Bordeaux can be overpriced and boring! If you separate out some of the finest and most expensive wines in the world, the remaining huge bulk of Bordeaux wines can have a tendency to rely on history, name recognition and reputation with a certain gallic arrogance. That has to be an outrageous over-simplification, but I have so often been disappointed with affordable Bordeaux that I have tended to look elsewhere in France to excite my palate and save my bank balance.
But inevitably something stirs, and the problem then comes for the few adventurous, passionate wine makers in Bordeaux to grab the attention of an increasingly sceptical consumer. Fancy packaging can help, but then I suspect that "modern" labels and garish colours can be just a marketing ploy which disguises an otherwise unremarkable wine.
So it was with some relief that I came across Terra Burdigala - Burdigala being the Roman name for Bordeaux. Certainly the packaging looks modern and funky, the website is swish, but does this necessarily imply that the contents of the bottles are any different?
Well, for a start this is not a traditional chateau operation. Two young Frenchmen, Stéphane Derenoncourt & François Thienpont, create wines by selecting grapes from chosen vineyards (sometimes from some of the less fashionable appellations) and determining precisely how the grape is vinified into wine - a sort of local verion of the flying winemaker crossed with the best negociant approach.
We launched this venture in the spring of 2001 and are involved every step of the way, from the vine to the bottle, so that our wines are a true testimony of our concept of Bordeaux: fruit, balance and pleasure
Another reason to believe that these Bordeaux wines stack up is that Andrew Chapman at www.surf4wine.co.uk is stocking them. Surf4Wine has a strong leaning towards the New World, so any Old World wine has to compete directly with some really exciting wines from Australia and South America to get a place on the list.
www.surf4wine.co.uk stocks half a dozen of these Terra Burdigala wines from a Bordeaux AC at £6.99 up to a St Emilion Grand Cru at £18.99.
Of course, the other interesting thing in Bordeaux this week is the bi-annual wine trade exhibition - VINEXPO - probably the biggest wine gathering with exhibitors and buyers from around the world. Probably not a good week for visiting French vineyards, as many winemakers will have deserted their domaines and have decamped to Bordeaux for the 3-day event! Also probably not a good week to try to find a hotel room in Bordeaux either!
