Bordeaux wines, a travel through myth and legend (1)

Talking about Bordeaux is simple but at the same time hard, because everything has been said over and over again, and the risk of falling into the obvious or appearing boring is very high.

The reason is because we are not talking "simply" about an important and rated area of ​​wine interest.

No guys, here we are faced with the region that more than any other has invented - and over time has been able to address - the concept of quality and prestige applied to a bottle of wine.

An almost sacred place, where myth and reality travel together, where history and legend overlap as if they were one, where every single land segment talks about wine and tells its greatness.

The vineyards that extend as far as the eye can see, the ocean breeze that caresses the leaves, the medieval villages that exude beauty and tradition, the majesty of the chateau to complete the picture.

Here everything is perfect, everything comes together to close an ideal circle in which aristocracy and countryside can blend perfectly, as if instead of reality we were looking at an impressionist painting by Claude Monet.

A region to which we often associate only great red wines based on Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot, but which is also home to excellent white wines based on Sauvignon Blanc as well as the land of origin of the best known and most appreciated sweet wine in the world, Sauternes.

Some time ago, inside an article I spoke about objectivity and subjectivity, of facts and personal opinions applied to the world that more than any other fascinates us.

Well, we can have our ideas and our tastes, we can prefer a style of wine so away to the wines of these latitudes, but we cannot fail to recognize that if there is a place on this world where wine has stopped to be food and has become a fundamental element of our culture, this can only be Bordeaux.

Many times, chatting among us wine lovers or with some producers, we wonder how it is possible that french wines are able to snatch prices that we Italians - with the same quality offered - can only dream.

The answer is almost brutal in its crudeness but tremendously real.

Our “french cousins” ​ were able - almost two centuries before us - to give their wines a meaning that went beyond the "simple" satisfaction of the palate, adding them a prestige and uniqueness that made them, and which still makes them the most required wines in the world.

And within this "virtuous process" Bordeaux has undoubtedly been the vital center, and still remains the navel of the wine world, whatever can be our references and our parameters.

Do we want to get out of ideological fences to discuss objective facts and incontrovertible data?

We are talking about one of the first areas to have marketed wine in a systemic way, the first ever in which elements of scientific innovation have been introduced into the production process (both in the vineyard and in the cellar), as well as the first to be given a classification system - that of the Grand Cru Classé dated 1855 - linear but tremendously effective in defining the quality ranking of its wines.

For all these reasons whenever I approach a Bordeaux, which is a prestigious - and usually very expensive - label or one of lower quality or coming from a less known appellation, I perceive the weight and charm that this wine carries with it, and with it my attention and expectations increase.

But beyond the reasons linked to the culture and history of wine, what are the characteristics that make the wines of this region so appreciated?

First of all, their amazing aging skills, which helps to increase its prestige, cloaking the most noble labels with an aura closer to myth than to the real world.

The reason for this puculiar characteristic - in these terms common to very few other denominations in the world – is due to different factors, which however end up converging in a single and wonderful word: TERROIR..

In fact, in this area, and in particular within some specific areas, the set of climatic and soil characteristics is added to the already exceptional evolutionary potential of the vines that have lived here for centuries (first of all Cabernet Sauvignon but also Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc) giving life to wines capable of maintaining the primary characters unaltered for decades, and in which time adds elegance and greater complexity.

Another aspect that faetured and makes Bordeaux wines so great is the perfect combination between austerity and pleasantness, their extraordinary marriage of nobility and balance.

Basically, the ability to create a wine with a classic setting but with also modern elements, in which everything fits perfectly as in an oiled gear.

Finally, last but not in terms of importance, a more "technical" but at the same time peculiar aspect, namely the extraordinary finesse, on the nose but above all on the palate, in which the drink is sublimated - in the great reds - by a dense but at the time velvet tannin.

So, are you ready to start this wonderful travel, to get lost among the chateaus, to learn more about the world of Bordeaux and its great and eternal wines?

I look forward to seeing you in the next article, in which we will go into detail on the various terroirs that make up this important and heterogeneous wine region, and in which I will tell you about my five preferred appellations and the wineries that have contributed to making them great.