Wine News Archive

With 120,000 hectares of vines, 57 appellations, 13,000 wine-growers and 8,000 wine-growing chateaux, the Bordeaux vineyards are the oldest fine wine vineyards in the world and the largest area to be classified as appellations of origin in France.

Gironde department has lived with and for the cultivation of wine for more than 2,000 years. The first vine stocks were planted in the 1^st century AD by the Bituriges-Vivisci, the Gaulish tribe that founded Burdigala (Bordeaux); it was Ausonius, a Latin poet born in Bordeaux in 310, who contributed to the renown of the Bordeaux wines, for which he was the special ambassador.

The wines of Bordeaux are rather special in that they are the fruit of a blend: the musts from several grape varieties of different ages, from a single estate are brought together, a practice which differs from the “cuvee” wines that are typical of other wine-growing regions.

These days, the Bordeaux vineyards stretch over 500 of the 542 towns and villages in the department and the range of wines is complete: Reds, dry whites, mellow and sweet whites, roses, clarets, Cremant and Fine Bordeaux.

The Gironde department is the largest in France with 10,725 km2, but it also boats an exceptionally rich and diverse natural heritage, which has been wonderfully conserved.

The multi-faceted nature of Gironde offers a host of singular sites to the admiring eye of the curious passer-by: the ocean, vines, forests, lakes and rivers have composed an infinite number of landscapes, from the grandiose panoramas offered by the Bassin d’Arcachon, to the estuary of the vineyards that stretch as far as the eye can see, not forgetting a more secretive nature, which will only reveal its intimacy if you take a stroll through the pines forests of the Gascony Landes.

The department is crisscrossed by almost 2,750 Km of footpaths, which take walkers to all four corners of Gironde. Wherever they travel in the department, walkers are never far from the forest, vines or a castle: the ideal opportunity to learn more about Gironde and to share in the way of life of its inhabitants!

While it offers a thousand and one culinary variations, the cuisine of Gironde is above all a simple and authentic seasonal cuisine, which is able to benefit from a unique privilege: the possibility of associating a different wine with each dish.

A Sauternes wil highlight the finesse of a foie gras, a Saint-Emilion will set off a lamprey dish to perfection; fish and shellfish are the ideal for an Entre deux Mers or a dry white Graves and it would be unseemly to deprive a dish of boletus mushrooms of its Medoc!

As you stroll through the markets of Gironde, all five sense are alive: here a fresh catch of Atlantic fish, oysters and shrimps that were still in the water not an hour before; there beef from cows fattened in traditional fashion, just next to the fresh vegetables grown so nearby. Whether their feet take them to a bistro, a riverside restaurant or a more reputed establishment, lovers of great food will never be short of delights in Gironde.

The Atlantic Ocean, estuary, lakes and rivers of Gironde make up a wonderful mosaic of habitats and landscapes, all of which are ideal for relaxation of for water activites.
You only have to mention the name of the Altantic coast to conjure up images of long sandy beaches, nestling against huge dunes. The seaside resorts here have maintained a certain discretion, and visitors always fall under the charm of the 10^th century villas that harken back to the holidays of days gone by.

LONDON (Reuters) - While the global credit crunch has forced many consumers to rein in spending, one Beijing-based billionaire has splashed out a record $500,000 on 27 bottles of red wine, London-based Antique Wine Company said on Saturday.The anonymous Chinese entrepreneur bought a mix of vintages of Romanee Conti, a Burgundy wine and considered to be among the world's most exclusive with only 450 cases produced each year.
The client bought 12 bottles of Romanee Conti 1978, two bottles of the 1961, 1966, 1996 and 2003 and single bottles of the 1981, 1990, 1992, 1995, 1999, 2001 and 2002."It is the highest price that has ever been achieved for a single lot," Managing Director Stephen Williams of the London- based Antique Wine Company told Reuters on Saturday.

"I don't think he has bought this as an investment -- he has bought it to drink," he added. "The fine wine industry is completely immune from the global credit crunch." The client's biggest previous purchase was 30,000 pounds ($59,880) for a case of 1982 Chateau Petrus.Williams believes the Romanee Conti sale marks a significant change in Chinese wine buying habits.

"In the past, the Chinese have been drawn to the magnificent but simplistic qualities of the wines from the great chateaux of Bordeaux."Now, our leap in sales of Domaine de la Romanee Conti to mainland China this year in particular is indicating a broadening of their fine wine education and appreciation to the more complex wines of Burgundy." The highest prices paid for fine wines are for extremely special bottles, for example, those that reputedly came out of Thomas Jefferson's cellar.

In his day, wine bottles were not labeled, so Jefferson poured the premium wines he imported in casks from Europe into bottles etched with his initials.Malcolm Forbes, the late publisher of Forbes' magazine, set a record in December 1985 when he paid 105,000 pounds, then about $162,750, for a 1787 bottle of red wine made by Bordeaux's prestigious Chateau Lafitte.In 2006 the Antique Wine Company sold the world's most expensive bottle of white wine, a regular-sized bottle of Chateau d'Yquem 1787 for just under $100,000.

(Reporting by John Joseph; Editing by Stephen Weeks)

From London Reuters, Sat Apr 19, 2008 11:47am EDT