It’s pretty easy to taste and write about great wine from a great vintage, especially if it’s from a great château like those in Part 2. All of those wines mentioned from the appellations of Pauillac, Margaux, St Julien, and St Estèphe in Part 2 are produced by châteaux from the Classification of 1855, which are located on the Left Bank and are considered some of the most esteemed and famous wine estates in the world.

Think about this for a minute though: there are over 10,000 châteaux in Bordeaux, producing some 14,000 different labels (brands). That is an enormous number of wine producers by any measure! In 2005 Bordeaux produced 950,000,000 bottles of wine, a slightly higher than average number per year. But the world’s most recognizable Bordeaux comes from the 61 châteaux that were listed in the Classification of 1855, the few upper echelon estates in St Émilion and Pomerol, along with a smattering of others. And I mean smattering.

Does it not make sense that other châteaux in the region would be capable of making reasonably good wine too? I know there are lots of issues such as terroir, financial resources to produce good quality, winemaking skills and so on. But after tasting numerous Bordeaux that were previously unknown to me, I can’t begin to tell you how badly America is missing out and I’m talking about everyday types of wine that would be priced at under $30 if we could only get them here. All of these wines were from small family châteaux that are all around the ‘big and famous’ châteaux, growing the same grapes and using the same techniques as the big guys.

I would like for American wine lovers to understand that:

• Just because a particular wine from Bordeaux is not classified doesn’t mean it is low quality, especially in good vintages such as ’03 ’05, ’09 and 2010
• Just because you have a bad experience with one bottle of Bordeaux doesn’t mean that all Bordeaux is bad – often the grocery store wines are made in huge quantities much like the jug wines from California to satisfy distribution channels, so take the time to explore finding some better bottles with your local retailer and you will be rewarded
• Often Americans drink Bordeaux too young when it was made to age (and with proper storage and age comes complexity that cannot be obtained by any other means). Some vintages like 2005 and 2010 will be approachable at a much younger age than say the ’03 so don’t expect great things from a wine that’s too young to drink. Either buy older wines or age them properly for the best results unless it is a vintage that can be enjoyed very young.
• Bordeaux is far bigger than just a few dozen châteaux; these brands do not have an exclusive on the quality of wine
• Lower priced Bordeaux does not necessarily translate into to poor quality Bordeaux; many wines from Médoc and Haut Médoc (the larger region surrounding many of the smaller more illustrious appellations) were truly delicious, well-made, beautiful wines that would sell in the US for $20 to $30 per bottle at retail – if we could only get them here
• Compared to many New World wines, these wines are made with modern tools but with Old World values, which means far less intervention during the winemaking process. Winemakers in France are far less likely to add things or subtract things just to gain market share, which is more of a New World tactic that begins to taste a lot like so much homogenized soda after a while. Here, you can still taste a wine’s grapes, region, and style and it’s far more interesting and better tasting too.

The problem is that many of these wines are difficult to find because they don’t have distribution here. The only way to change this is to create demand for them at the retail level by asking your retailer to find the best one’s and stock them. At some point a savvy retailer will begin to demand these wines from its distributors who will then look for them from importers. There’s a whole long chain to accomplish the feat of getting ‘non-household name’ Bordeaux into the US but it’s seriously worth the effort. Many of these smaller châteaux are producing 50,000 to 200,000+ bottles a year so they’re certainly large enough to be distributed here.

Once you have great Bordeaux, whether it’s a $1500 First Growth or a good quality $25 Cru Bourgeois Superieur, your whole outlook will be changed about wine. This is truly some of the very best wine on the planet and in a vintage like Bordeaux had in 2010 you almost can’t go wrong. We as consumers need to be insistent with our local wine shop owners or we’ll continue to be left out from enjoying some of the best wine in the world. If you would like to receive a list of some of these wines I tasted personally, please drop me an email at david.classof1855.com and I’ll be happy to send it to you. Let the hunt begin!

David Boyer

Photo: My visit to Château Lafite-Rothschild, maker of one of the most prominent wines in the world.