‘Evangile

91 Château La Conseillante

92 Château La Croix

93 Château La Croix de Gay

94 Château La Dominique

95 Château La Fleur Pétrus

96 Château La Ga

ff

elière

F

F

F

F

F

F

F

F

F

F

D

D

1

D

D

10

1

3

4

7

9

12

19

22

23

26

8

30

53

65

69

71

72

77

89

90

91

94

96

01

109

114

115

121

122

141

149

150

53

176

179

181

183

184

185

187

191

109

89

L

a

V

i

e

B

a

r

b

a

nn

e

L

a

V

i

e

Figeac

Maillet

Néac

Faure

Le Cros

Le Cros

Chouteau

Monbadon

Joanin

Musset

Chevrol

Colas-

Nouet

Bertineau

Fort-Muret

Gontey

Ausone

St-Martin

Parsac

Arriailh

Goujon

Marche

Roques

Durand

St-Philippe-

d'Aiguille

Les Longues

Règes

St-Laurent-

des-Combes

St-Etienne-

de-Lisse

Ste-

Colombe

St-Christophe-

des-Bardes

Les Artigues-

de-Lussac

Bertin

St-Genes-

de-Castillon

Montagne

Belvès-de-

Castillon

Puisseguin

Lussac

St-Emilion

©

Huber Kartographie GmbH

0

2 km

Right bank Map

and Saint-Emilion

101 Château La Serre

103 Château La Tour Figeac

105 Château La Violette

109 Château Lafleur

114 Château Larcis Ducasse

115 Château Larmande

119 Château Latour à Pomerol

121 Château Le Bon Pasteur

122 Château Le Gay

127 Château Les Trois Croix

135 Château Mazeyres

139 Château Montviel

140 Château Moulin Haut Laroque

141 Château Moulin Saint Georges

144 Château Nénin

149 Château Pavie

150 Château Pavie Macquin

152 Château Petit-Village

153 Château Pétrus

176 Château Soutard

179 Château Tertre Roteboeuf

181 Château Troplong Mondot

182 Château Trotanoy

183 Château TrotteVieille

184 Château Valandraud

185 Château Vieux Maillet

186 Château Villars

187 Château Vrai Croix de Gay

188 Clos du Clocher

191 Clos Fourtet

193 Clos L‘Église

194 Clos René

200 Vieux

Château Certan

64

The following 200 pages contain our selection of the most

important Bordeaux estates from A to Z. Here are some hints on

how to read and understand the profiles:

1

Area of origin (AOC / AOP) of the wine listed.

2

Name of the estate: (†) indicates old names or recently defunct estates.

3

O

ffi

cial classification category and year of classification. As Crus Bour-

geois classifications must be earned annually, this designation is given in

brackets for estates which have historically held the classification, even if they

no longer do so. Pomerol and Fronsac do not have any o

ffi

cial classifications.

4

Personal subjective rating, not evaluating absolute quality so much as its

significance from a historical, wine technique and taste perspective, taken as

an average of the last five to ten years. Half a star indicates a rising trend.

Reliable wine.

Good wine recommended in its category.

Very good wine, in line with its status and classification.

Great wine, one of the best in the world.

Outstanding wine promising a unique tasting experience.

5

A brief history, from the foundation of the estate to the current owners.

This information has been sourced from the estate particulars, further re-

searched to the best of our knowledge and belief, checked whenever possible

and supplemented with information from recognised standard works and

archive documents.

6

A personal and deliberately subjective description of the wine including

style, special characteristics, notes on storage life, special vintages etc.

7

Facts about the estate in our possession at the time of printing.

Production: average value which can vary significantly from year to year.

Under top vintages I have only listed years for which I have found my perso-

nal scores or notes (with two or three exceptions).

Price: lowest price in euros at which the 2012 vintage (2011) of the wine could

be purchased from reputable specialist dealers in early 2016, which should be

viewed as a starting price and an indicator of scale. Prices vary significantly

according to vintage, age and supplier and can be several times higher than

what is listed here, which is why we chose to base them on an underrated

vintage.

Notes to aid

understanding

200 Bordeaux brands Guidance

Area of origin

Facts & figures:

Vineyard area: XX hectares I Production: XXX,XXX bottles

Top vintages: XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX,

Price: from XX I Second wine: XXXXXXXXX XXXXXX XXXX

Name of the estate

F-XXXXX Locality | Tel. +33 (0)XXX XX XX XX

info@URL.com | www.URL.com

Name of the estate

Grand Cru Classé since XXXX

«Emquame senis volupta sim volorer

umquid mos aut od exceri volorest aut ea

inis se labo. Ucia dit aliqui sinus estiatis.»

Wine description

Otatur magnihi libus. Hillupta quatium sim re erum nimo ea comnimp oreceru-

menda dolor aut venditiis estiae. Pudis exeribus ea vel etur, sedi verum aut aligend

enimolupta voloria ssiminc tionse nullam ea cullabo. Nam facest, simperatum

quos sa consequiam fugia corio blandit quo int, comnist, quiam audis et as que

eume doles delis es cum aliquunt aut et eos ad et volorum aut raest velenis vo-

loribust ernam alictem landis volorerferit quatqui delisquodi de resed ut ratem

qui cuptas quatiss untium quost molesectam quasimost, omnita dolupta ssimusa

ntemquibus doluptat asintius si optae quam denduci mpellorerro ma serrum nis

erum et quatur re sequo ma derspelent odi bea volupis et endamus volupta sper-

nat iorumquibus essum et officient. Accae necum expelicae. Et eume adi vid qui to-

tati occusda ium faccatias unt aruptatur same nisit lant volupta tinvell acearumque

labor adio blacit volum comnim naturibusam abori blaccae ceatium nimaxim endi-

tiame cus arum eaquiam a cone nis volo core velibus, simus, sandae eseris sendae

conserum quassequiae corecatia volupta tinvell loerum ipsum 1100 Zeichen.

Sapicte nam as excea necus. Occat volluptas simos

dollore landanditat officatur am est doloris el ma-

gnim vendemp orumendunt aut ant et ide maximi,

eum as qui doluptio voluptae prerum ulpa vellam

eos alis ra nobis ipsus imoloria iusti del ex ex eum

reiure auditat voloreium ella sequibusdae porehenti

dese coribus aut et ommo mi, ommodipsum rat aut

doleculliqui as miniet et reperer ionsequiam illatqui

volut a dolupta quassi doluptas utatem re cum ess-

intiis ere veria nulles periandis estempe pratusam,

mod ut eum voluptatus veles maximal 550 Zeichen

68

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Guidance 200 Bordeaux brands

65

... for example

CHAPELLE D'AUSONE (Ch. Ausone)

LA FLEUR DE CLINET (Ch. Clinet)

LA CROIX DE BEAUCAILLOU (Ch. Ducru-Beaucaillou)

LES PAGODES DE COS (Ch. Cos d'Estournel)

LE PETIT FIGEAC (Ch. Figeac)

LA SIRÈNE DE GISCOURS (Ch. Giscours)

LA PARDE DE HAUT-BAILLY (Ch. Haut-Bailly)

CLARENCE DE HAUT-BRION (Ch. Haut-Brion)

CARRUADES DE LAFITE (Ch. Lafite Rothschild)

LES FIEFS DE LAGRANGE (Ch. Lagrange)

ECHO DE LYNCH-BAGES (Ch. Lynches-Bages)

LA FLEUR DE PÉTRUS (Ch. Pétrus)

LA RÉSERVE DE LA COMTESSE

(Ch. Pichon Longueville

Comtesse de Lalande)

LA GRAVETTE DE CERTAN (Vieux Ch. Certan) ...

zweitweine gmbh | marthalerstrasse 20 | ch-8453 alten | zweitweine.ch

SECOND WINES FROM THE

BEST CHÂTEAUX. FOR TRUE

CONNOISSEURS AND THOSE OF

YOU WHO KNOW THEIR WINES,

WHO PRIZE QUALITY OVER

PRESTIGE.

ARE YOU ONE OF THOSE PEOPLE

WHO BELIEVE SECOND WINES

ARE «SECOND-HAND WINES»?

Best of

BORDEAUX

200 legendary châteaux and their wines

from A to Z

Saint-Emilion

Facts & figures: Vineyard area: 39 hectares I Production:

100,000 bottles I Top vintages: 1989, 1990, 1995, 1998, 2000,

2005, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014 I Price: from €250 I Second

wine: Le Carillon

Château Angélus

F-33330 Saint-Emilion | Tel. +33 (0)557 24 71 39

angelus@chateau-angelus.com | www.chateau-angelus.com

Château Angélus

Premier Grand Cru Classé A since 2012

‘The first Saint-Emilion of my career

was the life's work of a winemaker as

ambitious as he is talented!'

Modernism with depth

The de Boüard family has lived in Bordeaux since the mid-16th century and in

Saint-Emilion since the late 18th century. They began producing wine in the early

1900s under the direction of Maurice de Boüard de Laforest, who acquired a vine-

yard named l'Angélus. This name refers to the fact that this is where the bells of

three local chapels and churches can be heard: the bell became the symbol of the

estate that would develop over future generations. Its real success story began in

the mid-1980s with Hubert de Boüard and his cousin Jean-Bernard Grenié: trained

oenologist Hubert revolutionised winemaking, developed a better understanding

of his soils, introduced innovative methods of working the vines, and became a

proponent of the Cabernet Franc grape variety which grows particularly well at the

foot of the Saint-Emilion limestone plateau. Thanks to his commitment, Angélus –

now the centre of a miniature wine empire also including the chateaus of La Fleur

de Boüard in Lalande de Pomerol and Bellevue in Saint Emilion – has reached the

lofty heights of a Premier Cru A. Hubert de Boüard also works as a wine consultant.

The term ‘modernist' alone does not do Angélus

justice. Vintages such as 1989, 1990 and 1995 were

produced under this dictate, with extract and oak

notes taking precedence over elegance and charm.

However, the dominant oak began to disappear

from around the 2000 vintage onwards with An-

gélus gaining freshness, depth and floral character.

The chateau now bottles top wines year after year

with almost alarming regularity. More recent An-

gélus wines are best drunk after 8 to 12 years at the

earliest, and will easily keep for 20 to 30.

68

Margaux

Facts & figures:

Vineyard area: 32 hectares | Production: 150,000 bottles

Top vintages: 1990, 1996, 2000, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012

Price: from €30 I Second wine: Réserve de Chateau Angludet

Château Angludet

F-33460 Cantenac | Tel. +33 (0)557 88 71 41

contact@chateau-angludet.fr | www.chateau-angludet.fr

Château Angludet

Unclassified (Cru Bourgeois)

‘A wine for the patient; unbeatable value

for money, one of my absolute favourite

Margaux!'

Stylish classic

This discreet top estate, sometimes known as d'Angludet, stands alongside famous

Margaux estates such as Palmer, Brane-Cantenac and Giscours. The facade of the

chateau dates from the 12th century, making Angludet one of the oldest estates

on the wine peninsula. In the mid-18th century, four smallholdings (‘métairies')

in what is now Margaux were owned by members of the nobility: three belonged

to Pierre d'Aulède de Lestonnac, owner of La Mothe (later Château Margaux), and

the fourth was owned by Demons d'Angludet. The ‘plot plan' has remained virtu-

ally unchanged since 1758. The estate was divided up in 1791 and only regained

its former size in 1891; consequently, despite its long history and the quality of its

soils, Angludet was not part of the 1855 classification. It was hit particularly hard by

phylloxera, world wars and the depression: when the famed Sichel wine merchant

family purchased the estate in 1961, only around seven hectares of planted vines

remained. Since 1989 the estate has been run by Benjamin Sichel, who with his

sister and four brothers represents the sixth generation of the dynasty.

This wine clearly prioritises elegance and harmony

over body and power – which is not to say that

Angludet does not move with the times: its preci-

sion and polish have increased hugely since 2005.

Its previously rather di

ffi

cult transition from a newly

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