The Bordeaux region of France, occupying the southwest corner of the country on the Atlantic side, is the second largest wine-growing area in the world with nearly 300,000 acres under vine, 57 appellations, 9,000 wine-producing châteaux, and 13,000 grape growers. Only the Languedoc wine region is larger. With an annual production of over 800 million bottles, Bordeaux produces everything from large quantities of everyday table wine, to the most expensive and prestigious wines in the world. The major reason for the success of winemaking in the Bordeaux region is the excellent   More

The Bordeaux region of France, occupying the southwest corner of the country on the Atlantic side, is the second largest wine-growing area in the world with nearly 300,000 acres under vine, 57 appellations, 9,000 wine-producing châteaux, and 13,000 grape growers. Only the Languedoc wine region is larger. With an annual production of over 800 million bottles, Bordeaux produces everything from large quantities of everyday table wine, to the most expensive and prestigious wines in the world. The major reason for the success of winemaking in the Bordeaux region is the excellent environment for growing vines. The geological foundation of the region is limestone, leading to a soil structure that is heavy in calcium. With the natural paths of the Garonne and the Dordogne rivers to irrigate the land, and an oceanic climate that provides humidity to the atmosphere, an almost perfect environment is created in which grapes can, and do, flourish.

Bordeaux truly came of age in the 19th century, a period marked by the emergence of a prosperous economy and the development of quality with the famous 1855 Classification. The industrial revolution and the free-trade spirit of both the négociants and the owners were primary contributors to this new prosperity. Unfortunately, commercial exchange also encouraged the transmission of diseases and parasites, such as phylloxera, a relative of the aphid, which attacked and ruined almost all Bordeaux vineyards from 1875-1892. The industry was finally saved by grafting Bordeaux vines onto phylloxera-resistant American rootstock.

The celebrated "classified growths," the Lafites, Latours, Pichon-Lalandes, and the like, have recently experienced unprecedented run-ups in price. But at the cru bourgeois and petit château level, there are still astonishing bargains to be found.   Less