By Ray Spaziani
Wine Talk
Ray Spaziani
The wines from the Bordeaux region of France have been sought after since Roman times. The French developed what has become known as the Bordeaux blend, which consists of Cabernet, Merlot, Cabernet Frank, Petite Verdot and Malbec. All these grape varieties are important in the classic Bordeaux blend.
The wines from the left side of the river have a greater degree of Cabernet than Merlot. On the right side of the river Merlot is more prevalent in the blend, so the wines are softer and not as tannic. They are also much cheaper. The white Bordeaux is grown on the right side of the river and that blend is Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon and Muscadelle.
There are small chateaux that make Bordeaux that have wines stored that go back 30 years. They are still tweaking them and using current grape varietals that have characteristics that would aid older wines.
However, there is a problem in the Bordeaux wine region that for hundreds of years no one anticipated: climate change.
If you are a climate change denier, just talk to the great old Bordeaux wine houses and they will tell that the climate is so different from what it was a few years ago that the great Bordeaux blend may have to be altered. It is becoming too hot for Cabernet. The cool nights are not so cool. The warm days are becoming too warm. Bordeaux’s climate is getting hotter overall.
Since 1950, the average temperatures in Bordeaux have increased 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) according to, Météo-France, France’s meteorological service. The summer heat is baking the vineyards of Bordeaux, making the Atlantic Ocean more like the Mediterranean. Not a great situation to grow Merlot or Cabernet.
This has many in Bordeaux quite concerned. Bordeaux is big business. They produce more than 700 million bottles of wine a year. During a good year Bordeaux will export $2 billion worth of wines. To protect their crop they have been harvesting the wines earlier to prevent the grapes from growing too sweet and too ripe on the vine. This would cause the sugar content to increase and the alcohol level to be too high for the classic blends.
The classic Bordeaux blend may need to be changed to include some grapes that are more heat tolerant. This is true all over the world, but it’s an especially difficult sell in Bordeaux. Terroir is the key to the great Bordeaux wines: the specific mix of climate, soil, geology and plant that make up the taste of a wine. Change the climate in such a special wine-growing region, and you have a different-tasting wine. This will not be the traditional Bordeaux. The French, along with many wine lovers around the world, consider this to be a catastrophic event.
My recommendation is to purchase some classic Bordeaux wine and keep it in a cool place for a long period of time. It might appreciate markedly years from now.