A Beginners Guide to Bordeaux Wine Regions!
Bordeaux is one of the most prestigious areas for wine in the world. Here we have compiled our beginners guide to Bordeaux wine and this beautiful region of France!
With beautiful chateaux around every corner and rows of grape vines wherever you drive, you just cannot get away from the immense French wine culture that surrounds this city.
We visited Bordeaux in the summer of 2022, when the sun was at its peak and the vines were bursting with juicy grapes ready to be harvested. Below we have written a beginners guide to the Bordeaux wine region, or ‘appellations’, based on what we learnt and experienced during our time there!
The wine regions
Bordeaux wine is split up into several areas. Here is a very general overview of some well-known areas (for the novices like us out there)…
- Médoc is a terroir on the ‘left bank’ which stretches above Bordeaux. Wineries in Médoc often specialise in Cabernet Sauvignon blends. This area is home to famous estates such as Chateau Margoux.
- Graves is an area located below Bordeaux on the ‘left bank’. In this region you will find wineries that produce a mix of red and white wines.
- Fronsac is a small region on the ‘right bank’ towards the town of Libourne. Close by, you will also find another small region called Pomerol. Both of these regions produce merlot blends.
- Entre-Deux-Mers is the largest wine region in Bordeaux and is home to a mixture of wine blends. Its name means ‘between two seas’ – very well fitting for its location between the Garonne River and the Dordogne River!
- Saint-Émilion, perhaps the most famous of all. It is known for its Merlot blends, and is home to the UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Please note this is just a very brief overview of the wine regions in Bordeaux. These regions can be broken up into smaller appellations, all specialising in a specific blend of wine – there are over 50 appellations in Bordeaux! See this useful map designed by Wine Folly to further understand the Bordeaux wine regions.
Exploring with a guided tour
There are a few different ways you can experience these regions. Our first recommendation is through a guided tour. To book, simply visit a tourism board in Bordeaux city, or to get the perfect guide schedule, search on a site such as GetYourGuide. See which tour we did on our first trip into Wine Country!
WHAT WE DID | This tour will take you to different locations depending on which day you book. On our tour, the lovely and knowledgeable tour leader took us to Entre-Deux-Mers. We visited Chateau de Seguin, producing red wine, and Chateau de Lisennes, a family-owned vineyard. The tour guide at the latter winery was so lovely and passionate about his job! Overall we had a really fun time sampling the blends at these wineries and even took a few bottles home with us.
Exploring by car
If you are feeling more adventurous, why not hire a car and drive yourself! This way, you can choose which regions and chateaux to visit, as well as how long to spend at each location. If you are doing this option then be warned that some chateaux are closed on certain days. Many chateaux also charge per person for wine tasting, so be prepared when you arrive or do some research beforehand.
WHAT WE DID | On our second trip, we wanted more freedom to get ‘lost’ in Wine Country. So, we drove our rental car through Haut-Médoc, Margaux, Saint-Julien and Pauillac. On our journey, we stopped off at Chateau Les Barraillots – a very small and friendly family grower. Chateau la Bridane – where we got a tour of the winery. And Chateau Margaux – a very famous and beautiful chateau in Margaux. But probably our most favourite was Chateau Giscours, which produces the ever so popular Grand Cru wine and had the most beautiful estate to wander around.
Exploring Saint-Émilion
Finally, a trip to Bordeaux would not be complete without a day trip to the stunning Saint-Émilion. In our opinion, everyone who travels to Bordeaux MUST visit Saint-Émilion town. It is such a magnificent, historic place with fantastic architecture. You can drive there yourself, or book onto a guided day trip!
WHAT WE DID | Simply wandering around this town is enough to make your day complete! We grabbed some lunch on the terrace of Les Giron’dines and ate canelés whilst overlooking the market square. Although we didn’t explore any chateaux here, we did pop into one of the many wine shops and treated ourselves to a 2013 Saint-Émilion Grand Cru!
Finally…
However you decide to explore this fantastic area of France, we recommend you visit a mix of larger, grand châteaux, as well as some smaller, family run businesses. This will really give you a true sense of what it is like farming grapes in one of the most popular wine locations in the world.
For more recommendations in Bordeaux, check out our ‘5 Things You MUST DO in Bordeaux’ blog post!
