I am going to take you on a cursory route through Bordeaux.  Some may find it old hat, but some may after reading the next week of articles, will get a better idea of how to navigate a good wine list of Bordeaux wines.

Let us think of Bordeaux as one state or province.  Everything in this whole entity is entitled to be called a Bordeaux wine.  This whole area is covered by “appellation controlee” with the word Bordeaux in the middle of the two words.  The words mean “controlled place-name” from laws that were created in France in the 1930’s.  Those words are important when looking at a wine label.  Most individual wines of Bordeaux call themselves Chateau, Domaine or Clos, even if the only structure on the grounds may be a tractor shed.  “Mis(e) en bouteille(s) au chateau” means that the wine was bottled at the chateau.  “Grand Vin” is not an official designation.  Some of the blends of Bordeaux are produced by “negociants”  who attempt to create a similar taste year after year by buying production from many farms in Bordeaux.  Some of these “negociants” wines may even be more expensive than the some of the minor of “petite” chateaus.  Some of the wines will even proclaim that they are owned by “big players” in Bordeaux, trying to put on heirs of greater pedigree.

I am just showing some of the labels that I have had.  Use this as a rule, not as a firm guide to understanding the basic Bordeaux wine.