When many of us hear the word Bordeaux, our minds instantly leap to the grand, super expensive red wines: powerful, cassis-scented Cabernet blends from the Left Bank and plush, velvety Merlot-dominated reds from the Right. And while it’s normal to put our attention on these, let’s not forget that almost 10% of Bordeaux’s vineyard area is dedicated to sparkling, white, rosé and sweet wines: a delicious quartet of styles that bring freshness, versatility and a touch of surprise to the table. Let’s lift the claret curtain and step into Bordeaux’s other wine worlds.
SPARKLING WINE: Crémant de Bordeaux
Crémant is well and truly front of mind with winelovers these days and since 1990, Bordeaux has boasted its own official version. Crémant de Bordeaux is made using the same time consuming ‘traditional method’ as Champagne (secondary fermentation in bottle to create fizz, lees ageing for texture and complexity), although usually with the local grapes so they offer something delightful different from Champagne and other Crémants from around France. The sparkling wines are superb with oysters (Bordeaux’s own Arcachon Bay produces some of the best), smoked salmon blinis, or even fish and chips for a Franco-British mash-up.
Grapes for Crémant
White Crémant blends lean on waxy Sémillon, zesty Sauvignon Blanc and aromatic Muscadelle, which are also the key grapes for the famous whites and sweet wines. Classic versions offer bright citrus notes with green apple and the odd chalky, pastry-like note from lees ageing. Rosé versions often use Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec and Petit Verdot - all quite hefty red grapes, so these sparkling pinks bring the structure and a very different, more floral and leafy profile with strawberry and redcurrant notes. Alcohol levels hover around 12%, making them both food-friendly and dangerously drinkable.
STILL, DRY, WHITE BORDEAUX
Whites make up a modest share of Bordeaux production (about 8%) but they span an impressive spectrum of styles. The grapes are almost always blends of Sauvignon Blanc (bringing citrusy zest, grassy verve, and acid lift) and Sémillon (adding body, texture and honeyed notes with age), sometimes scented by grapey, floral Muscadelle or other permitted grapes.
At their simplest, wines labelled ‘Bordeaux Blanc’ are typically un-oaked and meant for youthful drinking, with classic notes of lime zest, gooseberry and grapefruit. As you go up the price and quality scale, oak is often introduced both for the alcoholic fermentation and for ageing. Wine is also often kept on its lees for longer (the dead yeast cells left from alcoholic fermentation), which add some creamy texture and savoury, nutty complexity. This white style is Bordeaux’s quiet ace, appealing to Sauvignon Blanc lovers but with extra layers, thanks to Sémillon’s waxy generosity. In youth, they offer a smoky, tropical fruit style with richer flavours of lemon curd, baked pear and beeswax and with age, they can develop lanolin, nut and truffle notes; a revelation for those who only know Bordeaux’s reds.
White Bordeaux Food Pairing
Zesty, youthful versions shine with goat’s cheese, sushi or summer salads. The weightier, oak-aged bottles are glorious with roast chicken, creamy fish dishes or even lobster in butter sauce. Yum!
BORDEAUX ROSÉ (Two Key Styles)
Rosé has been made in Bordeaux for centuries and the grapes used for it are the classic red varieties: Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot. Straight Bordeaux Rosé is typically fresh, light and fruit-driven, with notes of strawberry, redcurrant, grapefruit and sometimes a salty nip. This is your picnic and terrace wine so think grilled vegetables, charcuterie or even tomato salads.There’s another historical style of rosé that’s having a renaissance in Bordeaux however and it’s a great one to know: Clairet.
What is Clairet?
Clairet sits halfway between rosé and red wine. It’s fuller-bodied and dry, with more colour, grippiness and juicy cherry and plum notes. It’s made from the region’s usual red grapes as mentioned above but with a slightly longer skin maceration than straight rosé, so the colour is deeper - more vivid raspberry rather than pale salmon. Clairet comes into its own with grilled burgers or lamb skewers, bridging the gap where red might feel too heavy but rosé is too light.
Fun Fact! When Bordeaux wine got famous after being exported to England in the Middle Ages, it was actually this darker rosé style that people were drinking, not the plush, full reds. They called it Clairet too, which is why us Brits to this day still refer to any red wine from Bordeaux as ‘Claret’. Oh the irony that it was more like rosé!
SWEET BORDEAUX
If Crémant is the life of the party and rosé the summer flirt, then Bordeaux’s sweet wines are the aristocrats: golden, unctuous and commanding reverence.The most famous appellations are Sauternes and Barsac, but there’s a family of others (Cadillac, Loupiac, Sainte-Croix-du-Mont, Cérons…) offering more affordable alternatives.
The Grapes & Process
As for the dry whites and Crémant blanc, grapes used are primarily Sémillon with Sauvignon Blanc and Muscadelle. The magic for sweet wines however lies in the ‘noble rot’ fungus (Botrytis cinerea), which shrivels the grapes, concentrating sugars and flavour and adding a specific, nutty marzipan-like quality. Harvesting is painstaking, often requiring multiple passes through the vineyard to pick individual botrytised berries at perfect ripeness. These unctuous golden wines taste of acacia honey, apricot, candied citrus peel, saffron, quince and almond, always lifted by zesty acidity so the wines never feel cloying. The best examples are capable of ageing for decades, developing nutty, caramelised complexity. Drink a chilled glass of these with blue cheese and foie gras as a classic combination but with delicately spiced Asian cuisine, the pairing is off the charts! Tarte tatin and fried chicken too are excellent food partners.
Together, sparkling, white, rosé and sweet Bordeaux wines remind us that this region is not a monolith of rouge. They’re versatile at the table, relatively affordable and brimming with character. More importantly, they tell the story of a region that has never stopped experimenting, adapting and broadening its appeal, so next time you think of Bordeaux, try some of these. They might just surprise you - and possibly even steal the show!
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