Taxonomy of the Bordeaux label
As promised, the following post illustrates how to decipher a classic Bordeaux label. This will be the first of a brand new category called “Reading the Label”. The new category will grow to include as many wines and varietals I can come across and imbibe (which I hope is quite a few). It’s not easy, but it is my responsibility to educate (fact: it’s not really my responsibility, but it gives me purpose to try new wines… and it is easy).
1. This simply translates to “Great Wine of Bordeaux”. Bordeaux, as one may or may not know, is one of the largest wine producing regions in all of France. Unless otherwise noted on the bottle, assume that your bottle of Bordeaux is a bottle of Merlot.
2. The Chateau nomenclature doesn’t necessarily mean there is a great castle associated with the vineyard (though it could). More importantly, recognizing this on a bottle means that most of the grapes in the bottle come from the Chateau (vintner) that is identified. This ensures a certain quality because the vintner’s reputation is tied directly to the bottle of wine.
3. Haut-Tayac: a particular Chateau in Bordeaux.
4. A sketch of my house.
5. Often a label will list the village or sub-region within which the chateau is located. In this case, it is Margaux.
6. The AOC is a committee that provides regulations for the bottling of wine in certain jurisdictions of France. For example, a wine may only be called a Bordeaux if it contains a certain percentage of grapes grown, harvested, and fermented within the region. The AOC also controls which grapes may be used in particular regions.
7. Cru Bourgeois is a relatively high classification on the Bordeaux ranking system. They are, from low to high: Bordeaux, Bordeaux + Region (Margaux, in this case), Bordeaux + Region + Chateau, Bordeaux + Region + Chateau- Cru Bourgeois, and finally- Bordeaux + Region + Chateau- Grand Cru Classe.
8. Vintage: Great harvesting years depend on both global and local climate conditions. Once you’ve decided on a particular variety of wine, it’s worth the investment to do some quick research and identify what years produced a good harvest for the particular grape or region. 2005 was a particularly good year in Bordeaux.
Loving this blog, keep up the great work. Meg and I have been into trying new wines (mostly reds) for a while now, but we really don’t have a clue what we’re doing
. This post answered a few questions I had, thanks.
BTW, we’ve been going to Cork’s (in Mansfield) quite a bit lately. They’ve been a big help to us there and have recommended some really great wines. (At least as far as our uneducated taste buds can tell.)
You, my friend, have a very grandiose home.
I really love the attention to detail on deciphering a label. I find reading French labels tough sledding but you have helped immensely. Would you pair it with a burger… ever?