How to understand Bordeaux wines - part 1

Today is the first day of "Bordeaux Month."  Often referred to as the "King of Wines," Bordeaux is the highest-producing wine region in the world, and it has been for hundreds of years.  Encompassing about 4,000 square miles, Bordeaux runs about 80 miles north to south and 50 miles east to west.  It is bisected by the Gironde River that flows from south to north and empties into the Atlantic Ocean.

The town of Bordeaux, a city with over 100,000 residents, sits in the center of the region on the west side of the Gironde River and just south of the confluence of the Garonne and Dordogne  Rivers that flow into the Gironde.  The area on the west side of the Gironde River is called the Left Bank.  To the southwest of the city of Bordeaux is the Pessac-Leognan appellation which is the elite part of the larger Graves appellation that extends further to the south and southwest.

To the immediate northwest of the city of Bordeaux is a large area called the southern Medoc.  Further north on the Left Bank is the famous appellation of Margaux.  About 20 miles further north along the river are the three elite appellations of St. Julien, Pauillac, and St. Estephe furthest north.  A large region called the Haut-Medoc surrounds Margaux, St. Julien, Pauillac, and St. Estephe.  The Haut-Medoc contains a huge number of "petit chateau" wineries and regions such as Listrac and Moulis.

On the Right Bank (east side of the Gironde River), the two major appellations are Pomerol and St. Emilion which are surrounded by several designated wine areas:  Cotes de Castillon, Lalande de Pomerol, Cotes de Franc, Premieres Cotes de Bayes, etc.  Merlot is the grape variety that rules on the Right Bank.  Most wines use Merlot as the dominant varietal grape, with smaller percentages of Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, and Malbec added for taste and structure.  The advantage of these Merlot-based wines is that they are approachable and drinkable soon after bottling, rather than requiring extensive aging (except for the most expensive wines).

On the Left Bank, Cabernet Sauvignon is the dominant grape, but it usually constitutes only around 50% (more or less) of the wine with the rest comprised mainly of Merlot (but Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, and Malbec are also used in varying proportions).  Of course, each Left Bank wine is unique, and the Cabernet Sauvignon percentage usually varies from 25% to 75% (although some wines may not have any Cabernet Sauvignon).  The Cabernet Sauvignon grape provides the tannic structure for aging so Left Bank wines typically will last longer than Right Bank wines.

You can find everything in Bordeaux -- from inexpensive bulk wines to the most expensive wines in the world -- from subtle and elegant wines to over-extracted, high-alcohol, over-ripe, heavy-handed wines.  In addition to their "grand wines," most of the famous chateaux also produce second wines that cost a fraction of the grand wines but are usually very good.

The best of the second wines include:  Pavillon Rouge du Chateau Margaux (second wine of Chateau Margaux), Reserve de la Comtesse (from Chateau Pichon-Lalande), Les Forts de Latour (from Chateau Latour), Clos du Marquis (from Chateau Leoville-Las Cases), Les Pensees de Lafleur (from Chateau Lafleur), Haut-Bages Averous (from Chateau Lynch-Bages),  Carruades de Lafite (from Chateau Lafite-Rothschild), Alter Ego de Palmer (from Chateau Palmer), Marquis de Segur (from Chateau Calon-Segur), Le Petit Mouton (from Chateau Mouton-Rothschild), La Dame de Montrose (from Chateau Montrose), and Le Petit Cheval (from Chateau Cheval Blanc).

The big-name Bordeaux wines may last for 30-40 years or more.  However, with extremely high tannin levels, these wines usually need at least 7-8 years of aging before they are mature enough to enjoy.  In the best vintages like 2000 or 2005, ten or more years of aging may be required before the best wines are drinkable.

In between the famous chateaux and the bulk producers are the "petit chateaux," a term that is used to describe the huge category of individual wineries that produce wines in the $10-75 price range.  The top-50 chateaux, that produce the most expensive and sought-after wine, usually produce about 100,000 bottles of wine each year.  Overall, the Bordeaux region has 10,000 producers who turn out over 700 million bottles of wine per year.

Even with the petit chateaux, some wines may be very powerful and long-lasting.  Other wines, however, may be more understated and stress finesse and elegance rather than power.  To find Bordeaux wines that are very good to excellent and cost under $25, we will confine our search to the wines of the numerous petit chateaux.

As with all wines, to evaluate the quality-to-price ratio (QPR) represented by a wine, we will need to distinguish between the characteristics of different types of Bordeaux wines.  In addition to differences by geography or terroir, some wines will be lighter and medium-bodied vs. heavier and full-bodied.  Some wines will show smoothness and elegance, where others will show some rough edges and signs of rusticity.  We'll try to distinguish between big, bold, powerful wines and more subtle wines with finesse and silky elegance.  For example, a light, refined claret vs. a fruit-forward, heavily-tannic blockbuster wine.  Or a rather simple, one-dimensional wine vs. a wine with great complexity and character.

In our search for high-QPR wines, we'll explore the Bordeaux wines according to the four major regions:

1.  Pessac-Leognan and Graves

2.  The Right Bank (Pomerol, St. Emilion, Cotes de Castillon, etc.)

3.  The southern Medoc on the Left Bank (Margaux, Macau, etc.)

4.  The northern section of the Left Bank (St. Julien, Pauillac, St. Estephe, and Haut-Medoc)

I'll start with Pessac-Leognan and the Graves region tomorrow.  All of the descriptions of individual wines will refer to the 2005 vintage which was the most recent "great vintage" and for which detailed evaluations are available.  Three other reasons for focusing on the 2005 vintage:  (1) for most wines, the 2005 vintage was significantly better than the 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006 or 2007 vintages, (2) the 2005 wines generally have riper fruit, more freshness, and significantly more character than the wines of other recent vintages, and (3) although 2005 prices were higher than other recent vintages, the 2005 wines were of higher quality and their prime drinking periods will be substantially longer than the other vintages.  In other words, $25 spent for a bottle of 2005 Bordeaux is generally a much better investment than $25 spent on a bottle of any other recent vintage (excluding 2000).

It should be noted that there are hundreds of petit chateaux in Bordeaux that make good, very good, or excellent wines.  The posts that are made during the remaining of February will try to identify a representative sample of producers from each region that can be used as a starting point to find high-QPR wines according to your own tastes and budget.

The selected wines have been readily available in the San Francisco Bay area, but they may not be available in your area (on-line purchasing options like K&L Wines, J.J. Buckley, etc. can also be checked).  Although the 2005 Bordeaux are disappearing from shelves in many cases, I've recently seen significant discounts when a retailer gets access to a large batch of wine from an importer.  So be on the lookout for good sales.