Bordeaux Wine

Located in the southwest of France, Bordeaux is one of the most famous wine regions in the world. It's particularly renowned for its red wines, which are typically blends of different grape varieties.

The famous red Bordeaux Blend consists of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, along with smaller amounts of Malbec and Petit Verdot. The exact blend can vary widely depending on the specific area within Bordeaux and the winemaker’s style.

Left Bank regions of Bordeaux, including the Médoc and Graves, are known for their Cabernet Sauvignon-dominant wines. These are typically well structured, tannic wines with flavors of blackcurrant, plum, and graphite, often with significant oak influence and a potential for long aging.

Merlot is the dominant grape in the Right Bank regions of Saint-Émilion and Pomerol. This grape variety helps create rounder, softer wines with flavors of plum, blackberry, and sometimes chocolate.

Red blends are often aged in oak barrels, providing additional flavors and aromas of toast, vanilla and baking spices. The best examples can also age for many years, even decades, developing a range of complex secondary and tertiary flavors.

Bordeaux is known for producing excellent dry white wine, rosés and sweet wines like Sauternes.

Whether you’re a Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot or Malbec lover, there’s a Bordeaux blend you’ll love.

Located in the southwest of France, the Bordeaux wine region surrounds the city of Bordeaux and covers around 296,000 acres of vineyards.

Bordeaux’s versatile geography includes diverse soil types, and its maritime climate gives the region a unique terroir. With warm summers and mild winters that welcome breezes from the Atlantic Ocean, Bordeaux is home to ideal grape-growing conditions. 

The area has two main winemaking regions—the Left and Right Banks separated by the Gironde estuary and two rivers, the Dordogne and the Garonne. The Left Bank contains gravelly soils, perfect for growing Cabernet Sauvignon, while the Right Bank is home to clay soils that produce some of the world’s most delicious Merlot wines.

While grapes have been grown in Bordeaux for centuries, it wasn’t until the 19th century that Bordeaux was recognized as one of France’s most important wine-producing regions for quality. Many of the most famous Bordeaux wine brands are named after appellations grown in classified châteaux known as “First Growth” in the Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855. These châteaux maintain the prestigious winemaking techniques they were praised for and continue to uphold their reputation by producing exceptional and refined Bordeaux wines today.

Bordeaux’s wine regions are divided into various sub-regions that each contain their distinct terroir and winemaking techniques—some of the more well-known include:

Médoc: Arguably the most famous Left Bank Bordeaux wine region, the Médoc has a long history of winemaking and is renowned for producing Cabernet Sauvignon grapes. The soil in the area is gravelly and well-draining, which helps to produce concentrated grapes bursting with delicious blackberry flavors.

Graves: Named for its predominantly gravel soil, this is the only region on the Left Bank where most châteaux make both red and white wines. The red wines are typically made from a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc, while the white wines usually comprise Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon.

Saint-Émilion: With a diverse terroir encompassing limestone, clay and gravel soils on the Right Bank, Saint-Émilion sets the perfect foundation for producing renowned wines like Merlot, which has a plush texture and lush black-fruit flavors.

Pomerol: A Right Bank area famous for growing velvety styles of Merlot, Pomerol has unique terroir that includes soil rich in iron, which gives the wines their character and fantastic age-worthiness.

Entre-Deux-Mers: With a terroir composition of limestone, clay and sand soils alongside an oceanic climate, Entre-Deux-Mers is distinguished for producing high-quality white wines, diverse in flavor. These wines are often created from a blend of Sauvignon Blanc, Sémillon and Muscadelle grapes—all admired for their freshness, acidity and balance.

Some of the most prestigious wine brands from Bordeaux are:

• Château Lafite Rothschild: Known as an exquisite and fine wine with an extensive bouquet of aromas and flavors that include blackcurrant, cedar, tobacco and spices. Château Lafite Rothschild is one of the five First Growth châteaux in Bordeaux and blends Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot grapes to create one of Bordeaux’s most elegant wines.
• Château Latour: Another one of the five First Growth châteaux in Bordeaux and is predominantly made from Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot grapes, which are hand-picked and meticulously inspected, as only the best grapes are used in Château Latour’s final blends.
• Château Margaux: One of the five First Growth châteaux in Bordeaux, Château Margaux is known for its precise winemaking process, with grapes often matured in oak barrels, Château Margaux’s wines are characterized by elegant and refined styles from Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot.
• Château Haut-Brion: Is one of the five First Growth châteaux in Bordeaux and are renowned for their robust structure and complexity, Château Haut-Brion wines have a distinctive flavor profile that blends Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc to make wines that exude notes of black currant, tobacco and spice. 
• Château Cheval Blanc: Cabernet Franc is the dominant grape variety used in Château Cheval Blanc’s wines, giving the them a distinctive flavor profile and silky texture. Château Cheval Blanc’s wines usually contain earthy notes, alongside spice and leather aromas.

White Bordeaux is typically made from Sauvignon Blanc, Sémillon and Muscadelle.

It can be very dry and is distinguished by its bright acidity and herbal notes. Depending on the winemaking method, White Bordeaux can also be sweet, as in Sauternes, which is one of the more popular dessert wines in the world. White Bordeaux is often aged in oak barrels, giving accents of vanilla, toast, coconut and baking spices.

Discover our range of seriously fine White Bordeaux.

Bordeaux red wines are known for their depth and complexity. The balance of fruit, acidity, and tannin makes them excellent for pairing with a wide range of foods, particularly red meats and hard cheeses. 

Red meat and game: Bordeaux wines perfectly match red meats and game. The tannins in the wine help cut through the meat’s richness, so you can appreciate all the mouthwatering flavors

Cheese: Cheeses are an incredible pairing with a wide range of red Bordeaux wines, whether blue cheese, Cheddar or Gouda. The wine’s high tannins allow it to carve through the firm texture, while the fruit flavors complement the savory taste of the cheese.

Dark chocolate: Full-bodied and delicious dark chocolate desserts enhance the wine’s tannins and fruity flavors.

Roasted vegetables: The succulent tastes of grilled or roasted vegetables pair well with a red Bordeaux wine’s savory notes