Bordeaux

Today we toured a wine museum in Bordeaux that taught us about the history of wine in Bordeaux. Unexpectedly, Bordeaux was initially just a trading port used for Italian wine with the British Isles more than 2000 years ago. The first to plant vines in Bordeaux were the Vivisques, a celtic tribe. Eventually Bordeaux wine would come to out number Italian wine in England.

Early wine trade consisted of a 4 party process. The wine estate, the broker (who was a middle man), the merchant (who bought barrels, and did aging and bottling), and lastly the consumer. Note that since the merchant did the bottling and eventually the branding the identity of wines was very different than it is today. Wines would have been more likely named JP Morgan Chase than Château Cheval. These merchants fitness a castle named the Bordeaux Chamber of Commerce in 1705.

The first informal classification of Médoc wines was created by (get this) Thomas Jefferson. While serving as the ambassador to France he visited Bordeaux vineyardd in 1787. He gave a very precise description of the quality of the wines, which he classified into 3 categories. This became the standard used for the first classification of wines, requested by Napoleon for the 1855 Universal Exhibition in Paris. The 1855 Classification consists of 5 classes for 61 châteaux.

Beginning in the 17th century, Dutch migrants started settling in Bordeaux. They brought with them their knowledge of draining land and they did so in Bordeaux. This greatly increased the farmable land in the appellation allowing for larger yields. The Dutch also bright with them the process used to asepticize the barrels with sulfur. Previously, wine had to be drunk within one year of harvest or it would go bad.

In the 18th century, the English and Irish also had a migration to Bordeaux. The first bottling factory was created by an Irish man, Mr Mitchell, in Chartrons district. Never underestimate how serious the Irish are about drinking.

We also learned of a story where one enterprising merchant started trading Bordeaux wine with English soldiers stationed in India. On one less successful trip he brought some unsold barrels home. He realized the wine aged perfectly during the long trip. This eventually created a brand of wine "Retour des Indes" or "returned from India." He started sending them on cheaper trips to Portugal and back with the same label. 😂

Eventually, some Bordeaux wines started seeing counterfeit labels from other regions. To help combat this, bottling and labeling was moved from merchants, to the wine estates to ensure authenticity and quality at home in the region.

Edit: I'm adding this months after our visit. I found a good, quick video that shows cork production.
https://youtube.com/shorts/c1ZLDKZSEY8?si=VeqVk…Read more