Learn a little about Bordeaux:
The municipality, or commune, of Bordeaux proper is in Southwestern France. With a population of approximately 250,000, together with its suburbs and satellite towns, this area is the centre of the Bordeaux Metropole. With 1,195,335 in the metropolitan area, it is the sixth largest in France – after Paris, Marseille, Lyon, Toulouse and Lille. The term “Bordelais” may also refer to the city and its surrounding region. A wine producing region since the 8th century, Bordeaux is the world’s major wine industry capital. It is home to the world’s main wine fair, Vinexpo, and the wine economy in the area takes in 14.5 billion euros each year. A Bordeaux wine is any wine produced in the Bordeaux region, but there are many rules, or actually laws, that apply to wines made here. This area touts over 120,000 hectares, or nearly 300,000 acres, making this the largest wine growing area in France. An average vintage produces over 700 million bottles of Bordeaux wine, ranging from large quantities of inexpensive every day table wine, to some of the most expensive and prestigious wines in the world.
The majority of wine produced in this region is red, which is also referred to as Claret in Britain. There is an astonishing 54 appellations of Bordeaux wine. The red Bordeaux is generally made from a blend of grapes and very seldom from a single varietal. The permitted grapes for this region are Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Malbec and Carmenere. Although, today, Carmenere is nearly extinct in the region and seldom used.
As a very broad generalization, Cabernet Sauvignon dominates the blend for wines produced in the Medoc and Left Bank wineries. The typical top-quality Chateaux blends are about 70% Cabernet Sauvignon, 15% Cabernet Franc and 15% Merlot. This is generally referred to as a Bordeaux blend outside of Bordeaux. And specifically in the U.S., this may be called a Meritage wine.
You will find that in the Saint-Emilion, Pomerol, and other Right Bank appellations, Merlot is the predominate grape, at about 70%. Cabernet Franc and Cabernet Sauvignon will generally present at about 15% each for Bordeaux wines from this area.
Its typical in the U.S. to lean towards more fruit-forward wines, so those from the Right Bank, which have more Merlot, may be more pleasing to some wine enthusiasts. But in any case, true Bordeaux wines have more earth elements than most wines we are accustom to in the New World.
