How to choose Bordeaux wine

In Gironde in southwest France, around Bordeaux city. Vines follow the Garonne, Dordogne and their shared estuary, the Gironde. Around 90,000 hectares in 2025 made it France’s leading wine-growing département.

The rivers divide styles:

• Left Bank, west of the Garonne and Gironde: Médoc and Graves;

• Right Bank, east of the Dordogne: Saint-Émilion, Pomerol and Fronsac;
• Entre-deux-Mers, “between two seas”, between Garonne and Dordogne: mainly whites.

Red Bordeaux is almost always made from several grape varieties. Each contributes something to the wine:

Whites use Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon, sometimes Muscadelle. Sweet Sauternes also uses Sémillon and Sauvignon affected by noble rot.

See “Saint-Émilion”.

From simple to specific:

1. Bordeaux AOC: the whole region, simple, inexpensive everyday wine.
2. Bordeaux Supérieur: same area, stricter rules and fuller wine.
3. Côtes de Bordeaux: Right Bank hills, often good value.
4. District appellations: Médoc, Haut-Médoc, Graves, Saint-Émilion.
5. Commune appellations: Margaux, Pauillac, Saint-Julien, Saint-Estèphe, Pessac-Léognan, Pomerol. Narrower origin raises expectations.

Château need not mean a castle. It means an estate with its own vineyards making its own wine. Mis en bouteille au château means estate-bottled by the producer.

• 1855 classification: Médoc reds, plus one Graves château, and Sauternes sweet wines. Reds have five classes, Premier through Cinquième Cru Classé. Five first growths: Lafite Rothschild, Latour, Mouton Rothschild, all in Pauillac, Margaux and Haut-Brion. Almost unchanged for over 150 years.

• Médoc crus bourgeois: estates outside 1855, revised every five years. The 2025 list has 170 châteaux in Cru Bourgeois, Supérieur and Exceptionnel tiers, often Médoc’s best value.
• Saint-Émilion: revised roughly every decade. In 2022 only Pavie and Figeac held Premier Grand Cru Classé A. Famous estates including Cheval Blanc and Ausone withdrew voluntarily.
• Pomerol: no classification despite producing some of the world’s most expensive wines, such as Petrus.

Many classified estates make a second wine from younger vines or batches excluded from the main wine. The same team and vineyards, substantially lower price and earlier drinking make it a good introduction to the château’s style.

Weather greatly affects Bordeaux: warm sunny years yield fuller, riper wines; cooler ones lighter wines ready earlier. Vintage matters less for everyday Bordeaux than classified growths and cellar wines. Ask the merchant or consult a vintage chart.

Four communes on the Left Bank produce Bordeaux’s most famous reds. Knowing them means understanding half a wine list.

Farther south, Pessac-Léognan on Bordeaux’s outskirts holds Haut-Brion, 1855’s only non-Médoc first growth. It makes reds and great dry whites.

Often unfairly forgotten, whites together with rosés make around a fifth of production, including some of the world’s finest sweet wines.

• Dry whites: Sauvignon and Sémillon. Fresh Entre-deux-Mers with fish and oysters; fuller barrel-aged Pessac-Léognan and Graves.

• Sauternes and Barsac: noble rot, Botrytis cinerea, encouraged by autumn morning fog from the Ciron and warm days, shrivels berries and concentrates sugar. Hand-picking takes several passes. The region’s leading wine, Château d’Yquem, has a unique Premier Cru Supérieur rank in 1855.
• Clairet: light dark-pink wine, ancestor of “claret”, Britain’s continuing term for red Bordeaux.

Take an imaginary bottle:

• Château X: estate with its own vineyards.

• Pauillac: commune appellation, Left Bank, Cabernet Sauvignon, powerful style.
• Grand Cru Classé en 1855: the château is included in the 1855 classification.
• 2018: harvest year.
• Mis en bouteille au château: bottled by the producer.

A simple bottle says Bordeaux or Bordeaux Supérieur, regional wine often from a cooperative or merchant. See “Reading wine labels”.

France’s two great regions work differently:

See “Burgundy wine”.

Each spring, En Primeur sells the latest vintage while still in barrel. Merchants and journalists taste, châteaux announce prices and buyers receive bottles 18–24 months later. Collectors can buy famous estates more cheaply than after bottling. For everyday buyers, ratings mainly indicate which vintages succeeded.

• Bordeaux and Bordeaux Supérieur: two to five years.

• Crus bourgeois and Côtes de Bordeaux: five to ten.
• Saint-Émilion and Pomerol: good examples open at five to fifteen.
• Left Bank classified growths: ten to thirty, longer in great years.
• Sauternes: potentially decades.

See “Storing wine at home”.

Many welcome visitors by appointment for cellar tours and tastings: Margaux and Pichon Baron in Médoc, Smith Haut Lafitte in Pessac-Léognan with Les Sources de Caudalie hotel and spa, and d’Yquem in Sauternes. Book one to four weeks ahead, earlier in season. Bordeaux’s Cité du Vin is a starting point for the region.

1. Decide the purpose: tonight’s dinner, Right Bank, Bordeaux Supérieur or Côtes de Bordeaux; gift or ageing, Left Bank, commune and cru.
2. Soft and fruity: Saint-Émilion, Pomerol and Merlot-led wines.
3. Firm and dense: Médoc, Pauillac and Saint-Estèphe.
4. Look for crus bourgeois, good quality at reasonable prices.
5. Try second wines from famous estates.
6. Remember whites: Pessac-Léognan and Graves for fish, Sauternes for foie gras and blue cheese.

• Left Bank: steak, entrecôte bordelaise, lamb and duck.

• Right Bank: poultry, pork, mushrooms and soft cheeses.
• Dry whites: Arcachon oysters, fish and seafood.
• Sauternes: foie gras, Roquefort and desserts less sweet than the wine.

Serve reds at 16–18°C. Decant young dense Left Bank wines an hour before serving.

1. The cheapest château. The word guarantees no quality: check appellation and producer.
2. Opening young classified wine tonight. Powerful Left Bank needs years; choose Right Bank or cru bourgeois instead.
3. Warm red Bordeaux. Room temperature means 16–18°C, not 25.
4. Forgetting whites. Pessac-Léognan and Entre-deux-Mers are excellent with fish.

Our tour includes a Médoc day with the 1855 classification, a Right Bank day in Saint-Émilion, and a day in Graves and Pessac-Léognan for reds and whites. Compare the banks in your glass. → Bordeaux wine tour · Bordeaux region · Bordeaux guide

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