Château de Claribès
It is a sad but undeniable fact that the vast majority of the wine that is produced by the expansive vineyards of Bordeaux is, year-in and year-out, ignominiously ignored by every critic that covers this region. Again and again they – or should I say we, for I most certainly include myself in this opening self-critical salvo – pay our blinkered visits to the great communes of Pauillac, Pessac, Pomerol and the like, disregarding entire (sometimes very large) appellations in the process. The same two hundred-or-so names grab all the glory, whilst other estates in less fashionable zones, where the soils perhaps have less auspicious reputations, can do little more than scrabble for crumbs it seems.
As it stands I have no good reason why this should be, particularly as – looking beyond Bordeaux for a moment – most other wine regions seem to manage a broad portfolio of styles and quality very nicely. The frequently delicious and good value Côtes du Rhônes that are born from the vines on the slopes around France’s second longest river are just as much a part of the valley’s viticulture as more exalted examples of Hermitage and super-cuvées of Châteauneuf du Pape. And in Burgundy, a good grower will be just as valued for his or her generic Bourgogne Rouge as they will be for their panoply of premiers and grands crus, by anyone other than a label-drinker at least. And yet in Bordeaux that doesn’t seem to be so.
