Left Bank of Bordeaux

Last night we tasted the wines of the left bank of Bordeaux.

Our tutor began with a lecture on the history of the wine region. 2000 years ago the Romans introduced wine there.  However the real breakthrough came some 1600 years  on.

The Dutch irrigated the Medoc basin and Bordeaux started to produce red as well as white wine.

The coastal freshness of the Atlantic and its cool climate and gravelly soil were all the necessary conditions for white wine cultivation.

In the 1850s there was another milestone when the cru appellation was initiated.  London was always a big market and still is.  The left bank of Bordeaux produces some of the best known wine in the world: the Margaux, Paulliac and St Julien communes produce fine claret for investment and drinking, some of which we tasted last night.

The tasting could take place as the course is educational.

However we were not, as before, sat on a long communal table but on socially distanced tables of three.

Some things do not change.  There is always one self -styled expert who has to give us the benefit of his views on nose and palette. By the fourth round of wine the atmosphere changes to levity.

My view of any tasting is that there should be food.

We were given 2 morsels of cheese. I would have liked some pate and charcuterie. Still the seven wines chosen were reflective of the region. The  Sarget de Gruaud la Rose I know well and still have a few bottles of it in my cellar.

One present most generously donated a superb Chateau Rothschild that was worth the admission money alone.

As an investment Bordeaux has proved less profitable than top class Italian wines like Sassicaia which has a  more limited supply.

As a drinking wine, I went through a cooling off period of claret – the high tannin content gave me a headache – and I preferred  a more mellow fruitier Beaujolais or the subtlety of a Pinot Noir.

Now in my senior years I have found nothing more satisfying than a superior claret.

My personal favourite is Pomerol, a right bank wine, a region we are studying in 2 weeks’ time.