Bordeaux Wine Guide: Grapes, Appellations & Producers

Médoc (Left Bank)

Cabernet Sauvignon

Soil: Deep gravel banks that drain and warm — perfect for late-ripening Cabernet.
Style: Structured, tannic, cassis-and-cedar reds built to age decades.
Top sites: 1855 classed growths: Pauillac, St-Julien, Margaux. Firsts: Lafite, Latour, Margaux, Mouton.
Vintages: 2005, 2009, 2010, 2015, 2016
Producers

Tip · Left Bank = Cabernet-dominant. The 1855 Classification still largely holds.

Value pick

Château Sociando-Mallet (Haut-Médoc) · ~$45

A Cru-Bourgeois-level château with classed-growth ageing potential — a perennial insider value.

Collector pick

Château Léoville Las Cases (St-Julien) · ~$250 · 2016

A 'super-second' that rivals the first growths — a cornerstone of any Bordeaux cellar.

Graves & Pessac-Léognan

Both colours

Soil: Gravel ('graves') south of the city of Bordeaux.
Style: Serious smoky reds and benchmark dry whites (Sauvignon/Sémillon).
Top sites: Pessac-Léognan holds the best estates; Château Haut-Brion.
Vintages: 2009, 2010, 2015, 2016, 2019
Producers: Domaine de Chevalier

Tip · Haut-Brion is the only non-Médoc red in the 1855 First Growths.

Value pick

Château Les Carmes Haut-Brion (2nd wine) · ~$40

Serious Pessac fruit from a rising estate, well below its grand neighbours.

Collector pick

Château Haut-Brion · ~$700 · 2015

A First Growth and the only one in Pessac — profound, ageless and endlessly collectible.

Sauternes & Barsac

Noble-sweet whites

Soil: Where the cool Ciron meets the Garonne — autumn mists breed noble rot.
Style: Lusciously sweet, honeyed, botrytised whites that age for generations.
Top sites: Château d'Yquem stands alone as 'Premier Cru Supérieur'.
Vintages: 2001, 2009, 2011, 2015, 2016
Producers: Château Climens

Tip · Botrytis ('noble rot') concentrates sugar. Yquem's yield can be a glass per vine.

Value pick

Château Coutet (Barsac) · ~$45

A 1855 classed Barsac — botrytised brilliance near Yquem for a small fraction of the price (half-bottle).

Collector pick

Château d'Yquem · ~$400 · 2015

The greatest sweet wine in the world — practically immortal and the ultimate collectible (375ml).

St-Émilion & Pomerol

Right Bank · Merlot

Soil: Clay and limestone — cool, water-retaining, suits early-ripening Merlot.
Style: Plush, rounder, plummy reds; Pomerol the most opulent.
Top sites: St-Émilion has its own classification; Pomerol has none but hides Pétrus.
Vintages: 2009, 2010, 2015, 2016, 2018
Producers

Tip · Right Bank = Merlot-dominant. Pomerol has no classification, yet Pétrus is priceless.

Value pick

Château Moulin Saint-Georges (St-Émilion) · ~$45

Owned by the family behind iconic Ausone — plush Right-Bank Merlot at a relative steal.

Collector pick

Château Lafleur (Pomerol) · ~$1,500 · 2016

A tiny-production Pomerol that rivals Pétrus — one of the world's most collectible Merlot-based reds.

Entre-deux-Mers

Between two rivers

Soil: Rolling clay-limestone between the Garonne and Dordogne.
Style: Mostly crisp, affordable dry whites; everyday Bordeaux.
Top sites: No classed growths — the region's value heartland.
Vintages: 2016, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022
Producers: Many co-ops & small châteaux

Tip · 'Between two seas' really means between two tidal rivers.

Value pick

Château Bonnet Réserve (André Lurton) · ~$15

The benchmark crisp white of the zone — clean, citrusy, brilliantly cheap house wine.

Collector pick

Château Bonnet (older library vintage) · ~$25 · 2010

Even this everyday white has a serious side — a fun, low-stakes cellar curiosity.