Wine Tasting in the Bordeaux Region

Today (Friday), we experienced the treat of a lifetime. We hired a local expert to chauffeur us and organize a wine tour of the Bordeaux region. Axel was our chauffeur and we were very impressed with his vast knowledge of wine—he grew up near the Riesling producing region of Germany and came to France 7 years ago, where he started learning about wine by harvesting the grapes. Since then, he has taught himself much about the history, the region, the economics, and anything else related to wine. He gets invited to barrel tastings every year and has “ins” at many of the most prestigious wineries. He also spoke excellent English and gave us some great suggestions of other things to do before we leave the area.

First, a bit about wine in France. As you may know, wine is very important to the French. It is something that they are proud of and they don’t understand anyone who doesn’t appreciate a good wine. So, how do you know if a wine is good? The labeling in France is strictly regulated. You don’t just buy Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot, you buy a specific vintage from a specific Chateau, made from grapes grown in a specific sub-region. In the Bordeaux/Medoc area, each sub-region has different soil, perfect for different varieties of Cabernet grapes. In fact, there is a Classification system called The 1855 Classification that was originally created to present the most famous Bordeaux wines at the Paris Universal exhibition. It classifies the best of the best Chateaux (wineries) into 5 tiers. The First tier is the most prestigious and contains only 5 Chateaux. There are 14 second-tier, 14 third-tier, 10 fourth-tier, and 18 fifth-tier. Only these Chateaux are allowed to put the 1855 Classification on their label.

Our tour started with a stop at the Chateau Giscours in the Margaux sub-region of Medoc. There we learned all about how wine is made. We got to taste grapes from the vineyard, saw the barrel room, and tasted a young (2004) wine. Next, we stopped at a shop in Margaux to buy wine to ship to the US, then we had lunch at a café that our chauffeur had booked for us. Our second stop was Chateau Mouton Rothschild, one of the most famous winemakers in France (in the First tier of the 1855 classification). The Baroness Phillipine Rothschild took over the business from her father, and they are one of the wealthiest families in the world. We would not have been able to tour this chateaux had it not been for the connections of our chauffeur (another reason we are glad we did the private tour rather than a bus tour). After viewing the art and wine museum (a gift from the Barron Philip Rothschild to his wife), barrel room and the impressive private cellars and archives of the Rothschild family, we got to taste 3 very young wines (all 2006 still in the barrel). One bottle of their premium label goes for around 400 Euros (pretax), so tasting these even in their young state was quite a privilege. Our final stop was Chateau Brainaire-Ducru where the winery was just beginning the harvest. At the beginning of the tour, the owner of the winery himself, Monsieur Maroteaux, was on the property and came over to greet us personally. He is well known in the wine industry and is recent investor in the area after working for years in the sugar industry. We got to see the sorting, the barrel room, and the contrast of this relatively technological winery compared with the very traditional Rothschild winery. Our tour ended with a tasting of a 2006 barreled wine and a slightly more mature 2004 wine. A good wine in France is meant to cellar for 15-20 years (and some even cellar for up to 60, depending on the quality), so young wines aren’t exactly smooth going down. You can still appreciate the aromas and flavors, though, and we really enjoyed learning about French wine.