Bordeaux Wine Archives

Bordeaux Launches “Wine By The Glass” To Captivate the Next Generation

Bordeaux is launching a new campaign aimed at encouraging wine consumption by the glass, as the region faces declining exports, shifting consumer preferences, and growing competition from beer. The initiative, called “Bordeaux se met au verre” (“Bordeaux by the glass”), is being rolled out across approximately 100 bars and restaurants in the city. Each participating venue will receive a €250 promotional kit if they commit to offering at least three wines by the glass, including one organic option and one priced at €5 or less.

The campaign is being led by Bordeaux’s Green mayor, Pierre Hurmic, who said the goal is to modernize the image of Bordeaux wines and make them more accessible to younger consumers. “We want to rejuvenate the image of Bordeaux’s wines,” Hurmic said. “It’s also about making the people of Bordeaux and the four million tourists who come here each year more aware of the variety of our wines, not just reds, but whites, rosés and sparkling crémants.”

The move comes as Bordeaux’s traditional full-bodied red wines are losing ground to lighter styles such as Pinot Noir from Burgundy. At the same time, overproduction has forced some growers in the region to uproot vines due to falling demand. Younger French drinkers are increasingly turning to beer, which is often cheaper and perceived as more casual.

Christophe Chateau of the Conseil Interprofessionnel du Vin de Bordeaux (CIVB) said that changing habits in restaurants are also affecting wine sales. “Sales of bottles of wine in restaurants have fallen as people are drinking less and more now order glasses, especially couples when one wants red and the other white,” he said. “You see a lot of Bordeaux wines by the bottle on restaurant wine lists, but not so many by the glass.”

To support the campaign, the Bordeaux Wine School will offer training for restaurant staff on how to properly store and serve wine by the glass. The use of wine-on-tap systems is also being considered as a way to reduce waste and maintain quality.

Lunch Wines at The Bordeaux Grands Crus Classés 2020-2023 [London]

The Bordeaux Grands Crus Classés tasting, held yesterday at the historic Church House in London, brought together key figures from the wine industry—journalists, sommeliers, and wine trade professionals. Lunch showcased a selection of Bordeaux’s iconic appellations, including Pomerol, Saint-Estèphe, Sauternes, Saint-Julien, Pessac-Léognan, Saint-Émilion, Pauillac, and Margaux with vintages from 2008 to 2019.

The white wines provided a refreshing prelude to the reds, exhibiting the precise craftsmanship of Bordeaux winemakers in their balance of acidity, fruit expression, and oak integration. Notably, the 2019 Château Tronquoy Blanc (Magnum) from Saint-Estèphe impressed with its elegance and minerality, while the 2010 Château Guiraud 1er Grand Cru Classé from Sauternes offered the hallmark sweetness and complexity characteristic of top-tier dessert wines.

The red wines took center stage, offering a tour de force of Bordeaux’s diverse terroirs and winemaking styles. The lineup included:

2017 Château Branaire-Ducru (Saint-Julien), exhibiting fine tannins and a fresh, vibrant finish.

2016 Château Smith Haut Lafitte (Pessac-Léognan), with notes of black fruit and tobacco, showcasing its structured elegance.

2016 Château Canon (Saint-Émilion),and 2016 La Mondotte (Saint-Émilion), representing the rich, powerful styles of Saint-Émilion.

2016 Château Pontet-Canet (Pauillac), with its signature depth and concentrated flavors.

2015 Château Montrose (Saint-Estèphe), which stood out as a personal favorite, revealing an impeccable balance of bold fruit, earthiness, and a long finish—epitomizing the power of Montrose.

2014 Château Rauzan-Ségla (Margaux), offering elegance and finesse.

2009 Château Gazin (Pomerol), another standout with its lush, velvety texture and layers of complexity—a highlight of the tasting.

2008 Château Léoville Poyferré (Saint-Julien), with its refined structure and aging potential.

My personal favorites from this exceptional tasting were the 2009 Château Gazin from Pomerol and the 2015 Château Montrose from Saint-Estèphe, each offering distinct profiles that perfectly showcased the diversity of Bordeaux’s terroirs.

Bordeaux Wines Unveils New Global Campaign

Bordeaux Wines is excited to bring the extraordinary and unexpected diversity of its region to the fore with a dynamic new international campaign. Designed to shine a light on the region’s exceptional men and women, their commitment to sustainability, the terroirs and of course their wines, the campaign gives all those who work in the Bordeaux wine industry a loud, shared voice.

“We have evolved, using our differences to meet the requirements of the world today. Bordeaux wines are all about unexpected encounters, exciting conversations and new opportunities. We are multi-faceted. We are creative and discerning. We are united as one brand and we are ready to be (re)discovered.” – The winemakers and merchants of Bordeaux

Shaking Things Up: A Multi-Platform, Global Reveal
Faces, landscapes and wines, winegrowers, merchants, restaurateurs, wine shop managers – everyone involved in Bordeaux wines has come together to show people exactly what Bordeaux is all about: a hub of diversity, creativity and innovation that’s waiting to be shared. It’s time to Join the Bordeaux Crew. The creative will be unveiled at trade fairs around the world from February on, and appear in digital campaigns in France, Belgium, the USA and the UK before being rolled out in Japan and China in 2025, serving as the foundation to building a digital community. In the UK, it will also feature at The Big Feastival in August.

Coming Together: A Campaign Built by, for and with the Sector
Despite the many challenges that its vineyard has faced in recent years, the Bordeaux wine community has reinvented itself to share its unique story. Winegrowers and merchants have worked closely with creative experts to ensure that this campaign truly reflects their identity: a group of people with character and determination, driving innovation, all united around a collective commitment to sustainable viticulture with the consumer always at its core.

Telling the Story: A Chronicle of Individuality, Epitomized by Its Men and Women
Conceived like a chronicle, this campaign takes its roots in the terroirs of each appellation (AOP) and is inspired by the environmental, societal and social commitments that go into each and every Bordeaux wine. Its protagonists are all local winegrowers and merchants, wine shop managers, chefs and sommeliers chosen to reflect the renewed energy of Bordeaux. The creative welcomes consumers into this passionate and fascinating community, inviting them to delve into the stories of Bordeaux’s men and women, terroirs and of course red, white, rosé, sweet and sparkling wines. This creative has been conceived not only to appeal to consumers, but also to encourage global wine professionals to reconsider and reinvigorate their relationship with Bordeaux.

Bordeaux Big Bottles 2024
The dynamic global program makes its mark on the USA’s East Coast with the popular Bordeaux Big Bottles campaign, which returns for its fifth edition this fall from October 10 – 31. This year, the campaign extends to New York state and New Jersey from its usual activation in New York City, with select restaurants and wine shops participating. The campaign will spotlight large-format, 3-Liter bottles from over 25 producers across the region to engage new and current consumers, allowing them to discover the modernity and diversity of Bordeaux.

For further information: www.bordeaux.com/us

Source: Bordeaux.com

“Ungrafted Vines” hits the silver screen in 2024

He’s a winemaker, a rebel, an iconoclast and an outspoken critic of Bordeaux’s “industrial soup” style of winemaking – and now Loïc Pasquet is an unlikely movie star.

Pasquet’s battles with the Bordeaux establishment have seen him dragged to court, fined and forbidden from using the Bordeaux appellation because of his commitment ungrafted vines and native Bordeaux varieties. However, he has had the sweetest of revenges by producing a wine that has become the most expensive Bordeaux-produced wine – and now a movie about his achievements is hitting the screen.

The 51-minute documentary will air via Apple TV next year and features Pasquet documenting his battles with bureaucracy and his dedication to recreating the pre-phylloxera wines of Bordeaux. It also features input from respected wine writers like Jane Anson and Jacky Rigaux.

Pasquet, who bought his first bottle of wine when he was just 11 years old, believes that wine is a European cultural treasure and that it has been debased by too many Bordeaux producers in order to pander to critics, rather than simply making wines that reflect the terroir.

“Why destroy that heritage to make one style of wine? They are saying to [wine critic Robert] Parker ‘What wine do you like? We will make it for you.’ They are making industrial soup,” he told journalists at a preview of the film.

The launch of Pasquet’s 2015 vintage of Liber Pater at a staggering $33,000 (subsequent vintages have also hit that mark) was the spark for the documentary, but he was open about his pricing policy.

“This is what my customers will pay to drink something that nobody else can. If you go into space, how much does it cost?”

He was referencing his wines being made from grapes grown on ungrafted vines, an anomaly in Bordeaux.

“If you try a Bordeaux from 1860 [before phylloxera prompted the grafting of vines onto disease-resistant rootstocks] and 1960 you can taste the difference. Grafting changes the chemical composition of the wine.”

Source: Wine Searcher

400 Drones Light Up The Sky At The Bordeaux Wine Festival

The Bordeaux Wine Festival was held June 22nd to 25th, where attendees were part of wine-tasting programmes and other fun experiences. But the highlight of the festival was the spectacular drone show. The Bordeaux Wine Festival 2023 took an environment-friendly approach to replace its annual firework with drones.

Over 400 drones lit up the night sky over the Garonne River in Bordeaux. There were 20-minute shows held on both Friday and Saturday where the drones created stunning formations of wine being poured into a glass from a bottle, a vineyard, and the drones went into formation spelling: ‘Bordeaux celebrates wine’ in bold letters in the stunning night sky. The drones were operated by the French company Dronisos.