Since I’ve been at this for about four and a half months, its time for a check in on my progress. Or rather, something that I read in Secrets of the Sommeliers made me realize that my approach thus far has been wrong. Completely and totally all wrong. The book advised that if one is interested in learning about wine, how it tastes and recognizing wine in a blind tasting one should first taste wine from the classic regions. My haphazard approach has really done nothing so far as educating my palate. In fact, I’ve probably just confused it!

So, what are the classic regions? They center around France, of course. And also include Germany; Austria; Piedmont, Tuscany and the Veneto in Italy; Rioja, sherry and Albarino from Spain; and port and vino verde from Portugal. Also considered classic are New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, Napa Valley Cabernet and Oregon Pinot Noir- the only New World wines that have been elevated to this status. I was off to a good start back in July, beginning this quest with Alsace, France. But, then I blew it. So, to make up for it I’m going after what is probably one of the most confusing, complicated, infuriating, expensive and famous wine regions in the world. Bordeaux. Pay close attention now, this is about to get tricky. And French.

Let’s start with the geography lesson. The name Bordeaux is derived from ‘au bord de l’eau’, which means ‘along the waters’. The region straddles three important rivers, mainly the Gironde and the two rivers that feed it, the Dordogne and the Garonne. French AOC (Appellation D’Origine Contrôlée) law dictates everything from vineyard borders, grape varieties allowed, alcohol levels, labeling and more. Bordeaux has 57 AOC regions, however only four of them stand out: Médoc, Pomerol, Graves/Pessac-Léognan and St-Émilion. But just to make it extra fun, the Médoc actually has multiple sub-appellations including Haut Médoc, St-Estèphe, Pauillac, Margaux and St-Julien. Also remember that Sauternes is in Bordeaux, although I already covered that in a previous post/tasting.

Next for the history lesson. Within many of the regions the various wineries, or château, are classified using various systems, the best well known of which is the 1855 Classification. France was sending wines to represent the country at the International Exposition that year so the top Médoc wines were ranked according to price (which equated to quality). Sixty-one Château were ranked from 1st growth through 5th growth: five 1st growths, 14 2nd’s, 14 3rd’s, 10 4th’s and 18 5th’s. There’s also a series of château classified as Cru Bourgeois in the Médoc. Last updated in 2003, there are 247 château on this list. Other classification systems exist for Graves (Grands Crus Classé) and St-Émilion (Premiers Grands Crus Classés and Grands Crus Classés). Still with me?

So, for the wine. Both red and white wine is made in Bordeaux, though close to 90% is red. Each year somewhere between 60 and 70 million cases of wine are made, among them some of the most expensive wine on the planet. Red Bordeaux wine (also known as claret) can legally contain only cabernet sauvignon, merlot, cabernet franc, petit verdot and malbec, the latter two are used only sparingly, if at all. White wine can contain sauvignon blanc, sémillon, muscadelle and ugni blanc, again with the last two rarely used. Since the grape varieties have been defined in the laws they are not on the label. Its illegal to put them on the label. So, it’s helpful to know that “left bank” wines (Médoc, Graves/Pessac-Léognan) tend to be primarily Cabernet Sauvignon and “right bank” wines (St-Émilion and Pomerol) tend to be primarily Merlot. Ready to go buy some Bordeaux based purely on the labels? Yeah, me neither.

Feeling an immense amount of pressure to choose the right wines, I conducted hours of research before heading to K&L. Its not like I can afford a first growth wine (futures of the 2009 Château Lafite-Rothschild, a first growth in Pauillac, are going for $1,599. A bottle.), but these wines are going to be my first ever Bordeauxs and I want to be sure I pick wines that are both representative of the specific regions, as aged as I can get them (no younger than 2005 for the reds), and less than $50 a bottle, preferably a lot less.

So I did what any reasonable person would do. I got out Kevin Zraly’s Complete Wine Course book, turned to the Bordeaux chapter and searched for every single Château he mentioned. I made a list of all the appellations I wanted represented (that would be nine) and all the possibilities K&L had. Based on Zraly’s vintage charts, wine descriptions and prices I finally narrowed it down to 10 wines (I have both a red and a white from Graves). Yep, this means we’ll be tasting, learning about and discussing Bordeaux in great detail until January!

Here’s what I picked up:

2001 Château Camensac, Haut-Médoc $29.99
2008 Clos Floridene, Graves Blanc $24.99
2001 Domaine de Larrivet, Graves $16.99
2007 Château Cantelys Blanc, Pessac-Léognan $19.99
2005 Château De Pez, St-Estèphe $34.99
2005 Château Pedesclaux, Pauillac $39.99
1994 Château Langoa-Barton, St-Julien $49.99
2003 Château d'Angludet, Margaux $49.99
1995 Château Larmande, St-Émilion $44.99
2005 Château Lafleur-Gazin, Pomerol $39.99