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• If you like your blends to feature Cabernet Sauvignon, you want the Left Bank. Look for Cru Bourgeois on the label. Other sources of value: wines labeled Medoc and Haut-Medoc
• If you like your wines a bit more generous and based on Merlot, you want the Right Bank. Look for wines with “Cotes de Bordeaux” on the label. Also, communities next to the big name communities. Examples include: Lalande de Pomerol, Lussac St. Emilion, St. Emilion Grand Cru. Don’t be embarrassed to admit you like Merlot! Right Bank wines are my personal preference.

(click on either photo below to see full size slide show – see the soil! Hit escape to return)

Left Bank is flat with gravelly soil. Gravel drains well, and holds the heat allowing Cabernet Sauvignon to ripen. Usually.

Right Bank is rolling countryside. Soils are limestone and clay. The climate is cooler, and Cabernet does not reliably ripen, so the main grape is usually Merlot.

Key Concepts for Understanding the Region

• The most famous wine region worldwide. Long history of highly sought after, expensive French wines.
• Coolest of all the major Cabernet/Merlot growing regions worldwide
• “Maritime Climate” = moderate climate w/ rain & humidity
• LARGE area, ~ 7000 wineries.
• All about the blend, best tasting wine, not about “terroir”, oak barrels = chef’s spice
• Approximately 90% of the wines are red
• Red grapes allowed: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petite Verdot, Cabernet Franc, Malbec.
• White grapes allowed: Sauvignon Blanc, Sémillon
• Region is defined by 3 rivers: Garonne, Dordogne, and Gironde estuary. Imagine you’re in a canoe, floating downstream toward the ocean.  On your left is the “left bank”
  • Left Bank – Left Bank of the Garonne river and Gironde estuary.
  • Right Bank – Right Bank of the Dordogne river and Gironde estuary.

Some estates are more accessible with wines that normal people can afford. (Chateau Siaurac in Lalande de Pomerol)

Bordeaux Basics

• Classifications – Based on Chateau, not the vineyard. The 1855 original classification of Bordeaux estates (Left Bank and Sauternes) was based on price. The 1855 classification has only been updated twice, and even then, it was to just add or move up one winery each time. The Right Bank St. Emilion classification is updated every 10 years unless blocked by lawsuit! As you might imagine, classification is highly sought after and doubly highly defended.
• Left Bank – FLAT, gravel, slopes down to Gironde estuary. This area was a marshy swamp, the Bordelais hired the Dutch to come and drain it. Estates are large, often 250 acres of vineyard around the chateau. Thanks to the gravel soil, the Left Bank is warm enough to ripen Cabernet Sauvignon, usually. Bordeaux wines are blends to hedge bad weather.
• Right Bank – Beautiful, rolling hills, historic villages. Vineyards tend to be smaller. Limestone & clay soils, cooler, not warm enough to ripen Cabernet reliably. The blends usually feature Merlot as the primary grape.

Dipping Your Toes in the Bordeaux Pool
While the top of the top are sold at prices mere mortals will never afford, there are some Grand Cru Classé wines which are within reach for a special occasion.  Or, get a group of friends together to do a tasting and split the cost.  You should be able to find a 3rd-5th growth Left Bank wine for under $100. Similarly, there are some nice Right Bank classified wines available in the $30-50 price range.  Tasting one of these wines will give you a sense of what the classified wines are all about.  Then, you can go bargain hunting. But beware, you might discover you have expensive tastes!

White Wines
Dry white wines are definitely second class citizens in Bordeaux. On the bright side, they are generally delicious and very affordable. They are made from a blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon and some can age very nicely.

Dessert Wines
Sweet wines from white wine grapes on the other hand, are something special. The area around the southern Left Bank town of Sauternes as special weather conditions in the fall. The area around the Ceron river tends to have overnight and morning fog which facilitates a special kind of grape rot called botrytis (noble rot).This rot dehydrates the grapes, resulting in high sugars, special flavors and uniquely delicious dessert wines.  Sauternes wines were classified in the 1855 Left Bank classification, so you will see similar “Grand Cru Classé” on some Sauternes labels.