Rolf Bichsel - Best of Bordeaux

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Everything you always wanted to know about

Bordeaux but were afraid to ask.

With 200 portraits of brands

every wine enthusiast should know.

Rolf Bichsel

Best of

BORDEAUX

200 legendary châteaux and their wines

Knowledge | History | Travel

‘Best of Bordeaux'

A publication by VINUM, Europe's wine magazine

©

November 2016, first edition, Intervinum AG, ZUrich

ISBN Print: 978-3-033-05899-6

ISBN E-Book: 978-3-033-05916-0

AUTHOR

Rolf Bichsel

EDITOR

Roland Köhler

PUBLISHER

Intervinum AG, Zurich

www.vinum.ch

Publishing manager: Nicola Montemarano

Assistant/coordinator: Barbara Schroeder

Marketing: Dana Muñoz

Sales: Peter Heer, Catherine Sereno

Assistant/administration: Manuela Deganello

DESIGN, IMAGES AND PRODUCTION

Cover image and graphics concept: Marco Bräm

Translation: Hancock-Hutton, Bordeaux

Photos: Vinmedia, Bordeaux

Production: Hans Graf

This document is protected by copyright.

All copyright and publishing rights for this publication, in whole or in part, are reserved.

Any use or exploitation of this in whole or in part, in particular translation, reprinting, duplication, microfilming,

storage and use on optical or electronic data carriers, requires written permission from the publishers. Use of this

document shall in principle generate a payment liability. Violations are subject to the sanctions of copyright law.

The content of this issue has been carefully checked. However, the authors, editors and publishers accept no

responsibility for its accuracy.

Legal notice

New NOMOS watches for premieres, podiums, and parties:

such as Tangente neomatik nachtblau, depicted here. Find this

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!Bon appétit+ with Bordeaux.

Bordeaux wines are a delight. Discover fine wines from our extensive range of Bordeaux

and en primeur wines, suitable for red meat or hearty dishes. You can find additional wine

recommendations at mondovino.ch .Coop does not sell wine to young people under age

18. Available at large Coop supermarkets and at coopathome.chand mondovino.ch

Our wine experts recommend:

Pessac-Léognan Grand Vin

Château Haut-Bergey

2011, 75 cl

33.95

(10 cl = 4.53)

Les Tourelles de Longueville

2 e Vin du Château Pichon

Baron 2012, 75cl

39.50

(10 cl = 5.27)

Saint-Emilion Grand Cru

Château La Tour Figeac

2012, 75 cl

38.95

(10 cl = 5.19)

7

Foreword

I ran aground in Bordeaux in 1986 as a pia-

nist in a jazz club, and stayed on. I wanted

to keep tinkling the ivories and ended up do-

ing so, just di

ff

erently to how I imagined. Be-

cause life sometimes takes us in unexpected

directions, I became a wine writer and my

new home became my subject matter. Ever

since, I have tasted hundreds of great Bor-

deaux wines every year, with a degree of

shame as wine is not designed to be spat

out. Bordeaux has changed radically over these past 30 years. There is no other

region producing such quantities of such stylish wines. Bordeaux has an unfor-

tunate reputation for producing rare luxury products, but in reality the peak has

become much broader, and even so-called lesser vintages offer wines which are

outstanding in terms of both price and style. There are hundreds of good Bor-

deaux wines, only a few of which are expensive objects of speculation. On my

first en primeur tour, there were barely a dozen tasters trying 120 wines. Today,

several thousand Bordeaux palates (or aspiring palates) taste up to a thousand

wine samples over the course of a week without any guilty conscience what-

soever. There is also a downside to the sheer quantity of interesting Bordeaux.

Whilst people who knew a couple of dozen labels and three top vintages could

once call themselves connoisseurs, now it takes a university degree. This book is

an (insu

ffi

cient) attempt to turn the tide. I have tried – with all the compromises

and inconsistencies such an undertaking entails – to reduce the top Bordeaux

wines everyone should know to 200 brands. This is the best overview I can of-

fer of my world of fine Bordeaux, whilst also including a few other lesser-known

estates as representatives of the many others. All of this is based on my own

experience: I make no claim to objectivity when it comes to wine.

I originally wanted to reduce the historical notes about the estates to a couple

of lines which could be read anywhere. When compiling the first portraits, I was

tearing my hair out wondering whether I was repeating the error of cheerfully

repeating all of the commonly held misconceptions ever published, but my

Bernese stubbornness required a di