Bordeaux

The Bordeaux region is one of the most famous wine-growing regions in the world, located in the southwestern part of France. Bordeaux wines are mostly characterized by a dry, elegant and quite full-bodied profile, with intense aromas, the result of the classic Bordeaux blend based on Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Merlot grapes. In addition to reds, the region is also a land of excellent quality white wines, which use vines such as Sémillon and Sauvignon Blanc, which can be both dry and molded and botrytised, as in the case of the famous Sauternes or Barsac.

The climate is mild not only due to the latitude of Bordeaux, exactly halfway between the Equator and the North Pole, but also and above all due to the proximity to the Atlantic Ocean and the presence of several rivers including the Dordogne, the Garonne and the the Gironde estuary.

Bordeaux, which could translate as "on the waters' edge", takes its name from the port city of the same name, located near the Dordogne, the Garonne and the Gironde estuary. Precisely thanks to its geographical position close to the courses of those rivers, the city has already been the fulcrum of the commercial success of the region in recent centuries.

The 1855 classification is still the most famous wine classification system today. At the time it only concerned wines produced in the Médoc, which rewarded the quality of the producer rather than the specific production area with the term "Cru Classé" and a category that assigned a level of quality, from Premier Cru to Cinquième Cru. Generally, the producers included in the categories of the various classification systems operate with very rigorous production and quality criteria, with the consequence of a significant increase in prices.

These classifications include only a small part of the wines produced in Bordeaux, leaving out hundreds of châteaux that would still deserve attention. For this reason, in 1932 a special category was established for the Médoc châteaux, excluded from the 1855 classification, which took the name of Cru Bourgeois.