Bordeaux 2014 Primeurs: AC Bordeaux
Like a good soap opera, the generic Bordeaux appellation presents us with a very diverse collection of characters. There is room here for everyone. Well, almost everyone, as even here in Bordeaux we have at least one domaine where the only option available to the dedicated vignerons who produce the wine, one of Bordeaux’s top whites in my opinion, is the Vin de France category. But that’s hardly surprising when you eschew the somewhat dull Sauvignon-Semillon combo in favour of a quixotic quartet of Sauvignon Gris, Mondeuse Blanche, Savagnin and Gros Manseng.
This penultimate instalment of my 2014 primeurs report therefore looks at all-comers who utilise the most generic of all Bordeaux appellations (with that Vin de France wine tagged on the bottom). This means we have here dry wines from the Sauternes region (many in this neck of the woods would like to see the creation of a new dedicated, high-class appellation), dry whites from the Haut-Médoc, Médoc and associated communes including wines from Château Margaux and Château Cos d’Estournel, white wines from the limestone slopes of St Emilion, Bordeaux Rosé, and some notable reds from vignerons who have dared to look outside their own high-class appellation to work some of the less exalted land just down the road, beyond the appellation boundary.
