The perfect handbook to bring along your visit of our vineyard!
Summary:
The Bordeaux wine region is well known for being a complex assortment of various terroirs, grape varieties and styles of wine. As such, it is sometimes hard for foreigners (and for French people themselves!) to clearly understand it.
Understanding Bordeaux wines, at last! is an accessible, clear and thorough guide for both beginners and connoisseurs of wine alike. Throughout the book key information is shared in a structured and engaging style.
The aim of this modest handbook is to give you a general overview that will both improve your understanding of our wine region as a whole, and help you to fully appreciate the estates, wine bars and cellars themselves.
From key concepts to the different families of Bordeaux wines, from winemaking techniques to wine & food pairings, from local particularities to collective rules and traditions, this guide covers it all. As you read it you will discover Bordeaux, the widest quality vineyard in France, its charm, its exceptions, its anecdotes, its mysteries… and its 65 Designations!
Information:
Publication : January, 2025
Paperback book : 13,90€ (170 pages – 12,7cm x 20,32cm)
Cover design : © Marine MANLAY – find out more about her work
Buy that book on amazon.fr /on amazon.co.uk / on amazon.com / on amazon.ca
French version on Amazon
Details:
In this book, you will discover :
- The key notions of
- Grape variety
- « Château » (estate)
- « Terroir »
- Controlled Designation of Origin
… and their exact meaning in Bordeaux.
- All you need to know about our :
- Red wines
- Dry white wines
- Sweet white wines
- Rosé wines
- « Clairet » wines
- Sparkling wines
- Organic wines
… harvesting, winemaking, tasting, designations, styles, wine & food pairings, wine & cheese pairings, etc.
- Plus :
- The 4 famous classification systems of our vineyard (in Médoc, Sauternes, Graves and Saint-Émilion);
- What the label « Cru bourgeois » refers to;
- How to decipher our labels without making mistakes;
- How to choose your wines;
- Other important concepts such as branded wines, merchants, the famous « Bordeaux mixture », etc.
… amongst other specifics and local anecdotes! And a final quiz!
Who am I ?
An enthusiast, more than anything else. With a strong passion for History, literature, cultural heritages and, of course, wine and tourism!
Born in Paris, I lived abroad for several years as a kid. I arrived in Bordeaux at the age of 19, fell in love with the region and, after studying literature, history and anthropology, I moved on to touristic management studies.
It is thanks to my meeting Mr. Henri Faivre, one of my teachers during my Master’s degree, that I ended up working in wine tourism. Thanks to him and to Vincent Rey, I was able to train with great professionals and specialists of the Bordeaux vineyard and, soon, to work in numerous châteaux (Luchey-Halde, Smith Haut Lafitte, Marojallia, Agassac, Lafitte-Laguens…) and in various places where I led wine tasting sessions : hotels, restaurants and touristic places such as the Relais de Margaux, the Winery and the Golf du Médoc. I also led many private events and wine tasting classes for individuals.
Today a freelance writer, I still lead tasting classes and touristic visits in my beautiful region.
Maps:
Map #1 (Reference map) : The Bordeaux vineyard… in full colour!
Map #2: Location
Map #3 : The big areas of the Bordeaux vineyard
Map #4 : Left bank, right bank, Entre-deux-Mers
Map #5: The right bank and its CDOs
Map #6 : The left bank and its CDOs
Map #7: Our dry white wines
Map #8 : Our sweet white wines
Map #9 : Geography
Reference Map : © CIVB, 2017 – Design : Siksik – Cartography:
Édition Benoît France
All other maps : © Marine MANLAY
Cover design : © Marine MANLAY
Text: © Aurélie Depraz
