THE FIRST DAY OF BORDEAUX CLASS--MARGAUX & GRAVES
Bordeaux is the most important wine region in the world. The red wines produced in this western French countryside make up the original template for New World Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, and their white wines have been the model for scores of leading California Sauvignon Blanc producers.
At this point, I should list the traditionally approved grape varieties for Bordeaux wines. For reds they are Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot. (Carmenère may still be included, but little was replanted after the phylloxera plague of the 1870s. Also, because of global warming, Bordeaux recently approved some warmer weather varieties, including Marselan and Touriga Nacional, to be planted there, although I doubt that any will appear in blends of the classified chateaux for decades to come. There are no set proportions mandated, but Cabernet Sauvignon dominates in the left bank (Médoc and Graves), while Merlot and Cabernet Franc take on more dominant roles in the right bank (Saint-Émilion and Pomerol). Red wines are generally blends; there are only a few 100% varietal wines by a top estate, most notably Chateau Petrus which is all Merlot. It may be surprising to learn that 62% of all Bordeaux plantings are Merlot.
Approved white wine varieties in Bordeaux are Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc and Muscadelle, the latter mainly used in lesser-quality bottlings mainly in Entre-Deux-Mers and Bordeaux bottlings. The great Sauternes and Barsac houses use Sémillon and Sauvignon Blanc blends to make their botrytised sweet wines; one estate, Chateau d'Yquem was a particular favorite of America’s first Bordeaux importer, Thomas Jefferson.
Bordeaux is France’s leading premium wine region in production, and arguably prestige. History and geography hold the key to the desirability of its wines, and even if these subjects are not your strong suit, indulge me for a moment while I offer a brief summary. It’ll help you understand why some wines fetch $20 and some $2,000.
Although Romans brought grapevines to Bordeaux nearly 2,000 years ago, it took centuries for the wines to evolve into the collectables we witness today. Cabernet Sauvignon, we now know because of DNA analysis, is an offspring of Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc, apparently a spontaneous vineyard crossing perhaps as recently as the 18th century. That would make it possible that the Chateau Haut Brion in Graves that diarist Samuel Pepys enthused about in 1663 (“drank a sort of French wine called Ho Bryan that hath a good and most particular taste I never met with.”), while exceptional, may not have been made from Cabernet Sauvignon when Pepys drank it.
Bordeaux is a large port city on France’s southern Atlantic coast, and as such has prospered for centuries as a trading center with Great Britain, Dutch merchants and the world. As more and more wealth poured into Bordeaux and demand for its wines increased, investors hired Dutch engineers in the mid-17th century to drain the Médoc, then a swampy, marshy place, so that more grapevines could be planted. The Médoc is where some of today’s most celebrated wine is made, from famous communes Saint-Estephe, Pauillac, St. Julien, Margaux and others. This prosperity allowed even more investment from England, Ireland, Paris and beyond in the Bordeaux wine trade during the 18th and 19th centuries, resulting in the luxurious manor houses and castles that make up many of the most prestigious Bordeaux chateaux.
While most fine wines in the rest of France are made in small quantities from small estates, many prestige Bordeaux chateaux will annually produce 20,000 cases and more.
In 1855, a classification of the wines of the Médoc were drawn up for The Second Universal Exhibition in Paris to promote French products was organized by none other than Napoleon III, ostensibly rating quality, but primarily ranked on the basis of price. 61 top red wine estates were selected, ranked in groups one to five, called "crus" or “growths.” Originally there were 4 First Growth estates, three from the Medoc--Chateau Lafite-Rothschild, Chateau Latour and Chateau Margaux--and one from Graves to the south, Chateau Haut Brion, included because of its outsized reputation). Also on the list were 14 Second Growths, 14 Third Growths, 10 Fourth Growths and 18 Fifth Growths. The 1855 classification also included the sweet wines of Barsac and Sauternes in two tiers--Premiers Crus and Deuxiemes Crus with one estate, Chateau d’Yquem, receiving the highest rating of all, topping all red and white wines: Premier Cru Supérieur.
There have been some changes of ownership, but only one change in ranking has occurred since then: the elevation from Second to First Growth status in 1973 of Chateau Mouton-Rothschild. A triumph after decades of lobbying, Mouton owner Baron Phillipe Rothschild wrote on his famous artist labels, "Premier je suis. Second je fus. Mouton ne change. (First I am, Second I was. Mouton never changes.)" Take that, traditionalists!
Bordeaux Supérieur and Haut-Medoc are designations for red wines that come from better regions within Bordeaux, but outside the main communes, and it is possible to discover very serviceable wines, and some excellent ones at attractive prices.
It is undoubtedly clear that the classified growth ranking system has served the estates in it very well, even to this very day, providing a treasure map for each new generation’s wine searchers. Even through pestilences--powdery mildew in the 1850s, phylloxera in the late 1870s, downy mildew in the 1880s--through World Wars and financial downturns, when many families were forced to sell their beloved estates, it was the classified growth list that kept fueling interest from wine collectors in the top wines of Bordeaux, thus enabling these privileged chateaux to reinvest in their vineyards and winemaking.
By the 1950s, other Bordeaux regions took up the practice of classification: Saint-Émilion in 1955 and 2012, and Graves in 1959. The only prestige region not to be classified is the tiny region of Pomerol, and that is because its fame has only come to fruition since the 1960s, driven by the success of Chateau Pétrus, its most famous estate.
So what about everyone else? There are thousands of producers in Bordeaux. Isn’t anyone there making fine wine, too? The answer is yes. There was a movement a couple decades ago called the garagistes (garage winemakers), who made small amounts of artisan Bordeaux that caught the attention of American wine critics for a few years. And there are dozens of very capable vintners whose chateaux are missing from the lists who also make very fine wine, many of which you can buy for less money than their privileged neighbors in the classifications.
But as a staff training I recently conducted proved, the quality and caliber of the wines coming from classified growths today almost always results in superior wines. Even a novice will notice this in the type of comparison tasting I conducted.
The tasting was set up to sample wines from two Bordeaux wine regions, Margaux red wines from the Médoc, and red wines from Graves/Pessac-Leognan. Decades past, the common stylistic threads running through each region would have been obvious. Climate change and the current fashion to make readily drinkable, darker, riper, less tannic wines made me wonder if there was any point in labeling wines by their communes anymore.
A word about pricing. Classified growth wines are world-famous, and made in limited quantities. There have been whole new economies, particularly in Asia, who clamor for these wines, and whose dollars have been competing with ours, especially in the past three decades for a static supply. Also remember, many of these estates have been established for nearly two centuries or more, compared to Napa Valley newbies that are charging the same level of pricing, and sometimes more. Keep that in mind if you get a little sticker shock. You will be drinking history as well as some of the world's greatest wines.
Here was the lineup:
2018 Chateau Decasses Graves Rouge $18.99 per bottle
A medium weight, easy-to-drink, earthy red wine at a very fair price. One of our tasters suggested pairing this with a grilled rib-eye. Pretty good idea, I think.
2018 Le Petit Smith Haut-Laffite Pessac-Léognan Rouge $39.99 per bottle
This is one of two second labels of the historic Smith Haut-Laffite, offering a wine that charmed all of us. Silky-round, beautifully perfumed, silky in the mouth and attractive in every way. At its price, a bargain worth picking up while limited supplies last. You can drink this now.
2017 Smith Haut-Laffite Pessac-Léognan Rouge $133.99 per bottle
Showing off its pedigree, the 2017 is showier, silkier, rounder, bigger and more impressive in every way. Elegant, especially for a Graves. A class act.
2018 Chateau Pape-Clement Pessac-Léognan Rouge $155.99
Bold and a bit tight at this young age. The Graves earthiness is present, so are flashes of fruit and oak. This big guy is one for the cellar. Time will tell whether this opens up to reveal its potential greatness.
2019 Chateau Kirwan Margaux Rouge $68.99 per bottle
This is the first classified growth we’ve received from the 2019 vintage. To be honest, it’s a bit too young to fully appreciate it, although there is a juicy stream in the middle of the flavor that offers enough generosity to enjoy it with a steak now, if you wish. Reviewers were very kind to this wine when in barrel, then downgraded it when drunk from the bottle. Too much barrel time? Bottle shock? Perhaps it felt bigger in the mouth from the barrel. When I sampled it, the wine didn’t have the size of some of its Margaux stablemates. It’s quite a bit less expensive, too. You want more? Sometimes you gotta pay more.
2017 Chateau Rauzan-Segla Margaux Rouge $110.99 per bottle
I expected a lot out of this Second Growth wine, but I had to dig for it a bit before it revealed itself. A little toasty, I think, with complex flavors behind. I’d put it in the cellar for a few years to see if it charms me with age.
2018 Chateau Giscours Margaux Rouge $94.99 per bottle
This wine seemed to please everyone at the table on tasting day. A bit more easy-going than some, it charmed us enough to go back to it again and again. Not as massive as the others, but still has plenty of oomph.
2018 Chateau Brane-Cantenac Margaux Rouge $110.99 per bottle
Reviewers have been very kind to Brane-Cantenac in recent years. Whatever is going on at the chateau seems to be working. On the day we sampled it, the wine showed considerable heft and depth, and most of us appreciated its character. But where is the Margaux charm? Waiting to be revealed with time, I suspect. I hope, anyway.
2011 Chateau Margaux (Classified First Growth) $768.99 per bottle (sold out)
I decided to open our only remaining bottle of the famed First Growth Chateau Margaux to give our staff what I hoped would be a memorable treat. And in a way, it was. 10 and a half years of age brought out secondary aromas one rarely finds off the rack. The problems for Chateau Margaux’s growing season in 2011 were immense, and the wine’s fruit wasn’t up to its development when we sampled the wine. Because it is Chateau Margaux, we kept going back to the aroma over and over again. Not tired; there was life there, but after several rounds with the wine, it wasn’t going to measure up to the memories of past vintages. The question we must now ask is, is it worth the money? It may sound like a cop-out to say no and yes. No, it’s not seven times better than a $100 Margaux from another top producer. Of course not. On the other hand, it’s a Chateau Margaux, the super-iconic wine from an historic estate, which is always a time for celebration. We never turn down a chance to drink Chateau Margaux, good vintages or challenging ones. But in the case of the 2011, I hope someone else is paying for it.
As a refreshing finale and a refreshing antidote for the tannin buildup in our mouths, I opened two classified growth white wines from Pessac-Léognan:
2018 Chateau de Fieuzal Pessac-Léognan Blanc $79.99 per bottle
When we opened this bottle after sampling nine dark red Bordeaux, everyone at the table was astonished at how beautiful the wine performed. (Frankly, it was my most pleasurable and seductive wine of the tasting.) A luxurious rim, gloriously round texture, and exotic flavors hinting at tropical fruits. The oak is way in the background, and though the Semillon makes up the minority of this blend, it seems to assert itself more than the Sauvignon Blanc. We particularly love the aroma, part vanilla, part pineapple, part white flower. The discussion then turned to food. Veal in a cream sauce? Classic sole meuniere? "Scallops," Samantha said. "Yeah. Pan seared and buttered," I added.
2017 Chateau Carbonnieux Pessac-Léognan Blanc $63.99
We opened this wild white wine right after sampling a slew of bold red Bordeaux, and marveled at its liveliness. Wafts of herbaceousness, and what Samantha calls a "feral" character jumps out of the glass. In the mouth, it is equally "untamed", exploding with flavors that accentuate the dominance of the Sauvignon Blanc in the blend. "I love this wine!" enthused Samantha, as she went in for another snort and another satisfied sip. As the wine received a little more air, it became less rambunctious, never losing its humor or its liveliness.
What was the conclusion of the first day of Bordeaux class? First, there was a lot of enthusiasm over the white wines at the conclusion. The right wines to drink at the right time. There was, of course, disagreement over which wine was preferred, which made me happy. Both white wines were loved, but differently.
As for the characteristics of the Graves group contrasted with the Margaux group, the former did possess the earthy character typical of the region, even though the better-performing wines of the afternoon emphasized perfume and fruit more readily.
The Margaux group was more challenging to characterize. The Oxford Companion to Wine states, “Margaux (is) potentially the most seductive appellation of the Haut-Médoc district of Bordeaux. At their stereotypical best, the wines of Margaux combine the deep ruby colour, structure, and concentration of any top-quality Médoc with a haunting perfume and a silkier texture than is found to the north in St-Julien, Pauillac, and St-Estéphe.” That has been our experience, too, when we have been lucky enough to drink the wines from their top-caliber chateaux.
But at this tasting on this day, I was hard pressed to discover Margaux’s legendary perfume or silkiness. Was it a root day? Were the wines too young to develop into their stereotypical finery? Each wine had something to admire, and each showed its stature if not its pedigree, but I couldn’t discover a common thread that identified these wines as Margaux.
Again, perhaps time will tell. Or maybe there is something more sinister at work. Maybe due to climate change we are witnessing the beginning of the end of Bordeaux as we’ve known it. For now, though, we are still drawn to the history and lore of Bordeaux wines. They still draw us in like few wines can. Each glass is a nod to history, culture, opulence, and a good deal of life's pleasure.