📍 Bordeaux

Bordeaux is a wine region in the Gironde department in south-west France. The AOC Bordeaux zone covers 494 of the department's 535 communes. The Dordogne and Garonne rivers meet near the Bec d'Ambès to form the Gironde estuary and split the region into three parts: the north on the right bank, Entre-Deux-Mers between the rivers, and the left bank. The port of Bordeaux, the “Port of the Moon”, has been on the UNESCO list since 2007.

The climate is oceanic: the ocean, the estuary and the river valleys soften spring frosts, rainfall is 700–800 mm a year, and changeable weather at the end of summer makes every vintage different. Soils vary, from clay-limestone slopes to gravel terraces along the rivers, which the AOC rules call ideal for Cabernet Sauvignon.

AOC Bordeaux was recognised by a decree of 1936, though the boundaries for the department's wine were drawn back in 1911. Reds are made from Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Malbec (known here as Côt), Carménère and Petit Verdot, whites from Sémillon, Sauvignon and Muscadelle. According to the CIVB wine council, Merlot accounts for 66 % of red vines and Cabernet Sauvignon for 21 %, while among whites Sauvignon Blanc has 45 % and Sémillon 42 %.

Merlot spread here only from the 1830s. The word claret means a light red wine, and clairet a dark rosé; the English took to these wines after Eleanor of Aquitaine married Henry Plantagenet in 1152. The 1855 classification was drawn up for the Universal Exhibition.

Why it matters to you. Bordeaux Supérieur has stricter rules: lower yields, and reds aged until 15 June of the following year. Bordeaux is not only red: the AOC also yields whites, rosés and clairet. Reds are served at 15–18 °C.