Bordeaux wine
[7] By the end of the conflict in 1453 France had repossessed the province, thus taking control of wine production in the region.
[7] As part of the Auld Alliance, the French granted Scottish merchants a privileged position in the trade of claret.
This position continued largely unchanged after the Treaty of Edinburgh ended the military alliance between France and Scotland.
[11] Even when the by then Protestant kingdoms of England and Scotland, both ruled by the same Stuart king by this point, were trying to militarily aid the Huguenot rebels in their fight against Catholic France in La Rochelle, Scots trading vessels were not only permitted to enter the Gironde, but the French navy escorted them safely to the port of Bordeaux to protect them from Huguenot privateers.
In the seventeenth century, Dutch traders drained the swampy ground of the Médoc so it could be planted with vines, and this gradually surpassed Graves as the most prestigious region of Bordeaux.
[7] The major reason for the success of winemaking in the Bordeaux region is the excellent environment for growing vines.
[13] These rivers define the main geographical subdivisions of the region: In Bordeaux the concept of terroir plays a pivotal role in wine production with the top estates aiming to make terroir driven wines that reflect the place they are from, often from grapes collected from a single vineyard.
[15][16] As a broad generalisation, Cabernet Sauvignon (Bordeaux's second-most planted grape variety) dominates the blend in red wines produced in the Médoc and the rest of the left bank of the Gironde estuary.
[17] White Bordeaux is predominantly, and exclusively in the case of the sweet Sauternes, made from Sémillon, Sauvignon blanc and Muscadelle.
As with the reds, white Bordeaux wines are usually blends, most commonly of Sémillon and a smaller proportion of Sauvignon blanc.
Recently permitted by Bordeaux wineries, three new white grapes have been added: Alvarinho, Petit Manseng, and Liliorila.
[14] The Bordeaux wine region is divided into subregions including Saint-Émilion, Pomerol, Médoc, and Graves.
Claret derives from the French clairet, now a rare dark rosé, which was the most common wine exported from Bordeaux until the 18th century.
[29] It has remained a term associated with the English upper class and consequently appears on bottles of generic red Bordeaux to raise their status in the market.
[31] Many of the top Bordeaux wines are primarily sold by receiving the related payment in advance, the so-called selling en primeur.
Plan Bordeaux was an initiative introduced in 2005 by ONIVINS, the French vintners association, designed to reduce France's wine production in order to improve profitability for the remaining producers.
[citation needed] Christian Delpeuch, president emeritus of Plan Bordeaux hoped to reduce production, improve quality, and sell more wine in the United States.
However, two years after the beginning of the program, Mr Delpeuch[35] resigned, "citing the failure of the French government to address properly the wine crisis in Bordeaux."
Delpeuch told journalists assembled at the Bordeaux Press Club "I refuse to countenance this continual putting off of decisions which can only end in failure.
"[35] "Delpeuch said he was shocked and disappointed by the failure of his efforts—and by the lack of co-operation from winemakers and négociants themselves—to achieve anything concrete in terms of reforms to the Bordeaux wine industry over the last 24 months.
