Diary of a Shopkeeper, 1st December 2024

A wine from between two seas.

Last week I wrote about Rioja, and this week I turn to its equally famous neighbour across the Bay of Biscay: Bordeaux.

As in most of southern Europe, winemaking was established here by the Romans, 2000 years ago. Sitting on the broad Garonne river, just a few miles upstream from the Gironde estuary, the Celtic settlement of Burdigala provided an ideal setting for a Roman port. The transport links provided by easy access to the sea, as well as the rich farmland lying upriver, made it a sought-after prize for a long parade of armies, invaders and would-be kings. The Vandals, the Visigoths, Abd er Rahman, King Pepin the Short – they all had their day attacking and ruling Bordeaux. Even our old friends the Vikings descended on the area for raids and occupations. Who knows, maybe some Orcadians were amongst the plunderers and settlers.

The foundations of modern Bordeaux were really established in 1137, when the Norman prince shortly to become Henry II of England married Eleanor of Aquitaine. This political union ushered in a long period of stability and growth with the area becoming effectively part of England. This was also the time when Bordeaux wine became the staple drink of the English middle and upper classes, starting its rise to its fiercely contested but just-about-maintained position as the most prestigious wine in the world. Its success was down not just to its quality, but to the fact that Henry II abolished taxes on exports to England. A flood of wine made the English merry and the Bordelais rich.

After England was driven out in 1453, Bordeaux’s fortunes waxed and waned over successive centuries. It considered itself an independent state for a long time, only officially becoming part of France in 1653. It’s amusing that this iconic French product comes from an area that was English for as long as it has been French – and Roman for longer than either.

A significant moment arrived in 1855, when an official classification of the hundreds of wineries in the area was established. It’s been tinkered with and squabbled over every since, but the top wines have remained remarkably constant. The bickering over rankings tends to result in chateaux moving up a single rank or falling back one – which movement is often reversed a few years later.

Around the same time, the major divisions of Bordeaux into separate appellations started to firm up. This was essential, as Bordeaux is very large, bordering the Garonne for 100 miles as it flows from the foothills of the Pyrenees towards the Atlantic. Quarter of a million acres of land are under vines. Many of the appellations will be familiar to anyone with even a passing interest in wine.

For reds these include St-Émilion and Pomerol, from vineyards lying around a tributary river, the Dordogne. These are made entirely or mainly with Merlot grapes, meaning they tend to be fruity, plummy and (in a good year) lush. Oak adds sweet notes and a silky texture. Good value alternatives to these famous areas include Côtes de Bourg and the entry level Red Bordeaux and Red Bordeaux Supérieur. These also tend to be Merlot based, but with less oak influence they are juicier and ready for drinking early.

On the south bank of the Garonne, Cabernet Sauvignon rules in classic areas such as Paulliac, St-Estèphe and (my favourite) Margaux. Four of the five ‘first growths’ – the greatest wines of Bordeaux according to the official classification – are found here, as are some of the highest prices in the world. Luckily, larger and slightly less celebrated areas such as Médoc, Haut-Médoc and – just to the south – Graves, provide similar aromas of blackcurrant, cedar and graphite, but at much more affordable prices. These ‘left bank’ wines tend to be drier and more tannic than the Merlot-based ‘right bank’ wines, but with suitable food, like roast lamb, they are a joy.

For sweet wines, Sauternes is the unchallenged king of the world, producing luscious, honeyed, golden nectar from late-harvested, noble-rotted Sémillon grapes. It is heavenly with Roquefort, or simply by itself.

A tiny amount of sparkling wine is made: we’ve recently been able to source one for the first time, from Château Piote, a small, family-run, organic producer.

White wines make up only about 15% of the wine producer here; they deserve to be better known. Made from Sauvignon Blanc or Sémillon grapes or, most often, a blend of the two, they have some of the aromatic intensity of New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, with more depth and complexity. My favourite area for white Bordeaux is one that should appeal to any Orcadian: Entre-Deux-Mers. Meaning ‘between two seas’ or ‘between two tides,’ this area, bounded on the north by the Dordogne river and the south by the Garonne, should be a home from home for us, bounded as we are between the Atlantic and the North Sea!

This diary appeared in The Orcadian on 5th December 2024. A new diary appears weekly. I post them in this blog a few days after each newspaper appearance, with added illustrations, and occasional small corrections or additions.