Why is Bordeaux Wine So Famous and Expensive? - All Wine Tours (2024)

When we hear “Bordeaux” the image of something very luxurious and expensive comes to our mind.

Of course, this is only a myth. There are about 10,000 wine producers all around the city of Bordeaux and not all of them produce luxurious and expensive wine.The vast majority of Bordeaux wines are affordable.

My corner supermarket in Bordeaux sells local wines for 5 to 12 euros per bottle with sales tax. These wines come from everywhere around Bordeaux, many of them bottled by larger cooperatives and wine merchants from bulk.

Are Bordeaux wines the most expensive in France? No, the Burgundy producers are at the top of the price list. Domaine de la Romanee Conti and La Tache are famous for being the most expensive. How about a whopping $20,510 per bottle of the infamous DRC?

Recently though Bordeaux set a new record, getting ahead with the Graves’ Liber Pater created by Loic Pasquet. His wines are becoming the most expensive in France at over $34,000 per bottle for the 2015 vintage, of which he produced only 500 bottles.

Pasquet is unique in Bordeaux as he specializes in indigenous grapes from ungrafted vines and viticultural techniques from the 19th century.

Imagine tasting Bordeaux wines as if it was made in 1855? The demand justifies this price, as there are American, Russian, and Chinese buyers who appreciate this uniqueness.

I visited Loic Pasquet at his small cellar in the garage. He and his Russian wife are a hard-working family facing many struggles of regular winemakers including frost, diseases, and envious neighbors.

Older vintages of Liber Pater are not as expensive but still come with quite a price tag. For example, 2009 and 2007 vintages retail “affordable prices” of approximately $4,500 per bottle.

There are two types of wines in Bordeaux: fine luxury wine and everyday regular Bordeaux.

What makes the expensive Bordeaux wines sell at cosmic prices?

1. Prestige and exclusivity

Even though, as opposed to Liber Pater, Petrus and Chateau Le Pin use traditional grape varieties such as Merlot and Cabernet Franc, and common winemaking techniques, prices for their better vintages are expressed in thousands of dollars.

What makes them so expensive?

The more recent Petrus vintages of 2015 and 2016 were given 100 out of 100 Parker points. These outstanding wines command retailprices of approximately $3,400 per bottle. You may expect to pay even more for older exceptional vintages. Forlesser vintages, the price falls to $470–$670 a bottle.

Needless to say, the wines are of excellent quality, however, it is the fame of the wine that is responsible for the price. The brand value was mostly formed in the 20th century. In 1947, the bottles were served at the banquet to celebrate the marriage of QueenElisabeth II.In the 1960s, when President John Kennedy said that Petrus was his favorite wine, the label became a status symbol in the US.

Later in the 1980s, Robert Parker, one of the most influential wine critics gave his 100 points to Petrus, and the wines produced in Pomerol, prices of all wines from the region increased.

These famed vineyards were not big enough to satisfy the growing demand from wealthy buyers of France,the United States, the UK, Germany, Belgium, and Hong Kong.Petrus produces only 30,000 bottles of wine per year on only 11.5 hectares (28.4 acres). Chateau Le Pin is tiny with only a 2.7-hectare vineyard.

Other wineries mostly in the Medoc area on theleftbank, have been famous from at least the 18th century. American Presidents John Adams and ThomasJeffersonappreciated Bordeaux wine.

In February of 1787, President Jefferson during his service as Ambassador to France,visitedChateau d’Yquem,ChateauCarbonneau, and Chateau Haut-Brionand left notes about the quality of wines he tasted in Bordeaux.

In 1855, the best wineries ofthe Bordeaux Left Bank were classified and ranked by price. This formed the Official 1855 Bordeaux Classification that stillstands today. The 60 wineries classified in the middle of the 19th century are the most regarded in the Medoc area and the most expensive to this date.

Besides the wine’s undeniable quality, It is the long-standing reputation, centuries of winemaking experience, and exclusivity that attract wine lovers.

A collection of Petrus at a Saint-Emilion merchant.

2. Exceptional ‘terroir’

Winemakers often make remarks that it is the quality of the crop and not the winemaking techniques that make wine good. Wine quality begins with suitable soils.

‘Terroir’ identifies a natural environment in which a particular wine is produced, including factors such as the soil, topography, and climate.

In other words, the soils and the weather conditions of a particular plot of vineyards can be unique and produce wines with the best characteristics.

In the case of Petrus, thesoil is a 40-million-year-old blue clay, which contains a lot of reduced iron, retains moisture needed for the successful performance of Merlot, and helps provide more nutrients into the vine. The blue clay soil is scattered over the Right Bank properties, but it is a rare type of soil.

In the Medoc, the most successful terroirs are on small slopes, close to the Garonne river. These soils are rich with gravel brought by the river from the Pyrenees. Gravel retains warmth and helps Cabernet Sauvignon ripen to its perfect maturity.

The terroir of Chateau Mouton Rothschild in Pauillac is described as: “outstanding with well-drained soil and good sun exposure.”

During hundreds of years, the best plots have been owned by today’s top wineries and they rarely change hands. The California phenomena of new wineries popping up on the new plots and becoming successful is very foreign to Bordeaux. Instead, the properties are passed through generations.

Vineyard of Chateau Petrus, Pomerol.