- Bienvenue à Bordeaux. Quite possibly the most famous wine region on the planet, welcome to Bordeaux, France. If this is new territory for you, get excited. Bordeaux has been the gold standard in the world of winemaking for centuries. The mere mention of it conjures images of grand châteaus with even grander reputations. But if you think you do know Bordeaux, think again. Yes, this region has some of the most prestigious and expensive wines ever sold, but that's only part of the story here. We're gonna meet an entirely new generation of winemakers, a generation that's making wines in every style and price imaginable. From fun sparkling rosés' and reds for any weeknight, to more serious whites and famed wines for dessert. There's a Bordeaux wine for every occasion. Your dad's precious Bordeaux collection may be impressive, but it's time to get to know all that Bordeaux has to offer. Welcome to Bordeaux, and welcome to "V is for Vino." While there are flight options directly to Bordeaux, I opted to fly into Paris and hop on a train for a little more adventure. Normally, it takes about 5 1/2 hours to drive between the two cities. But by bullet train, we're faced with only two. Gotta love Europe! Bordeaux is both a city and a wine region about 310 miles from Paris in southwest France. The good soil in this region, along with its access to the Atlantic via the Garonne River, makes it ideal for wine growing. So much so, that there's actually evidence of wine being grown here as far back as the 1st century AD. Bordeaux's first big break wasn't until the 12th century though when a royal marriage solidified England's ownership of Bordeaux for over 300 years. This allowed England to import Bordeaux wine and promote it across the globe. The next big push for Bordeaux came from the Dutch in the 16th century. During this time, the entire left bank of the river was unusable swamp and marsh. So the Dutch used their technology to drain the land in order to transport wine easier, and simultaneously opened up that whole side of the river for wine growing. If you know Bordeaux, you know that this area, now called the Médoc, is where some of the most famed wines in Bordeaux come from. By the late 1600s, some of the châteaus we know today were starting to gain reputations. People weren't asking for just any ol' Bordeaux wine. They wanted their favorite producers. By the 1700s, the boundaries for these specific AOCs, or appellations, were being drawn. By the 1800s, Bordeaux was pretty well-known, but it was nothing compared to the grand stage they're about to be on. See, in 1855, something happened that changed the wine world and Bordeaux forever, but we're gonna save that story till we're in the city. Worth it, right? Alright, so the 1855 classification is one of those instances in history when a seemingly small event has enormous, unexpected, long-term ramifications. It all started as a simple request from King Napoleon III. In 1855, Napoleon III decided to throw his own sort of world's fair in Paris, called a Universal Exposition. One of the things he wanted to show the world was just how amazing French wine was. Easy enough, right? So he asked the Bordeaux Chamber of Commerce to come up with a list of the best châteaus to present at the event. They weren't thrilled at the task. It'd be like if you were told to go rank your children. Sounds impossible, but they did it nevertheless. The Bordeaux Chamber of Commerce proceeded to rank 61 châteaus into 5 different categories, based on the price wines were currently selling at. The wines that were selling at the highest price were called first growths, and then second growths, et cetera, down to fifth growths. The list included only a small fraction of Bordeaux wines. Almost all of them were in the Médoc region, which is just one part of Bordeaux, and almost all of them were red. And most importantly, no one intended this list to be used past Napoleon's Universal Exposition. Never mind have it be the end all be all of lists forever. In fact, it was written almost entirely on the back of an envelope, but the list stuck. And nearly two centuries later, the 1855 classification still affects the pricing and reputation of a lot of wines. Many on the list have now become collector wines and are sold at auctions for thousands of dollars, or even as futures, which are wines that are sold even before release. I've had the opportunity to try a lot of these cru, or top of the list, wines. And listen, they're all great wines, but the classification of 1855 is by no means a comprehensive list of all that Bordeaux has to offer. In the same year, Sauternes and Barsac made a classification as well. Eventually, the right bank also wanted their own classifications. So they wrote the St. Émilion Classification in 1955. And everyone was at it, Graves wanted one too. They wrote their own classification in 1953 and once again in 1959. Then there's the more modern producer-made classifications, the Cru Bourgeois and the Cru Artisan. You also have a whole bunch of areas with no classifications whatsoever, like Pomerol, or Enter-Deux-Mers. Add to these lists all of the different appellations there are, and it's no wonder why some people are intimidated when they first learn about Bordeaux wines. But here's the good news! You don't have to worry about any of these classifications if you don't want to. Because if we've learned anything from our history lesson, it's that being on a list may sound important, but it doesn't necessarily mean that much. All of Bordeaux, classified or not, makes great wine. And, unlike some regions where you need to spend an arm and a leg to just get your foot in the door, really good Bordeaux wines can be had at all different price points and in all different styles. If you wanna spend hundreds of dollars on a special occasion wine from a famous château, great, you can do it. But just know that classified growths are only 2% of Bordeaux wines. 90% of wine here is under $50 a bottle. Plus, Bordeaux produces 600-900 million bottles per year. That is a ton of amazing wine at a solid price point. To put that in perspective, the entire Napa Valley makes around 120 million bottles per year. And despite its bold reputation, Bordeaux makes a lot more than just red wine. There's incredible whites, rosés, dessert wines, and even sparklers. This means that whatever the time or place, there's a high quality, affordable Bordeaux wine ready to be had. Bordeaux is one of the most loved French cities around. It's relaxed, laid back, and livable. There's so much to see and do, especially for wine lovers. So I needed a guide to help me comb through it all. This is Alex. He's a teacher at the L'Ecole De Vin Wine school in Bordeaux, and just generally one of the most knowledgeable gentlemen I know when it comes to the region. So this is downtown Bordeaux? - This center, yeah, the historic center of Bordeaux. - So you are not French as I can clearly tell. Where are you from? - I'm from Scotland. - Okay. - Hence the outrageous accent. - Yeah. And what brought you here? - Originally, I studied to be a translator. Came to Bordeaux to translate video games, a lot of things. Best job ever for a little while. Then I kind of got into wine just through being in Bordeaux. - Okay, so you just came and said... You never left basically. - Yeah, I'm the tourist who never left. That's pretty much me. - What was it that drew you here and said, "All right, this is the place where I'm gonna actually stay long-term"? - Just love the city. Just a nice place, it was easy. Bordeaux feels quite small. It's human size. It's not a massive place. Barcelona can be quite intimidating or London quite intimidating, but Bordeaux is really friendly. - It is kind of the perfect big small town, but the at the same time, it is a huge region. There's enough to explore to keep you busy for decades. - Oh, for sure. It's massive. As soon as you go and see the center and you start actually looking at the vineyards and the reach of Bordeaux as an appellation, it's enormous. - What's cool is that it's not one direction. It's literally every direction you go, you will be in wine country. - Absolutely. - And Bordeaux is kind of the epicenter or the heartbeat of it. - There's always new things happening, the new generation of winemakers. There's always new things, new bars opening, new events happening. - From a wine perspective, when you say, okay, it's modern and it's also got this tradition, I mean, when I think of Bordeaux wine and when you study it, you study the big houses, you study the classification, but that's not the whole story. - No, not at all. When you first look at Bordeaux, you see all the big names, you see the Grand Cru like you said. But the Grand Cru is maybe 5% of the châteaus in Bordeaux, maybe. - Wow. - So for me, the important thing is to try and find things outside of the classification, find new things, find different things. There's always someone trying something new, a new variety, a new aging system, new things in biodynamics to trying... There's a lot of testing going on. - Very cool. So we're heading now to the L'Ecole. - We're gonna to the L'Ecole de Vin, so the wine school, which is just over there. - Okay, this is L'Ecole De Vin. And what classes are taught here? - Loads of different ones. Blending workshops, basic level tasting classes, cheese and wine pairing. chocolate and wine is one of the new ones. The cocktail workshops, sort of making cocktails with the white wines of Bordeaux. - This is where you work, you teach, but it's also a wine bar. - Yes, so this is the downstairs part. This is the bar a vin, wine bar. - [Vince] All these wines that are in these bar are kind of subsidized rather. - [Alex] Yeah. - So that you can come in as out of towner and try some wines that would be maybe be inaccessible otherwise. - It's not a profit organization. They're not trying to make money. It's not a wine bar in the true sense of the word. So you can have... Look, we've got a 2016 Pomerol, the most expensive wine, at eight euros. - Some of these are two or three euro. - Yeah, you can come in have a glass of Crémant for like 3 Euros. - Yeah, I mean I love Europe. Bordeaux is just is Bordeaux. There's other regions that maybe have similar soil, but there's something so distinct about Bordeaux that is I think I think part history, party terroir, part tradition. - You were talking earlier about the wines in California. Those more stereotype wines, the fruit bombs. Bordeaux tends to be a little bit earthier, be a little bit more gritty perhaps, old school. - All right, so what's our next stop on our Bordeaux tour? - We'll go ahead to the Citeé du Vin. - What is that? - The wine museum. - Wine museum? - Yeah. - I've never heard of a wine museum. - Well, you're about to. - To get to our very high tech museum, we decided to take some very low tech transpiration. Biking has always been bigger in Europe than in the states, and the bike lanes are really well designed. They usually have a separate curb so you're nowhere near the cars, and digital rentable bikes are available everywhere. I love seeing cities on bike, because its the perfect medium between zipping by too fast to see the sights in a car and taking too long to get there by walking. And Bordeaux is just large enough where biking in beneficial, but small enough to where it doesn't take too long to get from a to b. We arrived at the Cité du Vin, the museum of wine. The building alone is an architectural wonder, meant to look like wine pouring into a decanter. Once inside, you pick up your digital key, which looks a bit like a phone, that unlocks all the exhibits. The first thing you're greeted with is a panorama of wine regions from all over the world. But that was just the start. Okay, so I got my phone. Tap? - Yep. - All right, it opens up. It tells you the climate. This is so cool. And then I say I wanna hear from her. This is great. She comes and tells you. This is kinda like what I always try to do in the show. It's like virtual tasting, virtual visiting. - It's kinda matrix-y, isn't it? - Yeah. This is cool. You can touch everything. All the exhibits are interactive, and I have no idea how they gathered this much information. Globes that tell you what grapes are grown where, in what percentages, how many wineries there are, and more. A walkthrough on the worlds history of wine. Details on every single grape, its profile, what it looks like. - This shows you the shape of the grape, the vine leaves. - Yep. The winemaking process from start to finish in giant yeast strains. Giant touchable wine bottles detailing the styles of wine. I guess I don't know what I expected when I came in here, but it was not this. This is so cool. I moved through virtual ancient worlds, talked with master sommeliers. And my favorite part? Smelling recreated wine aromas. Where was this when I was studying for my exam. - For exams, yeah. - Yeah, where was this? This is crazy. - [Alex] But they're similar, same. - [Vince] How did they do this? - [Alex] I wish I knew. - This is mind-blowing. this might be my favorite part so far. There's a killer wineshop, a top floor with views of the city and tasting bar, a library, and I'm sure other things I missed. There's just so much in here. I can't think of a better city than Bordeaux to host this museum. A place that's been so iconic to the wine world should be the place that houses its history. Hey, Vino fans. I wanna talk to you about signing up for Vino VIP. And since I don't wanna bother you with a ton of commercials while you're trying to watch the show, I wanna put all the cliche marketing angles into just this one. Here we go. I know we come off as a big production, but the reality is the entire operation is myself and a few other part-time employees. We're not affiliated with a studio or TV channel. We really wanna keep the show going, but literally can't do it without your help. 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I never wanna charge for individual episodes or, worse yet, be unable to make the show at all, but that's why we need support from those of you who can. It's only $5, which is less than a Starbucks coffee, so it's really in reach. Everybody assumes that their support won't make a difference, but I promise you it does. Look at all these pretty members-only content you're missing out on. Behind the scenes videos, episode commentaries, and full-length interviews that be seen nowhere else but our members-only session. The first month is free. You literally have nothing to lose. I know this was long, but everything I just said is 100% true. We have tens of thousands of fans. And even if a small percentage of you joined, we could keep making videos for you in the long term. And the last perk is they can start watching episodes in the members section, and you don't have to hear this pitch or see ads ever again. Thank you to our existing Vino VIP members, and thanks for considering joining. I've experienced a handful of wine regions at this point, but always on foot. So why not switch it up? Like, all the way up. Adventure Vince was excited at the chance to see Bordeaux from way up in the sky, albeit in a tiny, little plane. Oh, and then there's motion sickness Vince, and well, he was gonna have to suck it up for a bit. Château Venus is a winery, but also offers several different tours of Bordeaux from the sky. - In 2005, we started the winery. And a couple of years after, we decided to start flights. Because when you fly, you see the different place I will see Graves, Sauternes, Entre-Deux-Mers. - You can see the whole region. - Oh yes, all the region, the river, the village, Grand Cru Classé also. Five years after, we have five planes. - Oh you have five planes now. - And we fly every day. - Very cool. And so now anybody can come and take the tour with you. - Everybody. We have kids flights. We have fantastic flights, short, long, depends on what you want to see. - Are we ready to go up? - Yes, we are ready. - All right, let's do it. I strapped in, buckled up, and prepared for takeoff. Once we we were up, you really could see the region. The maps I studied for so many years, all laid out in front of me in real life. While I'm getting my overhead tour of the region, allow me to give you yours. Bordeaux runs along the 45th parallel, which is known as one of the great winemaking lines of latitude in the world. This parallel also runs through parts of the Rhône Valley, Piedmont, and Willamette Valley in Oregon. The largest AOC in Bordeaux is simply that, the Bordeaux AOC. For the base level of the Bordeaux AOC, the grape can come from anywhere in Bordeaux and the rules are pretty minimal. There's also a bunch of sub categories, but just know that this level has the most flexibility. The next level is Bordeaux Supérieur. These wines also can come from anywhere in Bordeaux, but they have stricter requirements for the grapes and aging. Okay, now let's get into the real fun stuff, the commune AOCs. Here at the top level, there are fairly strict geographic and quality controls in place. There are two main parts to Bordeaux, the left bank and the right bank. If you only take one thing from this entire conversation, remember this. Places in the left bank, or the left side of the river, make Cabernet Sauvignon based blends, and places in the right bank make Merlot based blends. Got it? Good. Now while there are 65 different AOCs in Bordeaux, there's a few worth calling out. The left bank is most well known for the Médoc, Haut-Médoc, and Graves. Within these AOC's you'll find the five most famous communes that produce all of the wines we talked about earlier in the 1855 classification. On the right bank, you have equally famous Merlot producing communes, Pomerol and St. Émilion. Where the river splits is the aptly named Entre-deux-mers, which means between two tides, and is known for its dry white wines from Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon Blends. You have Sauternes and Barsac, famous for their botrytis white dessert wines from Sémillon. And finally, you've got the laid back Côtes de Bourg which are five appellations spread across the region that produce all colors and styles. If a wine happens to have a classification of some sort, it's in addition to these location-based AOCs. Let's do a few examples with actual examples with bottles. Check out this label - the château name is the producer. Haut-Médoc is the AOC, or the place where the wine was made. Since we know Haut-Médoc is on the left bank, we know this is a Cabernet Sauvignon based blend. The Cru Bourgeois is a special classification awarded in addition to the commune designation. Let's do another. The producer is the château. St. Émilion is the place. And since we know its on the right bank, it's a Merlot based blend with more specific quality controls. And Grand Cru Classe is a classification awarded in addition to the commune designation. The more labels you see, the more it makes sense. There are a bunch of smaller communes all over Bordeaux that have plenty of great value wines as well. You might have to do some googling at first to learn their names, but that's okay. I do it too. Alright, I'd say it's time to get back on land and somewhere I'm a little more comfortable. A pleasure. Thank you very, very much. That was awesome. It's cool. Right up the road from my airplane landing zone was an often overlooked part of Bordeaux compared the famous left and right bank. This area between the two major rivers of the Garonne and the Dordogne is home to a lot of the hidden gems of the region. Sainte Croix du Mont, Loupiac, Cadillac, Entre deux Mers. Here's where you'll find famous Sauternes houses, walled villages with cobblestone streets, fossilized oysters walls from the ancient seabeds, and a lot of fantastic wineries, like Château Biac. Situated in Cadillac right along the Garrone river, it's unique location has some advantages, as I was about to find out. Plus, I was told the family that owned it was Lebanese like me, and they promised me dinner was in the works. How could I turn that down? You guys could've picked maybe a better spot. - No, it's terrible. My parents were looking for a place to retire. It was either Lebanon or here because we had fallen in love and made lots of friends here. And every time they look for property, they were like, "Okay, we need to find something, but the rule of thumb is no vines and definitely no wine production." - Oh that was the rule. - That was the rule. And Every time they would- - That obviously panned out. - Yeah, exactly. So they were looking for a property. And every time they looked, it was nice, but it wasn't this. And well, here we are. - [Vince] Now when you say there are great soils here, what does that mean? - We're quite lucky because we have soils from Saint-Émilion, so the right bank. We have soils from the Médoc, which is the left bank. - So you're kind of the best of both worlds, which probably allowed you to do a lot of different styles of wine. - We do a dry white, red, and sweet. - [Vince] Okay. - And that's down to the particularity of the property. So the Garonne River, you see it comes towards us, and then it curves around. Okay, and thousands of years ago, this was under water. - This was all under water. - This was all under water, but it always curved here. This is a natural bend. So what happened was as the river slows down, the deposits start to change. Because as it slows down, the lighter deposit sink. And as it accelerates out on the other side, on the curve, what happens is all the gravel gets pushed along. Here's a good example. He says looking for dirt. So as you can see, this is sandy clay. Okay? There's no gravel in here. - Yep, and this is your quintessential right bank soil. - Exactly. What's super weird is we're literally just going to cross this road, so that's what four meters, five meters, you got gravel. - And you can see it. Look at it. - You just got it here. - Yeah, you can see it in the ground. I know you may not be a soil nerd, but come on, that's really cool, right? A few more minutes chatting with Gabriel, and it was time to head down for a tasting. - Cheers to you. - Thank you for having me, first off. - Cheers. - Thank you, thank you. - You're most welcome. Felicie is made of very much a bit like a Burgundian wine, oak barrels and on the lees. - White Bordeaux is so unique because so many of them are doing it in this style, so you get the beautiful acidity from Sauvignon Blanc, but you get this richness that you just don't get with some of the super crisp high acid steel Sauv Blanc. - The sub soils are very rich in seashells and fossils. - When you get that saline minerality- - That's right. - The chalk minerality. It's the first thing and it's the focus to me of the wine. I talk mineral first, and then I'm looking for the fruit after, and that's what's fun. - What we try to do in Biac with our wines is focus on the personality, the character of the vintage. So the parents are the vineyard and the children are the vintages. - Okay, I love that. - And the children all look alike, and they look like their parents, but they're all different. So every year there could be a new child, and every year there's a new vintage. - That's a busy mother every year. - Yeah, mother nature. Now '14, I put it in because, unusually, we have a lot of Petit Verdot in the '14. It is there to reveal the other flavors, not to kill the other flavors. Thank you. - I get a beautiful floral component right away, like violets. - Very much so. - Good backbone, good structure. And what is nice about this, as opposed to places like Burgundy that are stuck with whatever the year gives them in that one grape, you have the flexibility of blending the way that can maybe assist in... I always say good winemakers make good wine in poor years. If you trust the winemaker and you trust the producer, that's where I say to put your heart. - So now we're going to go, finally, to the sweet wines. So again it's... But- - sorry, I'm already so happy. - Every year we've been able to produce botrytis based sweet wine. - And botrytis happens naturally. - Botrytis actually happens because of the river. The Sauternes, and Barsac, and all those regions is because, in the summer, late summer, you get a mist that comes from the river, and it favors the conditions for botrytis to grow. - Dried figs, dried apricot, marmalade. - Almost like smoke character. And this with, oh my, with the foie grass. - With the foie gras. - It's like the ultimate... This is one of the ultimate I'd say top five parings on the planet. As we finished our wines, Youmna and Gabriel threw some vines in a wheelbarrow, the vintner's version of coals on the fire. They grilled up some kofta, made some fattoush, Lebanese dishes that made me feel at home. An American boy eating Lebanese food in France, with some French, some Italians, and a Scott. Who'd've thought? The big deal in Bordeaux is blending, and that's how most wines here are made, by blending different grapes together. 100% varietal wines are pretty uncommon. There are five grapes used in Bordeaux red wines, and each lends a different characteristic to the wine. They allows each winemaker to have a unique style by blending the way that fits their personality, like a painter does with a color palette. As far as flavors go, red Bordeaux to me is super distinct. The soil lends to a dusty, graphite minerality that's really unique to Bordeaux. I haven't found it elsewhere, and personally, it's my favorite part of the wine. It's fruit character is usually in black currant and plum land, and violets and herbs are common as well. You even get a lot of oak aging with red Bordeaux which provides cedar and chocolate, or sometimes cappuccino notes. So how do we compare the two sides of Bordeaux? I like to say it's similar to golden retrievers versus Labradors, both dogs, both very similar, but different enough that you probably have a preference between the two. The left bank vs right bank comparison is also similar to Napa versus Sonoma. The left bank is a bit more famed, the estates a bit more grand, while the right bank is a little more rugged, there's a lot more space, and the wineries feel more like farms. Let's start with the left bank, which remember, are our Cabernet Sauvignon based blends. The reason it's Cab Sauv is because the left bank has well draining, gravely soils that the grape tends to like better. These blends are typically at least 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, with Merlot playing second fiddle, and Cabernet Franc, Malbec, and Petit Verdot rounding out the back. These wines are known for being tannic and powerful, capable of aging for decades in the right vintages. The right bank has clay soils, which lends itself better to Merlot. In fact, Bordeaux as a whole makes about twice as much Merlot than it does cabernet sauvignon, even though Cab Sauv tends to get more of the spotlight. Right bank blends are usually Merlot based with some Cabernet Franc. They're known to be a bit more feminine and softer, as the tannin structure is a bit lower and the fruit character a bit higher. Because of this, they're usually more approachable younger. If you were hoping for something other than red, you're in luck. Because an increasing amount of wine coming out of Bordeaux is sparkling, rosé, white, and dessert. However, there are two historic types of wines worth paying special attention too, the first being Bordeaux white blends. These are white wines made from blending Sémillon and Sauvignon Blanc. And fun fact, Sauvignon Blanc is originally from Bordeaux. These blends are the perfect combo of fresh, fruity, and acidic. You get that fresh acidity from the Sauvignon Blanc that's rounded out by the smooth, honeyed Sémillon. Think lemon-lime, chamomile, lemon curd, grapefruit, wet rocks, and honey. Finally, there's no way we can't talk about Bordeaux's world famous dessert wines, many of which come from Sauternes. These are still Sémillon based, but are affected by Botrytis, a type of fungus, that removes the water content of grapes on the vine while leaving the sugar, and thus producing super sweet wine. The wines taste like honey, ginger, orange marmalade, and beeswax, all in one delicious bottle. They're honestly a life changing wine experience, and should be on every wino's bucket list. Did you guys know that on our website, we have the places we visited listed on each episode's page, the wines we drank available for sale, and our VIP section with bonus videos? I just thought I'd let you know. Markets are great, aren't they? And French markets, even better. So I jumped at the opportunity to meet my new friend Basaline at one, and grab some ingredients for our upcoming lunch that she was hosting. And of course, take some time to indulge my obsession with French pastries. All right, so we're heading over here. - Yeah, sure. - Great. - Get some bread here. Would you fancy a croissant for your breakfast? - I probably do. No, I didn't eat breakfast. What is that one with the, the kinda long one? - [Basaline] This is chocolate with it? - Anybody want a pastry? Pastry, anybody want? Okay, okay, enough with the pastries. We had real food to buy. I see the mussels. Wow, look at that. - We should stop here. Yeah, we should go for mussels. I make a very nice mussel soup. - [Vince] Okay, perfect. - It's a family recipe, so I'll give you my tricks on that one. - Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll take the secrets. - What else would you like to eat? - [Basaline] Sardines could be a good- - Let's do the sardines. I love sardines. - You love sardines? - Love sardines. - Okay. - Perfect. Yeah. those on the grill I think would be good. Do we need to get one of these? - Yeah. - It's a lot of garlic. I love it. The marketing was a dizzying array of meats, produce, cheeses, breads, live chickens, some man with a hat selling vanilla beans, and the most robust spice monger I've ever seen. The colors and scents drawing us in and eventually spitting us out for un café, as one finds themselves often doing in France. I used the opportunity to chat with Basaline about a group of winemakers she's a part of called Bordeaux Oxygène. The name's to challenge the stereotype of traditional stuffy Bordeaux château, and focus on the younger generation of wine producers and wine consumers. Tell me about the Bordeaux Oxygène. What is that? How did it get started? - Bordeaux Oxygène started in 2005, so 16 years ago. We were willing to give another image of the producer producing Bordeaux, not just a big château with the fancy style which looks unapproachable. - [Vince] Sure, sure. - And we think our wines are very approachable, not in terms only of taste. But also in terms of price. Our wines are not only for old people also, but we want to touch also younger population and younger consumers. - Sure. As we spoke, members of Bordeaux Oxygène were on their way to Basaline's house, so we needed to head home and start prepping lunch. With our ingredients in hand, we headed to Basline's home and winery, Château Mont Pérat, to prepare our lunch. First off, can you say hashtag kitchen goals? This range was gorgeous, the fireplace in the kitchen, a separate room with sinks to keep dirty dishes out of sight, and most importantly, the dining table smack dab in the middle of the space so the cooking and eating experience merges into one. We had a lot to prepare, so we needed some help, which luckily wasn't too far behind, a few other members of Bordeaux Oxygène. Basaline's brother Thibault lit up the fireplace with vines, and handled the grilled sardines. I cleaned mussels and made dough, and worked the room with a glass of wine in hand. The sisters Marie and Sylvie took over the finishing of the cold mussel soup and baking of a fresh tomato tart. And besides being ringleader, Basaline took charge of the most handsome piece of veal I've ever seen. She chopped tons of garlic, veal fat, and parsley, and threw it in the oven to finishing cooking while we sat down for our first courses and our wine. - Okay, even the head. You eat everything. - Everything. The entire sardine. - So good. And this is your wine. - Yeah, Sauvignon Blanc, Sauvignon Gris and Sémillon. Barrel fermented. - Why I live white Bordeaux so much is 'cause this nice blend of high acid crisp Sauvignon Blanc. Round it with the Seémillon, round with the lees, round it with the barrel. And so you still get a fresh wine that has some weight and some complexity. - But we know with the global warming, we tend to have less acidity. - [Vince] It's harder. - And it's harder to keep the freshness, so we have to pick very early. We have to be ready end of August. - You say end of August. What did it used to be when you picked? - Oh, it used to be... My grandfather I think started picking the grapes at the end of September. - A month. - The white varieties. - A month later. - Yeah, a month. In two generation. - I was telling my dad, our dad is in Brazil, "Oh, dad, we finished the harvest on the 24th of September." And he said, "49 years ago, we started the harvest on the 24th of September because it was the birth of our older brother." - Okay. He knows that day. - He remembers quite well. Yeah, my mother complained 'cause he was celebrating with the nice young girls picking the grape. - I want to know more about Bordeaux Oxygene and why it was started. - It was more about promoting our wines in a more modern style. Not to stay behind the table pouring our wines. - It's less about the style about the wine, and it's more about saying- - It's more about communicating. - Hey, not every winery here is a giant château- - Yeah, exactly. - With a bunch of maybe investment or a bunch of old money. There are other types of wineries here. - Yeah. And in this group, you have very, very well-known château, but the owner is still very humble. - It's just that sometimes maybe Bordeaux has the image of being intimidating a little bit that you have to know a lot with Bordeaux, which is absolutely not the case. And so the idea was to show that real people behind wines. It's not only about the big châteaus and stuff, and go after the consumers, and say, "Hey, we like you guys. Come on." - Winemakers are fans as well, right? We had our mussel soup, served chilled, which was really unique. It was mussels, shallot, espelette, parsley, chive, and olive oil. Then we popped our red and served up the most perfectly cooked veal. Oh my god, the veal. It's so good, with the garlic and the parsley. It's perfect. - You have to like fat, huh. It's one of the condition. - Is your wine too? - Yes, 2016. Naujan, Naujan is the name of the village here. - Okay. - Yeah, it's Merlot, two different types of Merlot and a bit of Cab Franc in there. - The wine is pretty, aromatic on the nose, delicious, kind of flowers. - It's giving a little iron a little bit on the nose. - I like it because it is earthy. I mean it smells terroir very much I think. - Between Château Biac, Château Venus, and now here, I was starting to get a better sense for the real Bordeaux. There are literally thousands of wine producers here, and the bulk of them look like this, family wineries making great, unpretentious wine that they themselves are happy to sit around the table and enjoy on any given occasion. Cheers, everybody, before we forget. Thank you so much for hosting me. This is absolutely incredible. I'm honored to be here. St. Émilion has a special place in wine lovers' hearts. Wine has been produced in this historic region since the Roman times. And while it only represents about 6% of Bordeaux wine production, its impact on the wine world has been far larger. Some of the Merlot based wines from St. Émilion have achieved icon status. Their Chateaus ingrained in the memories and dreams of somms across the world. The medieval town of St. Émilion in the center of the region boasts its own history. In the 8th century, a monk named Émilion, who would eventually be the towns namesake, arrived and his followers followed. Eventually, church's were built in his honor, including the famous monolithic church of St. Émilion. I say built, but it was actually mostly excavated. It's the largest underground church in Europe, carved out of the rock in the 12th century. I'd never seen anything like it, because there's not too many things like it on the planet. If you combine the church with the hilly cobblestone streets, restaurants, ancient wash stations, and abbeys, and abundance of wine shops, you've got a town that's absolutely worth a stop on your trip. As we've learned, when it comes to wine, Bordeaux is all about the blend. But who's doing all this blending and how do they make those choices? To find that out, I headed to Château Cormeil Figeac in St. Émilion, one of the many female-owned and operated Châteaus in Bordeaux, to meet with Coraline Moreaud and take a special masterclass in blending. - It's my great grandparents who bought the first hectares in 1940. At the time it was war, when you owned land, a good reason not to go to war. - You could say, "I have to tend to my land." - Exactly. And then each generation bought more land, and now we have 25 hectares, which is a good size in St. Émilion. There's something I would like to show you here. - Sure. - Right here. - Okay. - Tree, you see? we are growing some trees in our vineyard. Here in St. Émilion, we are growing vines, vines, vines for hundreds, thousands of years. We have been doing that, and so now the soil has become poor. By growing trees, we want to favor biodiversity and attract animals, insects, birds to create a network, a life network. - Why does St. Émilion has this kind of reputation. I learn about wine, you learn, oh, the wines of St. Émilion. Why do you think that is? - There's a few answers. Some people will say, ah, it's the terroir. Nothing can beat the terroir in St. Émilion. It's so special, the soil. Others will say, well, it's because St. Émilion was very well located in terms of being able to ship very easily the wine because we have a river. We have Bordeaux, which is close, and that is how the reputation of St. Émilion grew. - Everywhere we've been I think has been a third or fourth generation business. - Yes, yes. - And so there's still the passion for the winemaking. It's not just a money-making venture. I hope you make some money, but everybody has passion here. - Yes, yes, yes, yes. You have one, two, three, four, five samples. - Okay. - Samples. And so we are going to fill four of them with different wines from our production. And the fifth sample, it will be your blend. - My blend. If you remember, the traditional right bank blend is Merlot and Cabernet Franc, but the blending process isn't quite that simple. We grabbed four different wines, plain Merlot, plain Cabernet Franc, Merlot aged in new oak, and Merlot aged in used oak. Perfect. All right. So let's try this on its own. - Very fruity. - Very fruity. - Lots of fruit and alcohol. - Yep. - That's all there is in this glass. And this is quite a simple smell. It's nice, but it's simple. And if somebody tells me, "Oh, your wine is simple." - Not so good. - Not so good. - So that's why we blend. - Exactly. - 'Cause if we gave them just this, okay, this is fine, I can drink it, but you know... - Yeah, yeah. - Good tannin structure. - Yeah. It's a young wine. So tannins are very- - Strong. - Strong when the wine is young. Next, cabernet franc. More fresh. - More fresh. - Yeah. - Absolutely, absolutely, as in freshness, lift maybe. - We'll start with the new barrel. - I mean wildly different. You are drinking a completely different wine. You start to get some of those, those baking spice notes that we like. - [Coraline] Yes, yes. - We have our used oak. And just as I would expect. It's kind of in between the two we have. You've added some of the softening with the oxygen, but not quite as much as the flavor of the oak. So in most of our wines, we do 70% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Franc. - Okay, that's a good amount of Cabernet Franc. - Well, now it's your call. - Okay. Very nice. So if I was starting, I would probably start with... We have our Cab Franc, and we know we're gonna put, like you said, maybe about 25, 30%. I like the used barrel Merlot. I thought that that was very, very close to what I would want anyway. - [Coraline] Okay. - Why don't I try just that first? - I'm gonna try just Cabernet Franc and used barrel. I'm gonna see where that is. - [Coraline] Good idea. - That being said, you're the expert, so where would you go from there? We say, okay, we tried this. What do you think it's lacking? - Maybe more barrel, maybe more new barrel. - [Vince] More new barrel, a little more spice. - I like barrels very much. - Okay. After a bit of experimentation, I got something I was proud to slap the V is for Vino stamp of approval on. I think I'm locking it in. Final answer. - Okay. - I even got to bottle it up, cork it, and label it. And by the way, if you visit, she offers this as a class, so you can do this too. Very, very, very fun. I've never done anything like this, so thank you very much. You guys gotta try my blend. I think there's a little left. I always say the French were The Beatles of the wine world. Almost everyone was influenced by their techniques and most can agree that the same goes for cooking. So if there's a place I'd wanna brush up on my culinary skills, it's France. Lucky for me I had Chef Olivier Straehli. I gave Olivier a hell of a task. I needed five dishes for five winemakers who each brought a different style of wine. He not only delivered some great modern twists on classic dishes, but he brought some unexpected surprises to the table as well. So I kind of gave you a challenge. I said, "Here's the wines were gonna do." It was all over the map. - I accept the challenge. - And you accepted the challenge like an Iron Chef. Our first winemaker was Pauline Dufour who brought her Sauternes from Château Simon. - I'll show you something very surprising, Sauternes wine. So it's very unique because we make this wine with a special fungus called noble rot. You have only five villages where we can produce this wine because of this microclimate. We pick up the grapes only with this fungus, with this botrytis. And so everything is done by hand. It's very, very aromatic wine. - Yeah, and it- - Try, you know. - I always get such a smile on my face when I smell these wines because they are so beautifully aromatic, candied, honeyed, orange marmalade. Sometimes you might even get gingers. Just really amazing. - Yeah, you have the spiciness, you have the exotic fruit, the freshness at the same time. You have pit and flower. - It wouldn't have been my first instinct, but chef claimed the oyster was a good pair with the Sauternes, so I took his word for it. So the sweet is way toned back. Oh and the finish is crazy. You know what it is, it's the salty sweet. The same thing you get when you do any sort of salt sweet dessert, salted caramel or something like that. Sometimes contrasting flavors are a great wine pairing. The sweet, fruity Sauternes mixed with the savory, salty oyster is a yin and yang pairing that enhances both the wine and the food. All right, time for our white Bordeaux with Julia from Château de Parenchère. What are we tasting? - So what are we tasting? Bordeaux Blanc. It's a dry white. Sec means dry. - Great. - So it's produced from our estate at the very east part of Bordeaux. First, you have the citrus from Sauvignon and the freshness, and the Seémillon is here to give some honey, a bit of texture in the mouth, some roundness that we like, wines that we just dry. We want it to have some texture. And the Muscadelle on the nose, white flower. - Yeah, very floral, and I get the honey on the nose too. - Of course it has to go with the food, so it's great. I see what you're cooking now. - Yeah, I know, that's really good. While we were busy chatting, chef made a raw shrimp tartar with olive oil, lemon zest, chive, radish, topped with caviar, and then he made this beat jelly with agar-agar to put on top. All right, let me try it out. The shrimp has a really, almost like a creaminess to it. It's really, really lovely. And then the lime zest kinda brightens it up, and then the salinity from the caviar. It's perfect. Raw shrimp are actually really rich and oily. So the acid in the lime works well to cut the fat in the shrimp and olive oil. It also works well with the salty caviar. The lemon notes in the lime bring out the citrus in the dish, and the medium body dish matches the weight of the medium bodied wine. All right, chef, we have... I think the rosé is coming next. - Yes, the rosé is very good with charcuterie. - Okay. - Okay. And in Bordeaux, you have a specialty. It's called grenier médocain. - Okay, I'll never remember that. - Yeah, I know. It's French. I cannot translate in English. I mix this and I make a . - Oh, and fry it. - And fry it. - Great, love it. - And me, I prepare the sauce. It's called sauce gribiche. - Okay. - This is very, very French. We're using a lot of French words. As I tried to produce French culinary terms, just in time was Anna from Château Gabachot with her rosé. He's throwing a lot of terms to me. Maybe you can help out because you are a native English speaker. - Yeah, and I was just thinking those are really difficult words for me too. - So what brought you to Bordeaux? - I was an exchange student after high school in Belgium, and I really fell in love with Europe. I met my husband who happens to own and run a family winery in the Bordeaux region. - Oh great, okay. So it was love that you brought to France. - Yeah, it was love. - And you were bringing a rosé which I think when everybody thinks of Bordeaux, they probably think of everything by rosé, which is really cool because I know that they're making more and more of it. So where is this wine from? - This wine is from the Entre-Deux-Mers wine region, which is very much the heart of Bordeaux wine region. Our rosé is done with saignée method. Citrus and fresh strawberries. - Oh yeah, fresh strawberries. - Yeah, a lot of red fruits. - Chef made the gribiche sauce with shallot, pickle, capers, fresh herbs, olive oil, mustard, and vinegar. Then he pureed the charcuterie, formed it in little balls, battered it, and fried it up. Oh yeah. It's really good. It's great with the rosé. I mean it's perfect 'cause this rosé that we just had, it's kind of a versatile pairing wine. The acidity in the rosé matched the acid from the sauce, cut through the fat of the fried charcuterie, paired with the salt, and the wine also matched the weight of the dish. This looks gorgeous. This is duck. - Yes, it's duck. Strawberries. - Strawberries. - And tomatoes. - Okay. - Okay. - Just to show you, this is all piment d'espelette. - Okay. - You can smell it. - It almost smell a little like musty. - And obviously this is another one. - This is new. - This is new. Open it and say it to me. - Oh wow. Completely different. This is much more tomato and fresh, and this is, yeah, musty. Chef tips number 192, keep your spices fresh, people. Okay, next up was Christophe from Château Plaisance with his Merlot blend. - Today we drink my wine, the Côtes de Bourg. - Côtes de Bourg. Now where is Côtes de Bourg? - It's in the north of Bordeaux, just front of Margaux. Merlot 60%, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 10% Malbec. - Plumy, black cherry. - Yes. - Really, really lovely. A little bit kinda smokey spice and the tannin structure is there, but it's kinda soft, and I think that's pretty typical of Merlot. Seared duck breast. Seasoned with espelette, garnished with tomato and strawberry, topped with foie gras. Does it get any better than this? All right, you can eat. - Beautiful. You could've just gone with duck, but the French. You put the foie in there. It's awesome. Oh my god, this is good. - It's good? - Really good. The red fruit notes in the wine complemented the strawberry and tomato. And the tannin in the wine loves the fatty duck. Last but not least was my friend Roman from Chateau de Lissenes. - This is a Crèmant de Bordeaux which is traditional. So this one, it will be a Sémillon, Muscadelle, and Cabernet Franc. - Sémillon, Muscadelle, Cabernet Franc. - Yes. - That is super unique for a sparkling wine. - Very refreshing, but at the same time very aromatic wine. - The first thing I get is beautiful floral aromatics, white peach, strong fruit character. - Absolutely. - Chef, what are you making to go with this? Dessert was really unique. Chef took fresh fruit like watermelon, UFO peaches, cherries, basil, and a fresh spice called mago that was citrus, floral, and mentholy, to help bring out all the fresh flavors in the crémant. Then he made a cocktail dessert. Super unexpected. Oh, it's good like that actually 'cause you get a little bit of... The crew and I had to give it up. Chef knocked it out of the park. We head out to the yard to enjoy each others company, and share the wine together. The diversity of the day was noticeable. Different wine styles, winemakers from France, the US, Russia. And it always puts a smile on my face when the show gives people an excuse to gather and drink wine together. The Garonne River, it's what started it all in all here in Bordeaux. The ease of transport, the irrigation, the soils the it provided. If the downtown is the heart of this region and the wineries provide the lifeblood, its the arteries of river that connects the two. So it seemed like a good place to end my Bordeaux journey. This region still has its past. They know why they have the reputation they do, and the respect that. But it feels like the people here have no intention of resting on their laurels. The people I talked to feel a responsibility to do something new, make a name for themselves, reach the next generation of consumers, and improve upon family legacies. You know the French have a reputation of being cold, unwelcoming to foreigners. Hopefully you've now seen what I've seen. That couldn't be further from the truth. It was the French who invented hospitality, turned kindness to others from a hobby into an industry and an art form. So its no wonder I always feel at home in France. All that to say if you can make the trip to Bordeaux, do it, because I think you'll get a bit that feeling as well. I hope you enjoyed Bordeaux, and we'll see you next time on "V is for Vino." Hey, Vince here. Hope you enjoyed the episode. If you have a moment, follow us on Instagram. And if you really wanna support, please consider joining Vino VIP on visforvino.com. It's our members-only club with a ton of benefits. Thanks for watching and see you soon.