Complete Guide to the History of Bordeaux and its Wines

A complete history of the Bordeaux wine region along with a detailed description of the style and character of its wines. The history covers its formative days when vines were first planted by the Romans through the 1855 Bordeaux classification of the Medoc up through today. This page also takes a look at the soil, winemaking, the effect of Robert Parker, futures, and more.

If you want to read about other Bordeaux wine producers in different Bordeaux appellations: Links to all Bordeaux Wine Producer Profiles If you are interested in learning more about Bordeaux wine, we offer numerous articles on everything about Bordeaux wine, from a history of the Bordeaux region and the famous 1855 Classification, grapes used to produce Bordeaux wine and even vintage summaries, covering Bordeaux wine from 1900 to today: All About Bordeaux Wine Guide

On the left side of the page, you have links to every important Bordeaux wine-producing appellation, which bring you to the profiles on all the top Bordeaux chateaux in the region.

Bordeaux and England, in the beginning

The next step in the history of creating the Bordeaux wine region took place in 1152, when the heir to the Duchy of Aquitaine, known as Eleanor of Aquitaine, married the future king of England, Henry Plantagenet. Bordeaux wine was served at the royal wedding. Henry Plantagenet would late come to be known as King Henry II. By the late 1300s, Bordeaux had become a large city.

In fact, it was so big, after London, it was the second-most populous city under the control of the British Monarchy. The Bordeaux wine trade began exporting to England in 1302 from St. Emilion for the pleasure of King Edward 1.

Saint Emilion was the first Bordeaux wine exported. It’s important to remember, at the time, there was no active wine trade in the Medoc yet and the wines of Saint Emilion had already developed a reputation for quality. As you will discover, the connection between Bordeaux wine, England, and royalty plays a major part in the history of Bordeaux. To help further advance the wine trade, the King of France exempted Negociants from taxes.

The marriage between Bordeaux and England

The marriage between King Henry and Eleanor made sure Aquitaine, which included Bordeaux, was owned by England for over 300 years, coinciding with the conclusion of the hundred years war, (which really lasted 116 years) in October 1453.

So, by the time the Hundred Years War had finally concluded, Bordeaux wine had already been discovered by the British wine lovers! In fact, Richard the Lionheart, the son of Eleanor and Henry II made Bordeaux wine his everyday beverage. The Bordeaux wine-buying public agreed saying, if Bordeaux was good enough for the King, it was good enough for all loyal British wine lovers.

From that moment forward, the Bordeaux wine trade began expanding. Bordeaux wine continued taking on more importance in trade with England. Twice a year, just prior to Easter and Christmas, several hundred British merchant ships sailed to Bordeaux to exchange British goods for wine.

The Dutch drain the swamps of Bordeaux

The next major event for the Bordeaux wine trade took place when the Dutch needed to build roads to make it easier to transport goods throughout the region. The Dutch, along with the British were major purchasers of Bordeaux wine.

While British consumers, along with the royal families of Europe sought the best wines of Bordeaux, the Dutch buyers were more concerned with the best value wines of the Bordeaux appellation. This presented a problem for the Dutch because they needed their Bordeaux wine to be delivered quickly before it spoiled.

Speed was an issue because they were seeking the wines for the lowest price and those wines would not keep. Dutch merchants came up the idea to burn sulfur in barrels, which aided the wine’s ability to last and age.

The Dutch are also credited with another even more important piece in the evolution of the Bordeaux wine trade. In fact, the next contribution by the Dutch changed the landscape of the Bordeaux wine region forever. By the 1600s, numerous Bordeaux vineyards were already planted, cultivated, and producing wine. However, much of the region still consisted of unusable, swampland and marshes.

Dutch engineers came up with the idea to drain the marshes and swamps. This allowed for quicker transportation of their Bordeaux wine and all of a sudden, there was a lot more vineyard land that was perfect for growing grapes to make more Bordeaux wine.

The Dutch engineer who was placed in charge of creating the plan to drain Bordeaux’s swamps was Jan Adriaasz Leeghwater, (1575-1650). It was Jan Adriaasz Leeghwater who changed the Bordeaux landscape forever when he removed the swamp water. This had two effects.

It allowed for easier transportation of goods and people. More importantly, previously unusable land became perfect for agriculture and eventually many of the now-famous Bordeaux vineyards were created from what was previously nothing more than a swamp.

Interestingly, the same methods employed to drain Bordeaux of swamp water are still in use today for the same purpose. To accomplish this, dikes are erected and pumping stations are installed to drain the water from the land. After the water has been removed, the now muddy surface area is planted with reeds.

In time, the remaining water evaporates. At the same time, new water channels are created. This helps improve the drainage so that the previously swamp-like conditions do not develop again. Many of the original water channels are still in existence all over the Medoc.

The Dutch were indispensable in the creation of Bordeaux. Aside from draining the swamps, it was due to their efforts as some of the first negociants that led to the increase in production and exportation of Bordeaux wine. When the 18th century was drawing to a close, due to the Spanish Succession War, it became difficult to export Bordeaux wine because ships were in danger while sailing across the English channel.

At this time, trade was halted between France and England. At least with official trade. Unofficial trade soon took over. We know this because the best Bordeaux wine still managed to find its way to the London auction houses for wealthy, thirsty consumers.

Much of that Bordeaux wine was confiscated by pirates. On the other hand, it was quite possible that private arrangements were made between pirates and the Bordeaux chateaux owners.

The start of the commercial demand for Bordeaux wine

At first, Bordeaux wines were sold with only the name Bordeaux on the bottles. By the late 1600s, specific regions and brands began developing, allowing discerning consumers to chose which Bordeaux vineyard, or appellation they preferred.

Haut Brion, Margaux, Lafite and Latour were the first brands to develop name recognition. Slowly, buyers started to look for wines from specific communes. Once they began to recognize, or appreciate the differences, what we know of today as the Second Growths were the next brands to gain a following.

For all this commerce to thrive in a market driven by export, and for this Bordeaux was perfect because its ports were the largest and already busiest port for trade in all of France at the time. To facilitate the transportation, selling, and funding, the need for negociants and courtiers, was born. The earliest mention of this step in the Bordeaux wine trade dates back to 1620, with the Dutch firm, Beyerman.

This quickly expanded in the early 1700s with the founding of firms that remain in business today, Nathaniel Johnston, Schroder and Schyler, and the Lawtons are examples of the first negociant firms. At the time, the chateaux tended the vineyard, made the wine, and placed it in the barrel.

From that point forward, the negociants handled the rest of the job from bottling, to sales and distribution. Keep in mind, the chateau owners were all wealthy and many were members of the royal family.

The Negociants and the Bordeaux wine trade

The involvement of actually selling their production could have been viewed as unseemly at the time by the nobility that owned most of the estates. Hiring someone to take care of the mundane commercial aspect of a wine producing chateau was exactly what they needed.

Also, making wine, keeping the chateau and vineyards in good shape was an expensive task for the chateaux owners. The system where the negociants agreed to buy the wine in advance of bottling and sales, proved to be the perfect method for keeping these massive chateau, vineyards, and wine-making operations going.

The most powerful negociants soon became the unofficial bank for the chateau owners. The Bordeaux system remains unique. Due to the fact that the properties sell all their wine to the negociants, Bordeaux became the only wine production region where customers never had direct interaction with the chateau and the owners.

There was no wine to buy, so it was never important. That is another reason the negociant system flourished. The royalty found a way to own a commercial enterprise and yet, avoid contact with ordinary people.

Bordeaux vineyards become widely planted

1725 was the year that specific appellation boundaries were first drawn up. The cumulative areas were known as the Vignoble de Bordeaux. At this point in time, wines began to be sold listing the region and area where the wine was produced. Consumers soon began to purchase wines from their favorite appellations and started to understand the differences between the wines and wineries in each commune.

Several wealthy Bordeaux landowners and members of the royal family began rapidly building breath-taking chateau and planting vineyards including Nicolas Alexandre and Marquis de Segur who counted numerous chateaux among their holdings in the Medoc. Pierre de Rauzan laid the foundation for Château Rauzan Segla, Château Rauzan Gassies, Château Pichon Longueville Baron and Chateau Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande and other now famous vineyards.

During the French Revolution, Bordeaux estates were confiscated from the wealthy, members of the Royal Family, those with noble titles, and the Church. The estates were often broken up into smaller pieces and sold at auction.

In the early 1800s the Napoleonic code of succession law, requiring residents to leave their property, in this case, chateau and vineyards, demanded that the holdings be equally divided among their children. In Burgundy and other French wine regions, this practice continually reduced the size of each generation’s holdings, and the vineyard’s perforce became smaller and smaller.

In Bordeaux, that is not what took place. To avoid the loss in size and scope of the vineyards, the owners began developing a system of shareholders for their estates instead of single owners. The shareholders were not subject to the Napoleonic code of succession law.

This allowed many of the Bordeaux estates to retain their massive size and scale and even increase their vineyards. The vehicle most commonly used for this was an SCEA, societe-civile, which is commonly used in the agriculture industry. This continues to be useful today because an SCEA is not taxed as a corporation. Instead, each of the partners pays their own taxes which are dependent on their percentage of ownership in the SCEA

It can easily be said that the Medoc has always been a land of wealth and privilege at the top end. The region was created as a refuge for the wealthy along with those of noble birth, with royal blood coursing through their veins. They had the vision and the money to create what we know of as Bordeaux today. Due to their ties with others in the royal community, it was not long before Bordeaux wine was popular with royalty all over the world.

The 1855 Classification of Bordeaux Wine takes place

1855 remains one of the key years in Bordeaux history. That was the year of the official classification. The classification ranked what was considered the top wines from the Medoc. By this time, Bordeaux wine from the Medoc, especially Pauillac, was prized by consumers all over the world.

Interestingly, modern-day consumers might not recognize or at least appreciate Bordeaux wine that was produced at the time of the classification. For example, in 1855, most of the top Bordeaux wines were often aged in French oak casks for 3-5 years before bottling. Few wines were aged long enough to provide secondary characteristics. Even the best wines were most often enjoyed shortly after the bottling.

The purpose of the classification was to promote Bordeaux wine and inform consumers which wines were the best to buy and guide them as to how much to pay. To do this, something simple needed to be created. Thus, the 1855 Classification was born!

Since 1855, the classification of Bordeaux wines has only allowed one major modification in over 150 years! Most significantly, Chateau Mouton Rothschild was promoted from Second Growth to First Growth status. That took place on June 21, 1973.

How did the 1855 Classification come about? Similar to the World Fairs we hold today, The Exposition Universelle de Paris was the perfect opportunity for France to place on display the best it had to offer for the entire world to see. This was what Napoleon III wanted to accomplish in 1855.

What happened next was, the Gironde Chamber of Commerce ordered an official classification to promote the now-famous wines of the Bordeaux appellation. They allowed the Wine Brokers Union of Bordeaux to develop the classification.

By putting together a group of known negociants and brokers, their efforts morphed into what we now refer to as the official 1855 Classification. For more detailed information on the official 1855 Bordeaux wine classification: List of 1855 Classifications

Bordeaux came up with a ranking of the wines in five, unique classes for red wines. The wines included were all from Medoc, except for the already legendary Château Haut-Brion from Graves, which had to be included, due to its worldwide fame. In Sauternes and Barsac, the sweet wines were also included, but with only two classes.

It is important to keep in mind, at the time, wines like Petrus, Cheval Blanc and other famed wines from Pomerol and Saint Emilion were either not yet producing wine, or were still considered simple wines.

The difficulty to get those wines to the Bordeaux merchants also added to the reason they were not included in the Classification. The shipping-related issues of the time have a lot to do with why those wines became popular in Belgium and in other European countries long before more established Bordeaux wine markets like London.

Interestingly, some of the top Right Bank wines sell for more money today than even the First Growths! The list reflected the market’s view of the relative quality between the wines in terms of the selling price and reputation of the various chateaux. Within each category, the chateaux were ranked in order of quality and more importantly, selling price.

The classification of the wines of Bordeaux proved to be an instant, international, marketing success. It was the first of its kind and quickly increased demand and prices for the best classified Bordeaux wines. Just like today, the wealthiest wine buyers were willing to pay the most money for the best wines.

And now, due to the official classification, not only the buyers would know they were purchasing the best wines, but their friends were aware they were being treated to the best wines when they were brought to the table. The 1855 classification proved to be worth its weight in diamonds!

It was not only the 1855 classification that quickly thrust Bordeaux into the position of the world’s most collectible wine, it was also the negociants, along with their unique system of selling the wines on the place that created the market for Bordeaux wine. In time, due to the negociants acting as the bank for many Bordeaux estates, they soon came to own several of the most prominent chateaux as well.

The 1855 classification could not have come at a better time for Bordeaux wine. Many of the most famous vintages from the 19th century were produced shortly after, 1865, 1870, and other vintages are among the most sought after today. This was pre-Phylloxera and before odium and other diseases struck the vines. Bordeaux enjoyed a stunning period of unparalleled prosperity which began to attract bankers and other business people to the business of Bordeaux.

The various styles of Bordeaux wine

The wines of Bordeaux are varied and are produced in a myriad of styles from a divergent range of terroirs and soils. For simplicity, it’s easy to divide the wines of Bordeaux into 3 main regions. The Left Bank, or Medoc, which consists of Pauillac, St. Julien, Margaux, Saint Estephe and Haut Medoc. The wines of the Medoc are what many consumers think of first when discussing Bordeaux wine.

They are Cabernet Sauvignon-based and are among the world’s finest red wines built to age. Bordeaux wines from the Left Bank are always blends and depending on the style of wine the producer wants, as well as their terroir, the blends consist of Cabernet Sauvignon with Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, and Malbec.

The two most popular grapes remain Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Pauillac is home to 3 of the 5 First Growths, Chateau Latour, Chateau Lafite Rothschild, and Chateau Mouton Rothschild. Chateau Margaux, located in the Medoc is from Margaux. The wines of the Medoc usually display cassis flavors and when aged, take on tobacco and truffle characteristics.

Pessac Leognan is the home of Chateau Haut Brion, the only First Growth not located in the Medoc. Pessac Leognan produces a diverse array of styles from similar blends found in the Medoc. However, the wines from Pessac Leognan display a smokey, earthy character.

Pessac Leognan is the only Bordeaux wine appellation known for producing world-class, dry white wines. Pessac Leognan is a relatively new term and appellation. The designation was created in 1987. Prior to that, the entire area was known as Graves.

The Right Bank of Bordeaux consists of Pomerol, Saint Emilion, and numerous, smaller Satellite appellations with similar terroir and soils. Merlot and Cabernet Franc are the dominant grapes from this region. Petrus, Lafleur, Cheval Blanc, and Ausone are the most expensive wines from this region and offer softer textures than what is found in the Medoc.

Yet, in the best vintages, the wines of St. Emilion and Pomerol can age as well as the best Cabernet Sauvignon-based wines and offer decadent textures with floral, chocolate, and plum aromatics.

Bordeaux is also the home to the world’s finest, sweet, white wines. Sauternes and Barsac, led by Chateau d’Yquem produce sweet wines of stunning quality that are sought all over the world.

The Phylloxera attack alters Bordeaux forever

Following the success of the 1855 Classification came an event that devastated most of the vineyards in Europe, Phylloxera. Over the years, Bordeaux has dealt with a myriad of diseases in the vineyard. Prior to Phylloxera, the region was struck by oidium, also known as powdery mildew, a fungal disease that attacks first the leaves and then the grapes, which can destroy an entire crop.

By the time of the Classification of 1855, growers had discovered that adding sulfur to the vines killed oidium. Downy mildew was discovered next. Downy mildew, another fungus went after the foliage. In a few years, the creation of Bordeaux soup, a mixture of copper and sulfur was found to stave off the effects of Downy mildew.

After fighting and winning battles with 2 diseases, Bordeaux was ready to get back to business. But by then, Phylloxera, which was first discovered in 1869 was killing the vineyards of Bordeaux with a vengeance. Interestingly it was America that saved the European wine industry. It was discovered that American rootstock was resistant to Phylloxera.

Phylloxera, a tiny insect related to the aphid fed on and destroyed a large portion of the grapevines that were not planted in very sandy soils. Part of the credit for discovering the solution goes to Albert Macquin, the owner of Chateau Pavie Macquin. He helped develop and promote the solution of grafting American rootstock that was discovered to be pest-resistant onto European vines.

Select grape varietals responded better to grafting, for example, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Cabernet Franc, the three main grapes used in the production of red Bordeaux wine. Those varieties are now the dominant varieties planted in Bordeaux. They replaced much of the Malbec, Carmenere, and even Petit Verdot in the vineyards. Prior to the Phylloxera epidemic, vineyards across Bordeaux had large plantings of Petit Verdot and Malbec.

But that was not the case in the Medoc, which was already heavily planted with Cabernet Sauvignon. This change in vineyard plantings across the entire Bordeaux wine region was a major stepping stone to higher quality throughout the entire appellation.

From that point forward, most of the top estates began planting the right grapes in the proper soil. Cabernet Sauvignon was perfect for the gravel-based terroir in the Medoc and Merlot, along with Cabernet Franc was equally responsive in the clay and limestone terroir of the Right Bank.

For white Bordeaux wine, Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, and Muscadelle worked perfectly with the American rootstock that was taking root in Bordeaux wine vineyards. Another cure discovered by Pierre Marie Alexis Millardet and Ernest David of Chateau Dauzac was the development of what is still known as the Bordeaux mixture, a blend of copper and sulfate, which also worked.

It was not only the grape varieties that changed with Phylloxera. The density of vineyard plantings changed as well. In the Medoc and Pessac Leognan, it was possible to find vineyards planted with very high densities that often ranged from 20,000 vines per hectare to 25,000 vines per hectare.

Today, that is not the case as most Left Bank vineyards are planted to 10,000 vines per hectare in the top vineyards, while lesser estates are often closer to 8,500. Yields changed as well. For example, due to disease, rot, or issues with mildew, yields were never consistent.

Depending on the vineyard and the vintage, yields ranged widely from as low as 2 hectoliters per hectare, up to 45 hectoliters per hectare. Yields in Bordeaux remained low but continued improving and increasing until the early 1960s, with the advent of pesticides. At that point yields became excessive.

Some estates were harvesting close to 80 hectoliters per hectare, and this was even at the top estates! In the search for quality, yields were eventually reduced, and by the mid-1990s, the average yield dropped to between 40 to 45 hectoliters per hectare.

The first half of the 20th century was difficult for Bordeaux. Following the back-to-back stunning, Bordeaux vintages 1899 and 1990, Bordeaux had to wait 20 years before another great vintage arrived. When you add World War 2 to that era, things were truly, quite bleak. Owners were running out of money. Customers were not buying wine. Properties were put up for sale, but no one was buying.

The 1920s were successful for Bordeaux. 1921, 1926, 1928, and 1929 were all sublime vintages that remain in high demand for wealthy consumers today.

The next years were not kind to Bordeaux. Following on the heels of 1929, the string of poor vintages in the 1930s, (only 1934 proved to be of quality) coupled with the depression of the 1930s forced lesser financed chateau owners to stop taking care of the vineyards, as it was cheaper to allow their vines to die.

World War 2, with the German occupation, was as you would expect, disastrous for Bordeaux and the rest of the world. However, even in wartime, wine was still being made in Bordeaux, although it was sold mostly to German officers and wealthy, important German citizens.

Commerce interestingly enough was still taking place, although most of it was with the Germans. It must have been a difficult choice, because as you can imagine if you refused to sell to the Germans, (who set the price, telling you how much you could sell your wine for,) you were shot or sent to the camps. If you were too friendly, you were rightfully called a collaborator after the war

The negociants Louis Eschenauer and Rene Descas served time in prison for their collaborations with the Germans. Jewish owners like the famous Rothschild family and the Sichel family, quickly fled the region. Due to the war years, and in some cases, decades of neglect due to a lack of funds, many vineyards had become severely dilapidated by the end of World War 2.

The poor condition of the vineyards was in part, a reason why 1945 turned out to be such a stunning Bordeaux vintage. The perfect weather coupled with extremely low yields was the first vintage that allowed for a new generation of prosperity in Bordeaux. Great wines were produced in 1945, 1947, 1948, and 1949.

The decades of the 1950s were equally profitable with sublime wines being produced in 1950, 1952, 1953, 1955, and 1959. The 1960s were a moderate success, with only the legendary 1961 vintage carrying the decade. However, during the decade of the 1950s, a devastating frost decimated countless vineyards all over Bordeaux in 1956.

Similar to what took place following the Phylloxera outbreak, vineyard owners were forced to reassess their plantings and were better equipped to plant grapes more appropriate to their soils.

This period of prosperity led to the next chapter in the boom and bust cycle of Bordeaux. Thanks to the vastly overpriced 1972 vintage, the entire Bordeaux market crashed! Prices plummeted to new lows. Consumers stopped buying Bordeaux wine even though prices were slashed by more than 50%. This was much worse than what took place in 2008. It took a new decade, plus a new Bordeaux wine writer and critic to breathe life back into the Bordeaux wine region.

Robert Parker comes of age in Bordeaux

Bordeaux wine had its ups and downs over the years with the quality of its wines and its prices. But it was the American wine writer, Robert Parker that gave Bordeaux wine its biggest boost in the world market. Prior to Robert Parker, and even today, Bordeaux has always been the most dominant wine in the world market and in auction houses. But there was never an urgency to purchase wines as a future, or En Primeur.

That all changed with the 1982 vintage. With that change came much higher prices, followed by sales to new customers in markets that until recently, did not purchase Bordeaux wine. Much of the credit for the change is due to Robert Parker’s enthusiastic praise of that vintage, and future vintages of Bordeaux wine.

For this to happen, things had to change with not only how consumers perceived Bordeaux wine, but changes were about to take place with how the chateau sold futures and how the negociants bought and sold Bordeaux wine. Of course, all of this is not due to Robert Parker.

But all these changes took place at the same time consumer demand was starting to grow and the fame and influence of Robert Parker grew right along with it. Taking a step back again, the relationship between the trade and the chateau was different before Robert Parker. Prior to 1982, the negociants held all the power.

They paid for the wines. They bottled the wines. They sold the wines and for all intents and purposes, they were able to dictate the prices they would pay the chateaux. The negociants were more than brokers, they were the bankers for the chateaux. In essence, that is still the role they play today.

In 2015, Robert Parker announced he was no longer going to taste, review and score new vintages in the barrel. Robert Parker quits tasting Bordeaux en Primeur. By 2017, Robert Parker officially stopped reviewing all wine.

This news came as a shock to Bordeaux, the Bordeaux system, and the futures game. It remains unknown the full extent of the effect this will have on the marketplace, but my guess is, demand to purchase wines as futures will quickly decline. This is due to the lack of guidance by Robert Parker and the high prices being asked from the wines as futures.

Bordeaux Wine embraces modern winemaking and vineyard management techniques

Numerous trends have sprouted from Bordeaux starting with how vineyards are farmed and managed. Vineyard management techniques are better than ever. The initial reduction and then elimination of chemicals and pesticides was only the beginning. From there, the change to lower-yielding rootstocks, and green harvesting in the efforts to reduce yeilds and increase concentration moved from revolutionary to standard farming practices.

Increased knowledge of the vines and soils, coupled with trends in organic farming and even biodynamic farming techniques have allowed Bordeaux to produce, fresher, cleaner, more concentrated, richer, elegant wines with a better purity of fruit. Cover crops are now used to not only remove moisture but also retain moisture while providing bio-diversity in vineyards. With biodiversity in mind, and to assist in reducing humidity, you now find fruit trees planted in the middle of vineyards as well as beehives and various floral and fauna.

With climate change bringing more heat and drought, canopy management has shifted to reduce the effect of the sun and dry conditions, instead, providing more shade to grapes, reducing potential alcohol levels. Changing rootstocks have continued evolving as today, growers are moving to drought-resistant rootstocks.

Not only rootstocks, but clones are taking on a more active role as it is becoming more common to find growers with their own massal-selection programs. Massal-selections are produced by using the vineyard’s own vines, offering the best plant material with the desired characteristics of that specific vineyard. With changes to clones and rootstocks, slowly, some vineyards are also reorienting parcels with more sun and less moisture, shifting them from traditional south-to-north exposures to east-to-west plantings.

Low yields and picking fruit and full phenolic ripeness is the goal of most estates. So is the move from looking at vineyards on a parcel-by-parcel basis to even working and harvesting row-by-row taking place more often at well-funded estates. More wine is being placed into second wines than at any time in the past. As a rough guess, if an estate in 1982 produced 20,000 cases of their Grand Vin, by 2012, they were producing between 8,000 and 10,000 cases.

Selection in the vineyards and within the cellars is now paramount. Only the best grapes are used to make the Grand Vin. Most estates with the funds are able to vinify on a parcel-by-parcel basis as they now have an equal amount of perfectly sized vats to ferment everything as needed by each specific parcel. Satellite imagery showing the development of the vines, and optical sorting machines that remove anything but perfectly ripe fruit are just some of the tools used by the top estates today.

In the cellars, it is not just the sorting that has improved. While not that long ago, it was seen as almost space-age technology to use gravity to move grapes and wine through the cellars. Today, just about every conscientious vigneron uses gravity to move their wine and grapes, as the gentle handling makes for more elegant, gentler wines. Alcoholic fermentation and extractions are also gentler today, utilizing cooler temperatures and less movement of the wine. Barrel aging has become modernized as well.

Now, it is becoming almost commonplace to find not just oak barrels, but you also see a wider acceptance of clay amphora, glass wine globes, and foudres. During the barrel aging process, things are progressing there as well. Today, the trend is about gentle handling of the wine, so you find less racking and also ever-increasing reliance on using nitrogen to protect the wine from increased levels of exposure to oxygen. Cellars are also cooler, slowing down the maturiation process, helping to produce cleaner wines with more softness and purity.

Sadly, the very best wines have never been more expensive either at the top end. Perhaps the progress of Bordeaux is most notable with the smaller wines from lesser terroirs. The wines coming out of less-heralded terroir these days is better than many of the classified growths from the 1970s and 1980s!

Today, Bordeaux remains the world’s most popular and sought-after wine. It is the number one wine purchased by collectors for cellaring all over the world. Bordeaux wine dominates the auction sales market. The success or failure of a Bordeaux futures campaign dictates what happens in every other wine region in the world with their pricing.

Has Bordeaux become too Modernized?

Bordeaux has always gone through modernization. And like today, a few people in every previous generation have moaned about it. This has been going on for hundreds of years. So, it is important to keep in mind that Bordeaux has had more than its share of major upheavals over centuries.

These are a few of the major changes Bordeaux has experienced that completely changed the wines.

After phylloxera, vineyards were no longer planted with ungrafted rootstock. When that happened, people in the late 1800s said the taste of Bordeaux was gone forever. With the decimation of the vineyards, when replantings took place, you had less Malbec, Petit Verdot, and Carmenere, which were replaced with additional plantings of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot.

It is not only recent vintages that consumers felt were too ripe and delicious in their youth. Previous years like 1921, 1929, 1959, 1982, 1989, and 1990 were all incredibly silky, and approachable on release. Each of those previously mentioned decades ushered in new eras for Bordeaux.

While today, almost every vineyard blends to produce the best wine possible, that was not always the case. In fact, blending grape varieties was not important until after World War 2. Parcels were blended prior to the 1940s, but not varietals. Most of the time, the yields were too low, and second wines were not even produced at most estates. Blending began to become important in the 1950s, and in the 1960s when yields began increasing. Blending and selection really took hold in the 1980s.d

The frost of 1956 once again changed how several vineyards were planted. In that same decade, Professor Emile Peynaud was accused of ruining Bordeaux with his push for riper, softer, more elegant, and earlier drinking Bordeaux. As you can see, the old adage about everything remaining the same works here as well.

The late 80s saw the advent of green harvesting, the start of the proliferation of second wines, followed by third and even fourth wines.

The next major shift in Bordeaux was the move to dramatic selections using only the ripest fruits. Of course, this was only a throwback to the 50s as that was one of the most important points from Emile Peynaud. And when you talk to older owners and winemakers who actually studied under Emile Peynaud at Bordeaux University, they will tell you that. And perhaps they know a little something about what they are talking about.

From there you have the ability to not only select fruit by weight sugar levels, and phenolic ripening, but now, you have the ability to vinify every parcel on an individual basis as most of the top estates have a tank to match each parcel with a corresponding size.

Vineyard management has shifted as well. Since the mid-2000s, you have moved to organic and biodynamic farming. Chemicals in the vineyards, for any serious estate, are a thing of the past. Growers are now making sure the correct grape variety is planted in the right soil. Rootstocks are being changed to lower-yielding vines.

And then there is climate change which vineyard managers are all dealing with, working with canopy management, grape varieties, and changing how the rows are planted. While Chaptalization was very common until global warming, there is no need for it today. In fact, just about every vintage that folks talk about being better than today needed Chaptalization. Not that there is anything wrong with it. it is just pointing out what actually took place.

As for elevage, now, there is a move away from oak barrels with wider acceptance of clay amphora, glass wine globes, and foudres.

There is now experimentation at lower levels with bringing back some of those out-of-favor older varietals that were not often ripe enough. But with global warming, maybe you will see changes there as well. And there is irrigation, previously not really possible in Bordeaux, but some vineyards in Pessac Leognan, St. Emilion, and Pomerol irrigated part of their vines as well.

The point is, Bordeaux has never been stagnant. It is in fact, the most famous appellation that adapts readily to change.

Bordeaux is at the top of its game, and the wines have never been better, offering consumers a wider array of wines to choose from at all price levels. This is truly the golden age for Bordeaux and Bordeaux wine lovers.

Bordeaux Futures in the modern era

It might seem difficult to fathom today, but prior to 1982, futures were not important to consumers. In fact, they were difficult to purchase, as many of the top British Merchants did not offer them. For example, Berry Brothers bought futures from the negociants, but they did not offer the wines for sale until they were bottled and available for delivery. They might even wait for a year or two after that!

In fact, it was the stubborn refusal to meet the customer’s demand to purchase futures that gave birth to numerous famous British Merchants like Farr Vintners and Bordeaux Index. These are some of the world’s biggest sellers of Bordeaux wine today.

The tranche system changed after Robert Parker as well. Previously, while the First Growths sold in tranches, (A tranche is a percentage of their available wine) the tranches were much larger than they are today. Very little Bordeaux wine is actually sold in the early tranches. However, it’s important to note, few chateaus sell much of their wine in tranches. Tranches are usually only used by The First Growths.

The seemingly urgent need to buy early tranches from the chateaux today was nonexistent prior to Robert Parker. British merchants were offered the wine for sale in April or May and they had several months to decide if they wanted to purchase it or not. The lag time was due to annual vacation schedules. Today, they are lucky if they have an hour or two to decide to buy millions of dollars worth of wine!

Part of the change in allocations is due to the fact that today, less Bordeaux wine than ever is being produced. Since 1982, and then again in 1990, the trend has been for all the top estates to relegate less of their crop to their top wines, their Grand Vin. A larger portion of their harvests is now placed in second wines, third wines, or sold off in bulk.

This means that a famous estate that previously made 30,000 cases of wine per vintage, prior to 1982, is perhaps making 18,000 to 20,000 cases of the same wine. While that means the wines are better, as they are only made from the top grapes, there is less wine available for consumers.

Robert Parker and the 1982 vintage was not the only game-changer to the Bordeaux landscape. Inheritance taxes on the property more than doubled for French chateau owners in 1981. This made it extremely expensive to pass your vineyard down to your children.

Because of these new tax policies, more chateau was being sold to large corporations as families could no longer afford to retain their property. In many ways that is a good thing as it allowed for massive amounts of money needed for reinvestment into new wine-making facilities. But it removed the personal touch from Bordeaux. Such is progress.

But that type of progress was sorely needed for Bordeaux. The massive influx of cash allowed the chateau to invest and reinvest in new cellars, vineyard management techniques, and chateau. A look at the pictures in The Wine Cellar Insider, or a visit to any of the numerous estates shows even casual observers that money is being spent in pursuit of making better wine.

The Place de Bordeaux began its march to embrace the modern era when it began offering non-Bordeaux wines. Today, almost all of the world’s top wines are offered for sale. You have many of the best wines from Burgundy, Napa Valley, Italy, and the Rhone Valley, from both the north with Cote Rotie and Hermitage as well as the best wines from Chateauneuf du Pape being offered on the place.

Bordeaux and Clilmate Change

The character of Bordeaux is changing along with the climate. It is not only warmer temperatures that are affecting the grape growing season, and perforce the wines, it is the amount of sunshine, frosts, hail, and rain.

Rain comes in 2 parts, the amount of water, and when the water is delivered to the vines. For example, in 2020, while the region recorded 15% more rain than is usually experienced over the previous 30-year average, this was accompanied by almost two months of summer drought conditions! All of this is clearly going to change the wines. How much is anyone’s guess?

There are several vignerons along with Bordeaux University working on potential solutions. Rain, heat, and drought are all climatic conditions that affect the character and quality of a vintage.

Draught affects the ripeness and alcohol levels in wine, which when it is overly excessive, the wines can be flabby, jammy, or hot. With severe drought conditions, the grapes can shut down, stop maturing, and have difficulty ripening. Yields could be vastly reduced.

In the vineyards, growers are paying more attention to their vines on a parcel-by-parcel, if not a row-by-row basis. In the vineyards, growers are changing techniques, starting with finding ways to shade the grapes from the excessive periods of sunny weather. This starts with canopy management, leaf thinning, and trellising to keep the damaging rays of the sun away from the grapes, which also helps slow down ripening periods and lower alcohol levels.

Today you are also seeing a continuing move towards organic and biodynamic farming. When replanting vineyards, growers are looking at changing the orientation of their vines to reduce the overall amount of heat and sunshine.

Changes in the grape blends in Bordeaux vineyards

The amount of Merlot in vineyards is also being reduced. Merlot requires more moisture and slightly cooler conditions than Cabernet Sauvignon. So today, on both banks you might start seeing less Merlot. In the Medoc, you are seeing more Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot being planted. In the Right Bank, some estates are adding more Cabernet Franc and even Cabernet Sauvignon to reduce alcohol levels.

New Grape Varieties for Bordeaux

If climatic conditions continue becoming more arduous, it is possible that additional grape varietals could be allowed in Bordeaux. This started being looked at seriously in 2021 when the INAO allowed experimental plantings in AOC Bordeaux and Bordeaux Superieur wines, as long as the vineyards did not contain more than 5% of the newly allowed grapes, or their blends did not consist of more than 10% of any or all of the following grapes.

The new red wine grape varietals allowed in Bordeaux are for the red wines: Arinarnoa, Castets, Marselan, and Touriga Nacional.

The experimental white wine grape varietals allowed are Albarino, Liliorila, and Petit Manseng, though the latter is still in the experimental stage and has not yet been approved.

Bordeaux wine, Asia, China, and the Chinese Marketplace

At the moment, new markets are being developed all over the world. However, the key market as of 2010 in Asia, and most importantly, China. That is not the case today, but the Chinese market is important to Bordeaux, and Bordeaux is important for Chinese investors and wine lovers.

Currently, very few brands are sold in China today. China remains a very specific brand-focused marketplace. Chateau Lafite Rothschild remains at the top of the pyramid. The remaining First Growths lag behind, but they are rapidly picking up steam.

The wines from the Medoc are the top sellers. Aside from the First Growths, a few select other wines are also popular in China. For example, Lynch Bages, Beychevelle and Grand Puy Lacoste are sought after for various reasons that have as much to do with the quality of their wines as they do with luck and branding.

While most wines from Pomerol and St. Emilion have yet to take hold, Valandraud is popular in Asia. So is Angelus and a few others. As of today, the majority of the wines being purchased and consumed are the top classified growths from the Left Bank and Graves/Pessac Leognan.

For China to be considered a true, wine buying and consuming nation, they will need to discover that Bordeaux is not just the First Growths. Sooner or later this is going to happen. Regardless of all the bluster you read and hear that this is just around the corner, it has not happened and this will not happen overnight. But in time, 5-10 or 15 years from now, China is on the path to becoming the world’s most important market for Bordeaux wine.

One major problem remains before China begins to demand and receive serious allocations of Bordeaux wine. They will need to buy Bordeaux wine futures. The hard truth is, as of today, very few wines are bought as futures in China. The concept of paying for wine 2-3 years before it’s delivered remains stubbornly difficult to overcome.

Another setback for serious wine buying in China came when the new Chinese President, Xi Jinping made it a problem for individuals to flaunt ostentatious displays of wealth. Expensive wine, for example, the First Growths was no longer consumed in public in wine bars and restaurants, which severely reduced the demand for high-end wine, and other luxury products.

All that being said, due to the massive amount of wealth, the desire for the best western, luxury products and the sheer number of potential consumers, a firm market is going to develop in China at some point. That new market will wreak havoc on the allocations many other markets currently receive.

In 2013, the Chinese market proved not to be as strong as anticipated. Several large, multi-million dollar orders were returned. The interest in purchasing high-priced wine plummeted. Back vintages from moderate to poor years became impossible to sell. Other wine regions gained in popularity to the detriment of Bordeaux. Value Bordeaux wines started to slowly gain in popularity. This was a shock to some in Bordeaux.

That being said, due to the massive amount of wealth in China and the unequaled number of consumers that want the best, sooner or later, the market will become important.

For a detailed look at the current, complex relationship between China and Bordeaux: Complete Guide to Bordeaux and China

It is going to take time. But the Bordelais are patient. Keep in mind, they wait 25 years to begin producing wine from some young vines. It can take decades to develop new markets without a problem. Bordeaux wine merchants have been plying their trade for hundreds of years.

They are the best in the world at developing new markets and finding new customers. It remains to be seen what will happen to allocations of the top Bordeaux wines, once China or other new markets become major Bordeaux wine-buying nations. It might not be tomorrow. It might not be in a year. But sooner or later, things are going to change.

The future of Bordeaux Wine

What is the future of Bordeaux wine? Your guess is as good as mine. However, this is my guess. Bordeaux produces a lot of wine at a myriad of price points. The way the wines are allocated will change. Countries that currently count on a supply of Bordeaux every year will see those supplies dwindle with time.

They will never evaporate, but they will be less. New markets with eager buyers who have never had the opportunity to purchase wine before will want to buy the wines. The top chateaux cannot produce more wine. In order to satisfy growing demand from new markets, established markets will naturally receive less Bordeaux wine.