The Value of Bordeaux

My difficulty with Bordeaux is that the wines I can afford to drink, I don't want; the wines I want to drink, I can't afford. Although the wines of Bordeaux are much imitated around the world, this is why their reputation has suffered in recent years. Inexpensive Bordeaux offers little of either the quality or value for money that similar wines from Australia, South Africa, Chile, or, indeed, other areas of France give, while the premium wines compete with more accessibly priced, yet still high quality, wines from all around the world (Napa is an exception to this rule, its market not too much different from Bordeaux's). Bordeaux relies too heavily on investors and the nouveaux riches of the US and China, instead of producing wines that the general consumer can afford to buy.

I went to a tasting in San Francisco that challenged this reading of Bordeaux's market, and which demonstrated that the Bordeaux wine industry is determined to compete at the lower end of the market by aiming to produce good-value, inexpensive wines. Whether those wines can compete with established New World brands remains to be seen.

whites

The dry white wine of Bordeaux has two advantages: it rarely fetches the exorbitant prices of the reds, making it often good value, and one of the two important grapes is Sauvignon Blanc, a grape riding the wave of international trends. The other grape is Sémillon, which back in the 1960s was the most planted grape in Bordeaux, black or white. Sémillon results in high-quality wines, but it's not fashionable, its waxy weightiness not always inviting. Put Sauvignon Blanc on a label, the wine sells; mention Sémillon, it stays on the shelf. As a result, Sauvignon Blanc is becoming more and more widely grown, and this is how the dry whites of Bordeaux are going to compete on the international stage.

There were sixteen dry white wines available to taste; eleven of them were Sauvignon Blanc dominant and these were the most inexpensive whites on show ($8-$20). They had characteristic grassy, vegetal aromas with a dry, refreshing acidity; simple, but pleasant and attractive wines. However, I am not sure how well they would fare on the international stage despite the affordable prices: the wines are not as pungently aromatic as New Zealand's, nor as steely and flinty as Loire's.

My overall impression is that $15 is when a dry white Bordeaux becomes interesting and engaging. That's also the price point when Sémillon becomes more involved in the blend, and the use of oak is more likely. My two favourite whites were Château Grand Abord (Graves, 2014; $17), which was 80% Sémillon and showed a creamy, lightly oaky spiciness and baked apples, and Château Respide-Médeville (Graves, 2013; $29), an almost equal blend of Sémillon and Sauvignon, with a little Muscadelle thrown in. The latter demonstrated everything good about white Bordeaux blends, with fresh, floral, stone fruit aromas, a nutty, spicy palate, with a refreshing acidity - but at $29 it's appealing to a very different market than the more inexpensive, green, vegetal Sauvignon Blancs.

reds

This is where pricing gets difficult and it's hard to find good-value wines. The inexpensive reds, which started at $10 at the tasting, just aren't that good. The tannins are bitter and green, the fruits far more restrained than similar wines from Australia or Chile, and there's little or no oak to give the wine structure or longevity. Most are not appealing, fruity, or forward enough for those consumers buying wine in the $10-15 range.

On the evidence of this tasting, quality red Bordeaux begins at around $25-30 and really kicks in at $30-40. That's a very difficult price bracket: more expensive than most consumers are willing to spend, competing with high-quality, arguably better value wines at the same price from around Europe and the rest of the world, but not expensive enough to attract the wealthiest customers.

Nevertheless, there are some good-value wines to be had for those willing to spend in that $30 price range. I was pleasantly surprised by the Bordeaux Supérieur appellation, which I had always dismissed as being rather basic (it can come from anywhere in Bordeaux, but has a slightly higher minimum level of alcohol than standard Bordeaux AC) - but it was only the pricey ones ($25-30) that impressed. The major appellations that offered good value were the Right Bank: being Merlot based and less aggressively tannic than the wines of the Haut-Médoc, they are fruity and inviting to drink at a young age. Château Moulin Pey-Labrie's 100% Merlot from Canon Fronsac ($28) had a lively acidity lifting the gripping tannins, with bright red plum and violet aromas, while Château de Viaud-Lalande's 2010 Pomerol ($30 - also 100% Merlot) had tannins well integrated with the ripe but not plump red fruits, with a nice spicy finish.

One more thing: Bordeaux's labels are hopelessly old-fashioned, most with a château seemingly drawn by a destitute artist from the nineteenth century possessing only a blunt pencil to draw with. In Bordeaux, a château simply refers to any winemaking enterprise - "a straggle of sheds," as Kingsley Amis puts it in On Drink, rather than an actual castle - but it devalues the whole Bordeaux brand when it's used with $10 bottles of wine. If Bordeaux is truly to compete with inexpensive wines from around the world, it needs to rethink its packaging as much as it does its quality.