Bordeaux

Bordeaux

Along with Burgundy, Bordeaux produces France’s greatest red wines — wines capable of living for decades and delivering extraordinary experiences through the magic of bottle age. For generations its market has been dominated by the place de Bordeaux, a group of brokers who control worldwide distribution. Their domination, combined with the rise of wealth in Asia, has pushed prices for the region’s most famous wines to a level far out of proportion to their value as a beverage. But Bordeaux is a vast region — about ten times the size of Burgundy — and there is a lot of excellent wine there whose price is not out of bounds.

Bordeaux’s wine is left bank or right bank, a reference to the Gironde estuary and its confluent rivers, the Dordogne and the Garonne.  The left bank holds the most very famous names, and its reds are mostly dominated by Cabernet Sauvignon (in blend with one or more other grapes).  The less ocean-influenced right bank has wines dominated by Merlot. The scale of the winemaking enterprises tends to be larger on the left bank; there are more family-scale growers on the right bank like those we deal with in other regions of France. But we import wines from both banks — on the left we have wines from Graves and from St. Estephe; on the right we have wines from St. Emilion, its satellite Montagne-St. Emilion, and from Pomerol and Lalande de Pomerol. We import mostly red wine from Bordeaux, but there are also excellent whites from Graves based on Sauvignon blanc, and dessert wine from Sauternes.

Winemakers

  • Chateau Lafont Menaut

    Pessac-Leognan

    Once owned by the enlightenment philosopher Montesquieu, Lafont Menaut is now the project of Philibert Perrin, whose family also owns neighboring Chateau Carbonnieux. Perrin employs the same care and expertise at both properties.

  • Chateau Léhoul

    Graves

    Located just south of the city of Bordeaux, Graves is mostly overshadowed by the famous Haut Medoc region to the north, but it’s our favorite place for delicious, affordable Bordeaux. The Chateau Léhoul is a case in point.

  • Chateau Voigny

    Sauternes

    A few years ago we discovered the tiny Chateau Voigny, a family-owned winery on the banks of the Garonne with just one wine: a delicious Sauternes that is also affordable

  • Fleuron de Liot

    Saint-Estèphe

    The Fleuron de Liot is a blend of equal parts Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon, made from a tiny 1.5 acre plot in Saint-Estèphe.

  • Grand Ormeau / Marchesseau

    Lalande de Pomerol

    This winemaker is a source for two excellent right bank Red Bordeauxs. They’re merlot based, and show the rich velvety texture of Pomerol, without the need for cellaring or the price tag.

  • Vignobles Dauraic

    Saint-Emilion

    The Chateau Montlisse is the project of Christian Dauraic, a retired biopharma executive who owns two St-Emilion properties (Chateaux Montlisse and Destieux) and one Pomerol: Chateau la Clemence.

Available Wines from Bordeaux