With more than 7,000 chateaux, France’s Bordeaux region is the most important wine producing region in the world. As well as being the basis for Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot-based wines everywhere, Bordeaux wines are acknowledged to be among the world’s best reds—according to experts and amateurs alike.
The wine region of Bordeaux is comprised of many smaller areas and encompasses both banks of the Gironde estuary in southwest France, as well as the land bordering the Garonne and Dordogne Rivers, which split off from the Gironde in the southern Medoc area. Generally, Bordeaux's best red wines are from seven major (and well-known) appellations: Pauillac, Saint-Estephe, Saint-Julien, and Margaux in the greater Medoc region, Graves to the south of the city of Bordeaux—in the region’s center, and Saint-Emilion and Pomerol toward the east. The large Graves region, as well as being the birthplace of claret, is home to many of the best dry whites. Premium sweet wines are made in Sauternes and Barsac, which are also within the Graves appellation but toward the south.
In understanding the multitude of Bordeaux wines, experts tend to talk about the right and left banks of the Gironde River. Generally, red wines from the river’s left bank, especially from Bordeaux’s Medoc region, are based on Cabernet Sauvignon, mixed with varying amounts of Merlot and Cabernet Franc and, occasionally, a spot of Petit Verdot and Malbec. These reds are known to be firm and dry, with a substantial tannic spine, and are frequently austere in their youth. They are also among the world’s longest-lived. The Graves’ gravel and sand soil content contribute to more texture early and roasted accents of hot stones, smoke and tobacco.
The softer Merlot grape is the foundation for right bank wines, mostly to the town of Libourne’s eastern side. These wines are fleshier in general than wines from the left bank and are more pliant. They are also accessible at an earlier age—though the best of them can improve in bottle for decades.
Wine Enthusiast, 92 points: (WE90-92 points) This wine is laden with tannins yet shows juicy, crisp red-berry flavors. It finishes with great structure.
jamessuckling.com, 96 points: This is sensational, characterized by such purity and beauty and with aromas of blackberries, dark chocolate, walnuts, cedar and lavender. Full-bodied, tight and focused — in part thanks to sensational tannin tension that...
View From The Cellar, 96 points: Christian Moueix explained that 2011 was the first vintage where the harvesting was organized here to target old vines of a similar age to be picked together, as he went along with the harvesters pointing out which...
Vinous, 96 points: Readers will find a rich, flamboyant wine in the 2016 Barde-Haut. There is not a ton of subtlety here, but I am not sure that matters all that much given how immensely pleasing the 2016 is. Crushed rocks, graphite...
jamessuckling.com, 96 points: This is so attractive. It has a very rich and ripe array of dark berries and dark chocolate with a long, succulent and smooth palate that delivers so much flavor and freshness. The palate has intensity and depth with very...
jebdunnuck.com, 97 points: A flat-out gorgeous wine in the vintage is the 2012 Troplong Mondot, which sports an inky ruby/purple color to go with heavenly notes of black currants, smoked earth, plums, licorice and graphite. Full-bodied, seamless...
jamessuckling.com, 99 points: Incredibly perfumed aromas of roses and violets, as well as blue fruit and lavender. Full-bodied and powerful, yet so full of finesse and vibrance. The height of elegance! Such depth of chalk and dark berries. It goes on...
Vinous, 96 points: The 2009 Larcis-Ducasse displays engaging and complex, slightly earthy aromas on the nose: red fruit mixed with roses and melted tar. The palate is medium-bodied with supple tannin, well judged acidity. Velvety and smooth...
TheWineCellarInsider.com, 92 points: Medium/full bodied, focused, refined and needing just a few more years , the cassis is sweet, the texture is polished and the fruit is stained with tobacco leaf. This will be ready to drink in just a few short...
Wine Enthusiast, 94 points: This second wine of Château Haut-Bailly offers a softer reflection of the power of the top wine. Generous tannins are already integrating with the rich fruits that come through strongly. The juicy blackberry character to...
jamessuckling.com, 96 points: Very attractive, plush and rich red and dark-fruit aromas with beautifully integrated oak and youthful, spicy complexity. The palate has lush, seamless and velvety tannins that are elegant yet powerful and deliver a silky...
Vinous, 95 points: The 2016 Petit Gravet Ainé is dense, sumptuous and exotic in its beauty. I am quite taken aback by the wine's sheer concentration, which among other things, hides some of the expressive Cabernet Franc signatures that are...
jamessuckling.com, 94 points: Very ripe blueberries here, married to delicate, smoky-oak and baking-spice character. Concentrated and succulent with a wonderful, mineral freshness at the long, energetic finish. A very flexible food-wine. Drink or hold.
jamessuckling.com, 96 points: The purity and clarity to the nose of this wine are really exceptional with crushed berries, cherries and currants. Fruit and density are so impressive, yet this is so linear on the center palate, which gives it direction...
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