All language subtitles for V.is.for.Vino.S04E06.Bordeaux.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DD+2.0.H.264-playWEB

Bienvenue à Bordeaux.

Quite possibly the most
famous wine region on the planet,

welcome to Bordeaux, France.

If this is new territory
for you, get excited.

Bordeaux has been the gold standard

in the world of winemaking for centuries.

The mere mention of it conjures
images of grand châteaus

with even grander reputations.

But if you think you do
know Bordeaux, think again.

Yes, this region has some
of the most prestigious

and expensive wines ever sold,

but that's only part of the story here.

We're gonna meet an entirely
new generation of winemakers,

a generation that's making wines

in every style and price imaginable.

From fun sparkling rosés'
and reds for any weeknight,

to more serious whites
and famed wines for dessert.

There's a Bordeaux wine for every occasion.

Your dad's precious Bordeaux
collection may be impressive,

but it's time to get to know
all that Bordeaux has to offer.

Welcome to Bordeaux, and
welcome to "V is for Vino."

While there are flight
options directly to Bordeaux,

I opted to fly into
Paris and hop on a train

for a little more adventure.

Normally, it takes about 5 1/2 hours

to drive between the two cities.

But by bullet train,
we're faced with only two.

Gotta love Europe!

Bordeaux is both a city and a wine region

about 310 miles from
Paris in southwest France.

The good soil in this region,

along with its access to the
Atlantic via the Garonne River,

makes it ideal for wine growing.

So much so, that there's
actually evidence of wine

being grown here as far
back as the 1st century AD.

Bordeaux's first big break

wasn't until the 12th century though

when a royal marriage
solidified England's ownership

of Bordeaux for over 300 years.

This allowed England
to import Bordeaux wine

and promote it across the globe.

The next big push for
Bordeaux came from the Dutch

in the 16th century.

During this time, the
entire left bank of the river

was unusable swamp and marsh.

So the Dutch used their
technology to drain the land

in order to transport wine easier,

and simultaneously opened
up that whole side of the river

for wine growing.

If you know Bordeaux,
you know that this area,

now called the Médoc,

is where some of the most famed
wines in Bordeaux come from.

By the late 1600s, some of
the châteaus we know today

were starting to gain reputations.

People weren't asking for
just any ol' Bordeaux wine.

They wanted their favorite producers.

By the 1700s, the boundaries
for these specific AOCs,

or appellations, were being drawn.

By the 1800s, Bordeaux
was pretty well-known,

but it was nothing
compared to the grand stage

they're about to be on.

See, in 1855, something happened

that changed the wine
world and Bordeaux forever,

but we're gonna save that
story till we're in the city.

Worth it, right?

Alright, so the 1855 classification

is one of those instances in history

when a seemingly small event
has enormous, unexpected,

long-term ramifications.

It all started as a simple
request from King Napoleon III.

In 1855, Napoleon III decided to throw

his own sort of world's fair in Paris,

called a Universal Exposition.

One of the things he
wanted to show the world

was just how amazing French wine was.

Easy enough, right?

So he asked the Bordeaux
Chamber of Commerce

to come up with a list of the best châteaus

to present at the event.

They weren't thrilled at the task.

It'd be like if you were told
to go rank your children.

Sounds impossible, but
they did it nevertheless.

The Bordeaux Chamber of
Commerce proceeded to rank

61 châteaus into 5 different categories,

based on the price wines
were currently selling at.

The wines that were
selling at the highest price

were called first growths,
and then second growths,

et cetera, down to fifth growths.

The list included only a small
fraction of Bordeaux wines.

Almost all of them were
in the Médoc region,

which is just one part of Bordeaux,

and almost all of them were red.

And most importantly,
no one intended this list

to be used past Napoleon's
Universal Exposition.

Never mind have it be the
end all be all of lists forever.

In fact, it was written almost entirely

on the back of an
envelope, but the list stuck.

And nearly two centuries later,

the 1855 classification
still affects the pricing

and reputation of a lot of wines.

Many on the list have
now become collector wines

and are sold at auctions
for thousands of dollars,

or even as futures,

which are wines that are
sold even before release.

I've had the opportunity
to try a lot of these cru,

or top of the list, wines.

And listen, they're all great wines,

but the classification of 1855

is by no means a comprehensive list

of all that Bordeaux has to offer.

In the same year, Sauternes and Barsac

made a classification as well.

Eventually, the right bank also wanted

their own classifications.

So they wrote the St.
Émilion Classification in 1955.

And everyone was at it,
Graves wanted one too.

They wrote their own classification in 1953

and once again in 1959.

Then there's the more modern
producer-made classifications,

the Cru Bourgeois and the Cru Artisan.

You also have a whole bunch of areas

with no classifications whatsoever,

like Pomerol, or Enter-Deux-Mers.

Add to these lists

all of the different
appellations there are,

and it's no wonder why
some people are intimidated

when they first learn about Bordeaux wines.

But here's the good news!

You don't have to worry about
any of these classifications

if you don't want to.

Because if we've learned
anything from our history lesson,

it's that being on a list
may sound important,

but it doesn't necessarily mean that much.

All of Bordeaux, classified
or not, makes great wine.

And, unlike some regions
where you need to spend

an arm and a leg to just
get your foot in the door,

really good Bordeaux wines can be had

at all different price points
and in all different styles.

If you wanna spend hundreds of dollars

on a special occasion
wine from a famous château,

great, you can do it.

But just know that classified growths

are only 2% of Bordeaux wines.

90% of wine here is under $50 a bottle.

Plus, Bordeaux produces
600-900 million bottles per year.

That is a ton of amazing
wine at a solid price point.

To put that in perspective,
the entire Napa Valley

makes around 120 million bottles per year.

And despite its bold reputation,

Bordeaux makes a lot
more than just red wine.

There's incredible whites,
rosés, dessert wines,

and even sparklers.

This means that whatever the time or place,

there's a high quality,
affordable Bordeaux wine

ready to be had.

Bordeaux is one of the most
loved French cities around.

It's relaxed, laid back, and livable.

There's so much to see and do,

especially for wine lovers.

So I needed a guide to
help me comb through it all.

This is Alex.

He's a teacher at the

L'Ecole De Vin Wine school in Bordeaux,

and just generally one of the most

knowledgeable gentlemen I
know when it comes to the region.

So this is downtown Bordeaux?

This center, yeah, the
historic center of Bordeaux.

So you are not French
as I can clearly tell.

Where are you from?

I'm from Scotland. - Okay.

Hence the outrageous accent.

Yeah.

And what brought you here?

Originally, I studied to be a translator.

Came to Bordeaux to translate video games,

a lot of things.

Best job ever for a little while.

Then I kind of got into wine

just through being in Bordeaux.

Okay, so you just came and said...

You never left basically.

Yeah, I'm the tourist who never left.

That's pretty much me.

What was it that drew you here

and said, "All right, this is the place

where I'm gonna actually stay long-term"?

Just love the city.

Just a nice place, it was easy.

Bordeaux feels quite small.

It's human size.

It's not a massive place.

Barcelona can be quite intimidating

or London quite intimidating,

but Bordeaux is really friendly.

It is kind of the perfect big small town,

but the at the same
time, it is a huge region.

There's enough to explore to keep you busy

for decades. - Oh, for sure.

It's massive.

As soon as you go and see the center

and you start actually
looking at the vineyards

and the reach of Bordeaux as
an appellation, it's enormous.

What's cool is that
it's not one direction.

It's literally every direction you go,

you will be in wine country. - Absolutely.

And Bordeaux is kind of the epicenter

or the heartbeat of it.

There's always new things happening,

the new generation of winemakers.

There's always new
things, new bars opening,

new events happening.

From a wine perspective,

when you say, okay, it's modern

and it's also got this tradition,

I mean, when I think of Bordeaux wine

and when you study it,
you study the big houses,

you study the classification,

but that's not the whole story.

No, not at all.

When you first look at Bordeaux,

you see all the big names,

you see the Grand Cru like you said.

But the Grand Cru is maybe
5% of the châteaus in Bordeaux,

maybe. - Wow.

So for me, the important
thing is to try and find things

outside of the classification,

find new things, find different things.

There's always someone
trying something new,

a new variety, a new aging system,

new things in biodynamics to trying...

There's a lot of testing going on.

Very cool.

So we're heading now to the L'Ecole.

We're gonna to the L'Ecole
de Vin, so the wine school,

which is just over there.

Okay, this is L'Ecole De Vin.

And what classes are taught here?

Loads of different ones.

Blending workshops,
basic level tasting classes,

cheese and wine pairing.

Chocolate and wine is one of the new ones.

The cocktail workshops,

sort of making cocktails with
the white wines of Bordeaux.

This is where you work, you teach,

but it's also a wine bar.

Yes, so this is the downstairs part.

This is the bar a vin, wine bar.

All these wines
that are in these bar

are kind of subsidized rather.

Yeah.

So that you can come in as out of towner

and try some wines that would be

maybe be inaccessible otherwise.

It's not a profit organization.

They're not trying to make money.

It's not a wine bar in the
true sense of the word.

So you can have... Look,
we've got a 2016 Pomerol,

the most expensive wine, at eight euros.

Some of these are two or three euro.

Yeah, you can come in

have a glass of Crémant for like 3 Euros.

Yeah, I mean I love Europe.

Bordeaux is just is Bordeaux.

There's other regions that
maybe have similar soil,

but there's something
so distinct about Bordeaux

that is I think I think part history,

party terroir, part tradition.

You were talking earlier
about the wines in California.

Those more stereotype
wines, the fruit bombs.

Bordeaux tends to be a little bit earthier,

be a little bit more gritty
perhaps, old school.

All right, so what's our next
stop on our Bordeaux tour?

We'll go ahead to the Citeé du Vin.

What is that? - The wine museum.

Wine museum? - Yeah.

I've never heard of a wine museum.

Well, you're about to.

To get to our very high tech museum,

we decided to take some
very low tech transpiration.

Biking has always been bigger
in Europe than in the states,

and the bike lanes
are really well designed.

They usually have a separate curb

so you're nowhere near the cars,

and digital rentable bikes
are available everywhere.

I love seeing cities on bike,

because its the perfect medium

between zipping by too
fast to see the sights in a car

and taking too long
to get there by walking.

And Bordeaux is just large enough

where biking in beneficial,

but small enough to where
it doesn't take too long

to get from a to b.

We arrived at the Cité du
Vin, the museum of wine.

The building alone is
an architectural wonder,

meant to look like wine
pouring into a decanter.

Once inside, you pick up your digital key,

which looks a bit like a phone,

that unlocks all the exhibits.

The first thing you're greeted with

is a panorama of wine
regions from all over the world.

But that was just the start.

Okay, so I got my phone.

Tap? - Yep.

All right, it opens up.

It tells you the climate.

This is so cool.

And then I say I wanna hear from her.

This is great.

She comes and tells you.

This is kinda like what I
always try to do in the show.

It's like virtual
tasting, virtual visiting.

It's kinda matrix-y, isn't it?

Yeah.

This is cool. You can touch everything.

All the exhibits are interactive,

and I have no idea how they
gathered this much information.

Globes that tell you what
grapes are grown where,

in what percentages, how many
wineries there are, and more.

A walkthrough on the
worlds history of wine.

Details on every single grape,

its profile, what it looks like.

This shows you the shape
of the grape, the vine leaves.

Yep.

The winemaking process from start to finish

in giant yeast strains.

Giant touchable wine bottles
detailing the styles of wine.

I guess I don't know what I
expected when I came in here,

but it was not this.

This is so cool.

I moved through virtual ancient worlds,

talked with master sommeliers.

And my favorite part?

Smelling recreated wine aromas.

Where was this when I
was studying for my exam.

For exams, yeah. - Yeah, where was this?

This is crazy.

But they're similar, same.

How did they do this?

I wish I knew.

This is mind-blowing.

This might be my favorite part so far.

There's a killer wine shop,

a top floor with views of
the city and tasting bar,

a library, and I'm sure
other things I missed.

There's just so much in here.

I can't think of a better
city than Bordeaux

to host this museum.

A place that's been so
iconic to the wine world

should be the place
that houses its history.

I've experienced a handful
of wine regions at this point,

but always on foot.

So why not switch it up?

Like, all the way up.

Adventure Vince was excited at the chance

to see Bordeaux from way up in the sky,

albeit in a tiny, little plane.

Oh, and then there's motion sickness Vince,

and well, he was gonna
have to suck it up for a bit.

Château Venus is a winery,

but also offers several different tours

of Bordeaux from the sky.

In 2005, we started the winery.

And a couple of years after,

we decided to start flights.

Because when you fly,
you see the different place

I will see Graves,
Sauternes, Entre-Deux-Mers.

You can see the whole region.

Oh yes, all the region,
the river, the village,

Grand Cru Classé also.

Five years after, we have five planes.

Oh you have five planes now.

And we fly every day.

Very cool.

And so now anybody can
come and take the tour with you.

Everybody.

We have kids flights.

We have fantastic flights, short, long,

depends on what you want to see.

Are we ready to go up?

Yes, we are ready.

All right, let's do it.

I strapped in, buckled up,
and prepared for takeoff.

Once we we were up, you
really could see the region.

The maps I studied for so many years,

all laid out in front of me in real life.

While I'm getting my
overhead tour of the region,

allow me to give you yours.

Bordeaux runs along the 45th parallel,

which is known as one of the great

winemaking lines of latitude in the world.

This parallel also runs through
parts of the Rhône Valley,

Piedmont, and Willamette Valley in Oregon.

The largest AOC in Bordeaux is simply that,

the Bordeaux AOC.

For the base level of the Bordeaux AOC,

the grape can come from
anywhere in Bordeaux

and the rules are pretty minimal.

There's also a bunch of sub categories,

but just know that this
level has the most flexibility.

The next level is Bordeaux Supérieur.

These wines also can come
from anywhere in Bordeaux,

but they have stricter requirements

for the grapes and aging.

Okay, now let's get
into the real fun stuff,

the commune AOCs.

Here at the top level,
there are fairly strict

geographic and quality controls in place.

There are two main parts to Bordeaux,

the left bank and the right bank.

If you only take one thing
from this entire conversation,

remember this.

Places in the left bank,
or the left side of the river,

make Cabernet Sauvignon based blends,

and places in the right bank
make Merlot based blends.

Got it?

Good.

Now while there are 65
different AOCs in Bordeaux,

there's a few worth calling out.

The left bank is most
well known for the Médoc,

Haut-Médoc, and Graves.

Within these AOC's you'll find

the five most famous communes

that produce all of the
wines we talked about

earlier in the 1855 classification.

On the right bank, you have equally famous

Merlot producing communes,
Pomerol and St. Émilion.

Where the river splits

is the aptly named Entre-deux-mers,

which means between two tides,

and is known for its dry white wines

from Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon Blends.

You have Sauternes and Barsac,

famous for their botrytis white
dessert wines from Sémillon.

And finally, you've got the
laid back Côtes de Bourg

which are five appellations
spread across the region

that produce all colors and styles.

If a wine happens to have
a classification of some sort,

it's in addition to these
location-based AOCs.

Let's do a few examples with
actual examples with bottles.

Check out this label - the
château name is the producer.

Haut-Médoc is the AOC,

or the place where the wine was made.

Since we know Haut-Médoc
is on the left bank,

we know this is a Cabernet
Sauvignon based blend.

The Cru Bourgeois is
a special classification

awarded in addition to
the commune designation.

Let's do another.

The producer is the château.

St. Émilion is the place.

And since we know its on the right bank,

it's a Merlot based blend

with more specific quality controls.

And Grand Cru Classe
is a classification awarded

in addition to the commune designation.

The more labels you see,
the more it makes sense.

There are a bunch of smaller
communes all over Bordeaux

that have plenty of
great value wines as well.

You might have to do some googling at first

to learn their names, but that's okay.

I do it too.

Alright, I'd say it's
time to get back on land

and somewhere I'm a
little more comfortable.

A pleasure. Thank you very, very much.

That was awesome.

It's cool.

Right up the road from
my airplane landing zone

was an often overlooked part of Bordeaux

compared the famous left and right bank.

This area between the two major rivers

of the Garonne and the Dordogne

is home to a lot of the
hidden gems of the region.

Sainte Croix du Mont, Loupiac,
Cadillac, Entre deux Mers.

Here's where you'll find
famous Sauternes houses,

walled villages with cobblestone streets,

fossilized oysters walls
from the ancient seabeds,

and a lot of fantastic
wineries, like Château Biac.

Situated in Cadillac right
along the Garrone river,

it's unique location has some advantages,

as I was about to find out.

Plus, I was told the family that owned it

was Lebanese like me,

and they promised me
dinner was in the works.

How could I turn that down?

You guys could've
picked maybe a better spot.

No, it's terrible.

My parents were looking
for a place to retire.

It was either Lebanon or here

because we had fallen in love
and made lots of friends here.

And every time they look for property,

they were like, "Okay,
we need to find something,

but the rule of thumb is no vines

and definitely no wine production."

- Oh that was the rule.
- That was the rule.

And Every time they would...
That obviously panned out.

Yeah, exactly.

So they were looking for a property.

And every time they looked, it was nice,

but it wasn't this.

And well, here we are.

Now when you
say there are great soils here,

what does that mean?

We're quite lucky because we have

soils from Saint-Émilion,
so the right bank.

We have soils from the
Médoc, which is the left bank.

So you're kind of
the best of both worlds,

which probably allowed you to do

a lot of different styles of wine.

We do a dry white, red, and sweet.

Okay.

And that's down to the
particularity of the property.

So the Garonne River,
you see it comes towards us,

and then it curves around.

Okay, and thousands of
years ago, this was under water.

This was all under water.

This was all under water,
but it always curved here.

This is a natural bend.

So what happened was
as the river slows down,

the deposits start to change.

Because as it slows down,
the lighter deposit sink.

And as it accelerates out

on the other side, on the curve,

what happens is all the
gravel gets pushed along.

Here's a good example.

He says looking for dirt.

So as you can see, this is sandy clay.

Okay? There's no gravel in here.

Yep, and this is your
quintessential right bank soil.

Exactly.

What's super weird

is we're literally just
going to cross this road,

so that's what four meters, five meters,

you got gravel. - And you can see it.

Look at it. - You just got it here.

Yeah, you can see it in the ground.

I know you may not be a soil nerd,

but come on, that's really cool, right?

A few more minutes chatting with Gabriel,

and it was time to head down for a tasting.

- Cheers to you.
- Thank you for having me, first off.

Cheers. - Thank you, thank you.

You're most welcome.

Felicie is made of very much
a bit like a Burgundian wine,

oak barrels and on the lees.

White Bordeaux is so unique

because so many of them
are doing it in this style,

so you get the beautiful
acidity from Sauvignon Blanc,

but you get this richness
that you just don't get with

some of the super crisp
high acid steel Sauv Blanc.

The sub soils are very
rich in seashells and fossils.

When you get that saline minerality-

That's right. - The chalk minerality.

It's the first thing and it's
the focus to me of the wine.

I talk mineral first,

and then I'm looking for the fruit after,

and that's what's fun.

What we try to do in Biac with our wines

is focus on the personality,
the character of the vintage.

So the parents are the vineyard

and the children are the vintages.

Okay, I love that.

And the children all look alike,

and they look like their parents,

but they're all different.

So every year there could be a new child,

and every year there's a new vintage.

That's a busy mother every year.

Yeah, mother nature.

Now '14, I put it in

because, unusually, we
have a lot of Petit Verdot

in the '14.

It is there to reveal the other flavors,

not to kill the other flavors.

Thank you.

I get a beautiful floral
component right away,

like violets.

Very much so.

Good backbone, good structure.

And what is nice about this,

as opposed to places like Burgundy

that are stuck with
whatever the year gives them

in that one grape,

you have the flexibility
of blending the way that

can maybe assist in...

I always say good winemakers
make good wine in poor years.

If you trust the winemaker
and you trust the producer,

that's where I say to put your heart.

So now we're going to go, finally,

to the sweet wines.

So again it's... But...
sorry, I'm already so happy.

Every year we've been able to produce

botrytis based sweet wine.

And botrytis happens naturally.

Botrytis actually happens
because of the river.

The Sauternes, and
Barsac, and all those regions

is because, in the summer, late summer,

you get a mist that comes from the river,

and it favors the conditions
for botrytis to grow.

Dried figs, dried apricot, marmalade.

Almost like smoke character.

And this with, oh my,

with the foie grass. - With the foie gras.

It's like the ultimate...
This is one of the ultimate

I'd say top five parings on the planet.

As we finished our wines,

Youmna and Gabriel threw
some vines in a wheelbarrow,

the vintner's version of coals on the fire.

They grilled up some
kofta, made some fattoush,

Lebanese dishes that made me feel at home.

An American boy eating
Lebanese food in France,

with some French,
some Italians, and a Scott.

Who'd've thought?

The big deal in Bordeaux is blending,

and that's how most wines here are made,

by blending different grapes together.

100% varietal wines are pretty uncommon.

There are five grapes
used in Bordeaux red wines,

and each lends a different
characteristic to the wine.

They allows each winemaker
to have a unique style

by blending the way
that fits their personality,

like a painter does with a color palette.

As far as flavors go, red
Bordeaux to me is super distinct.

The soil lends to a
dusty, graphite minerality

that's really unique to Bordeaux.

I haven't found it elsewhere,

and personally, it's my
favorite part of the wine.

It's fruit character is usually

in black currant and plum land,

and violets and herbs are common as well.

You even get a lot of oak
aging with red Bordeaux

which provides cedar and chocolate,

or sometimes cappuccino notes.

So how do we compare
the two sides of Bordeaux?

I like to say it's similar

to golden retrievers versus Labradors,

both dogs, both very similar,

but different enough that you probably have

a preference between the two.

The left bank vs right bank comparison

is also similar to Napa versus Sonoma.

The left bank is a bit more famed,

the estates a bit more grand,

while the right bank
is a little more rugged,

there's a lot more space,

and the wineries feel more like farms.

Let's start with the left bank,

which remember, are our
Cabernet Sauvignon based blends.

The reason it's Cab Sauv
is because the left bank

has well draining, gravely soils

that the grape tends to like better.

These blends are typically at
least 60% Cabernet Sauvignon,

with Merlot playing second fiddle,

and Cabernet Franc,
Malbec, and Petit Verdot

rounding out the back.

These wines are known
for being tannic and powerful,

capable of aging for
decades in the right vintages.

The right bank has clay soils,

which lends itself better to Merlot.

In fact, Bordeaux as a whole makes about

twice as much Merlot than
it does cabernet sauvignon,

even though Cab Sauv tends
to get more of the spotlight.

Right bank blends are usually Merlot based

with some Cabernet Franc.

They're known to be a bit
more feminine and softer,

as the tannin structure is a bit lower

and the fruit character a bit higher.

Because of this, they're usually
more approachable younger.

If you were hoping for
something other than red,

you're in luck.

Because an increasing amount
of wine coming out of Bordeaux

is sparkling, rosé, white, and dessert.

However, there are two
historic types of wines

worth paying special attention too,

the first being Bordeaux white blends.

These are white wines made from blending

Sémillon and Sauvignon Blanc.

And fun fact, Sauvignon Blanc
is originally from Bordeaux.

These blends are the perfect combo

of fresh, fruity, and acidic.

You get that fresh acidity
from the Sauvignon Blanc

that's rounded out by the
smooth, honeyed Sémillon.

Think lemon-lime, chamomile, lemon curd,

grapefruit, wet rocks, and honey.

Finally, there's no way we
can't talk about Bordeaux's

world famous dessert wines,

many of which come from Sauternes.

These are still Sémillon based,

but are affected by
Botrytis, a type of fungus,

that removes the water content of grapes

on the vine while leaving the sugar,

and thus producing super sweet wine.

The wines taste like honey, ginger,

orange marmalade, and
beeswax, all in one delicious bottle.

They're honestly a life
changing wine experience,

and should be on every wino's bucket list.

Markets are great, aren't they?

And French markets, even better.

So I jumped at the opportunity

to meet my new friend Basaline at one,

and grab some ingredients
for our upcoming lunch

that she was hosting.

And of course, take some time

to indulge my obsession
with French pastries.

All right, so we're heading over here.

Yeah, sure. - Great.

Get some bread here.

Would you fancy a
croissant for your breakfast?

I probably do.

No, I didn't eat breakfast.

What is that one with
the, the kinda long one?

This is chocolate with it?

Anybody want a pastry?

Pastry, anybody want?

Okay, okay, enough with the pastries.

We had real food to buy.

I see the mussels.

Wow, look at that.

We should stop here.

Yeah, we should go for mussels.

I make a very nice mussel soup.

Okay, perfect.

It's a family recipe,

so I'll give you my tricks on that one.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll take the secrets.

What else would you like to eat?

Sardines could be a good-

Let's do the sardines.

I love sardines.

You love sardines? - Love sardines.

Okay.

Perfect. Yeah.

Those on the grill I think would be good.

Do we need to get one of these?

Yeah.

It's a lot of garlic. I love it.

The marketing was a dizzying
array of meats, produce,

cheeses, breads, live chickens,

some man with a hat selling vanilla beans,

and the most robust spice
monger I've ever seen.

The colors and scents drawing us in

and eventually spitting us out for un café,

as one finds themselves
often doing in France.

I used the opportunity
to chat with Basaline

about a group of winemakers she's a part of

called Bordeaux Oxygène.

The name's to challenge the stereotype

of traditional stuffy Bordeaux château,

and focus on the younger
generation of wine producers

and wine consumers.

Tell me about the Bordeaux Oxygène.

What is that? How did it get started?

Bordeaux Oxygène started
in 2005, so 16 years ago.

We were willing to give another image

of the producer producing Bordeaux,

not just a big château with the fancy style

which looks unapproachable.

Sure, sure.

And we think our wines
are very approachable,

not in terms only of taste.

But also in terms of price.

Our wines are not only for old people also,

but we want to touch
also younger population

and younger consumers.

Sure.

As we spoke, members of Bordeaux Oxygène

were on their way to Basaline's house,

so we needed to head
home and start prepping lunch.

With our ingredients in hand,

we headed to Basline's home and winery,

Château Mont Pérat, to prepare our lunch.

First off, can you say
hashtag kitchen goals?

This range was gorgeous,
the fireplace in the kitchen,

a separate room with sinks

to keep dirty dishes out of sight,

and most importantly, the dining table

smack dab in the middle of the space

so the cooking and eating
experience merges into one.

We had a lot to prepare,

so we needed some help,
which luckily wasn't too far behind,

a few other members of Bordeaux Oxygène.

Basaline's brother Thibault
lit up the fireplace with vines,

and handled the grilled sardines.

I cleaned mussels and made dough,

and worked the room
with a glass of wine in hand.

The sisters Marie and Sylvie

took over the finishing
of the cold mussel soup

and baking of a fresh tomato tart.

And besides being ringleader,

Basaline took charge of the most handsome

piece of veal I've ever seen.

She chopped tons of
garlic, veal fat, and parsley,

and threw it in the
oven to finishing cooking

while we sat down for our
first courses and our wine.

Okay, even the head.

You eat everything. - Everything.

The entire sardine.

So good.

And this is your wine.

Yeah, Sauvignon Blanc,
Sauvignon Gris and Sémillon.

Barrel fermented.

Why I live white
Bordeaux so much is 'cause

this nice blend of high
acid crisp Sauvignon Blanc.

Round it with the Seémillon,
round with the lees,

round it with the barrel.

And so you still get a fresh wine

that has some weight and some complexity.

But we know with the global warming,

we tend to have less acidity.

It's harder.

And it's harder to keep the freshness,

so we have to pick very early.

We have to be ready end of August.

You say end of August.

What did it used to be when you picked?

Oh, it used to be...

My grandfather I think
started picking the grapes

at the end of September.

A month. - The white varieties.

A month later. - Yeah, a month.

In two generation.

I was telling my dad,
our dad is in Brazil,

"Oh, dad, we finished the harvest

on the 24th of September."

And he said, "49 years
ago, we started the harvest

on the 24th of September

because it was the
birth of our older brother."

Okay.

- He knows that day.
- He remembers quite well.

Yeah, my mother complained
'cause he was celebrating

with the nice young
girls picking the grape.

I want to know more
about Bordeaux Oxygene

and why it was started.

It was more about promoting our wines

in a more modern style.

Not to stay behind the
table pouring our wines.

It's less about the style about the wine,

and it's more about
saying... It's more about

communicating. - Hey, not every winery here

- is a giant château... Yeah, exactly.
- With a bunch of

maybe investment or a bunch of old money.

There are other types of wineries here.

Yeah.

And in this group, you have
very, very well-known château,

but the owner is still very humble.

It's just that sometimes

maybe Bordeaux has the image of being

intimidating a little bit

that you have to know a lot with Bordeaux,

which is absolutely not the case.

And so the idea was to show
that real people behind wines.

It's not only about the
big châteaus and stuff,

and go after the consumers, and say,

"Hey, we like you guys. Come on."

Winemakers are fans as well, right?

We had our mussel soup, served chilled,

which was really unique.

It was mussels, shallot, espelette,

parsley, chive, and olive oil.

Then we popped our red

and served up the most
perfectly cooked veal.

Oh my god, the veal.

It's so good, with the
garlic and the parsley.

It's perfect.

You have to like fat, huh.

It's one of the condition.

Is your wine too?

Yes, 2016.

Naujan, Naujan is the
name of the village here.

Okay.

Yeah, it's Merlot, two
different types of Merlot

and a bit of Cab Franc in there.

The wine is pretty, aromatic
on the nose, delicious,

kind of flowers.

It's giving a little iron
a little bit on the nose.

I like it because it is earthy.

I mean it smells terroir very much I think.

Between Château Biac,
Château Venus, and now here,

I was starting to get a better
sense for the real Bordeaux.

There are literally thousands
of wine producers here,

and the bulk of them look like this,

family wineries making
great, unpretentious wine

that they themselves are
happy to sit around the table

and enjoy on any given occasion.

Cheers, everybody, before we forget.

Thank you so much for hosting me.

This is absolutely incredible.

I'm honored to be here.

St. Émilion has a special
place in wine lovers' hearts.

Wine has been produced
in this historic region

since the Roman times.

And while it only represents

about 6% of Bordeaux wine production,

its impact on the wine
world has been far larger.

Some of the Merlot based
wines from St. Émilion

have achieved icon status.

Their Chateaus ingrained
in the memories and dreams

of somms across the world.

The medieval town of St. Émilion

in the center of the region
boasts its own history.

In the 8th century, a monk named Émilion,

who would eventually be the towns namesake,

arrived and his followers followed.

Eventually, church's
were built in his honor,

including the famous
monolithic church of St. Émilion.

I say built, but it was
actually mostly excavated.

It's the largest underground
church in Europe,

carved out of the rock in the 12th century.

I'd never seen anything like it,

because there's not too
many things like it on the planet.

If you combine the church

with the hilly cobblestone streets,

restaurants, ancient
wash stations, and abbeys,

and abundance of wine shops,

you've got a town that's absolutely worth

a stop on your trip.

As we've learned, when it comes to wine,

Bordeaux is all about the blend.

But who's doing all this blending

and how do they make those choices?

To find that out,

I headed to Château
Cormeil Figeac in St. Émilion,

one of the many female-owned

and operated Châteaus in Bordeaux,

to meet with Coraline Moreaud

and take a special masterclass in blending.

It's my great grandparents

who bought the first hectares in 1940.

At the time it was war,
when you owned land,

a good reason not to go to war.

You could say, "I
have to tend to my land."

Exactly.

And then each generation bought more land,

and now we have 25 hectares,

which is a good size in St. Émilion.

There's something I
would like to show you here.

Sure.

Right here. - Okay.

Tree, you see?

We are growing some trees in our vineyard.

Here in St. Émilion, we are growing

vines, vines, vines for
hundreds, thousands of years.

We have been doing that,

and so now the soil has become poor.

By growing trees, we
want to favor biodiversity

and attract animals, insects, birds

to create a network, a life network.

Why does St. Émilion
has this kind of reputation.

I learn about wine, you learn,
oh, the wines of St. Émilion.

Why do you think that is?

There's a few answers.

Some people will say, ah, it's the terroir.

Nothing can beat the
terroir in St. Émilion.

It's so special, the soil.

Others will say, well, it's because

St. Émilion was very
well located in terms of

being able to ship very easily the wine

because we have a river.

We have Bordeaux, which is close,

and that is how the
reputation of St. Émilion grew.

Everywhere we've been I think

has been a third or
fourth generation business.

Yes, yes.

And so there's still the
passion for the winemaking.

It's not just a money-making venture.

I hope you make some money,

but everybody has passion here.

Yes, yes, yes, yes.

You have one, two,
three, four, five samples.

Okay. - Samples.

And so we are going to fill four of them

with different wines from our production.

And the fifth sample,
it will be your blend.

My blend.

If you remember, the
traditional right bank blend

is Merlot and Cabernet Franc,

but the blending process
isn't quite that simple.

We grabbed four different
wines, plain Merlot,

plain Cabernet Franc,
Merlot aged in new oak,

and Merlot aged in used oak.

Perfect. All right.

So let's try this on its own.

Very fruity. - Very fruity.

Lots of fruit and alcohol.

Yep.

That's all there is in this glass.

And this is quite a simple smell.

It's nice, but it's simple.

And if somebody tells me,
"Oh, your wine is simple."

Not so good. - Not so good.

So that's why we blend. - Exactly.

'Cause if we gave them just this,

okay, this is fine, I can
drink it, but you know...

Yeah, yeah.

Good tannin structure.

Yeah.

It's a young wine.

So tannins are very... Strong.

Strong when the wine is young.

Next, cabernet franc.

More fresh.

More fresh. - Yeah.

Absolutely, absolutely,
as in freshness, lift maybe.

We'll start with the new barrel.

I mean wildly different.

You are drinking a
completely different wine.

You start to get some of those,

those baking spice notes that we like.

Yes, yes.

We have our used oak.

And just as I would expect.

It's kind of in between the two we have.

You've added some of the
softening with the oxygen,

but not quite as much
as the flavor of the oak.

So in most of our wines,

we do 70% Merlot, 30% Cabernet Franc.

Okay, that's a good
amount of Cabernet Franc.

Well, now it's your call.

Okay.

Very nice.

So if I was starting, I
would probably start with...

We have our Cab Franc,

and we know we're gonna put, like you said,

maybe about 25, 30%.

I like the used barrel Merlot.

I thought that that was very, very close to

what I would want anyway.

Okay.

Why don't I try just that first?

I'm gonna try just Cabernet
Franc and used barrel.

I'm gonna see where that is.

Good idea.

That being said, you're the expert,

so where would you go from there?

We say, okay, we tried this.

What do you think it's lacking?

Maybe more barrel, maybe more new barrel.

More new
barrel, a little more spice.

I like barrels very much.

Okay.

After a bit of experimentation,

I got something I was
proud to slap the V is for Vino

stamp of approval on.

I think I'm locking it in.

Final answer. - Okay.

I even got to bottle it
up, cork it, and label it.

And by the way, if you visit,

she offers this as a class,
so you can do this too.

Very, very, very fun.

I've never done anything like this,

so thank you very much.

You guys gotta try my blend.

I think there's a little left.

I always say the French were
The Beatles of the wine world.

Almost everyone was
influenced by their techniques

and most can agree that
the same goes for cooking.

So if there's a place I'd wanna brush up

on my culinary skills, it's France.

Lucky for me I had Chef Olivier Straehli.

I gave Olivier a hell of a task.

I needed five dishes for five winemakers

who each brought a different style of wine.

He not only delivered
some great modern twists

on classic dishes,

but he brought some unexpected surprises

to the table as well.

So I kind of gave you a challenge.

I said, "Here's the wines were gonna do."

It was all over the map.

I accept the challenge.

And you accepted the
challenge like an Iron Chef.

Our first winemaker was Pauline Dufour

who brought her Sauternes
from Château Simon.

I'll show you something very surprising,

Sauternes wine.

So it's very unique
because we make this wine

with a special fungus called noble rot.

You have only five villages

where we can produce this
wine because of this micro-climate.

We pick up the grapes
only with this fungus,

with this botrytis.

And so everything is done by hand.

It's very, very aromatic wine.

Yeah, and it... Try, you know.

I always get such a smile on my face

when I smell these wines

because they are so beautifully aromatic,

candied, honeyed, orange marmalade.

Sometimes you might even get gingers.

Just really amazing.

Yeah, you have the spiciness,
you have the exotic fruit,

the freshness at the same time.

You have pit and flower.

It wouldn't have been my first instinct,

but chef claimed the oyster

was a good pair with the Sauternes,

so I took his word for it.

So the sweet is way toned back.

Oh and the finish is crazy.

You know what it is, it's the salty sweet.

The same thing you get when you do

any sort of salt sweet dessert,

salted caramel or something like that.

Sometimes contrasting
flavors are a great wine pairing.

The sweet, fruity Sauternes

mixed with the savory, salty oyster

is a yin and yang pairing that enhances

both the wine and the food.

All right, time for our white Bordeaux

with Julia from Château de Parenchère.

What are we tasting?

So what are we tasting? Bordeaux Blanc.

It's a dry white.

Sec means dry.

Great.

So it's produced from our estate

at the very east part of Bordeaux.

First, you have the citrus from Sauvignon

and the freshness,

and the Seémillon is
here to give some honey,

a bit of texture in the mouth,

some roundness that we
like, wines that we just dry.

We want it to have some texture.

And the Muscadelle on
the nose, white flower.

Yeah, very floral,

and I get the honey on the nose too.

Of course it has to go
with the food, so it's great.

I see what you're cooking now.

Yeah, I know, that's really good.

While we were busy chatting,

chef made a raw shrimp tartar

with olive oil, lemon zest, chive, radish,

topped with caviar,

and then he made this
beat jelly with agar-agar

to put on top.

All right, let me try it out.

The shrimp has a really,

almost like a creaminess to it.

It's really, really lovely.

And then the lime zest
kinda brightens it up,

and then the salinity from the caviar.

It's perfect.

Raw shrimp are actually
really rich and oily.

So the acid in the lime works well

to cut the fat in the shrimp and olive oil.

It also works well with the salty caviar.

The lemon notes in the lime

bring out the citrus in the dish,

and the medium body dish matches the weight

of the medium bodied wine.

All right, chef, we have...

I think the rosé is coming next.

Yes, the rosé is very
good with charcuterie.

Okay. - Okay.

And in Bordeaux, you have a specialty.

It's called grenier médocain.

Okay, I'll never remember that.

Yeah, I know. It's French.

I cannot translate in English.

I mix this and I make a.

Oh, and fry it. - And fry it.

Great, love it.

And me, I prepare the sauce.

It's called sauce gribiche.

Okay. - This is very, very French.

We're using a lot of French words.

As I tried to produce
French culinary terms,

just in time was Anna from
Château Gabachot with her rosé.

He's throwing a lot of terms to me.

Maybe you can help out

because you are a native English speaker.

Yeah, and I was just thinking

those are really
difficult words for me too.

So what brought you to Bordeaux?

I was an exchange student
after high school in Belgium,

and I really fell in love with Europe.

I met my husband who happens to

own and run a family
winery in the Bordeaux region.

Oh great, okay.

So it was love that you brought to France.

Yeah, it was love.

And you were bringing a rosé

which I think when
everybody thinks of Bordeaux,

they probably think of everything by rosé,

which is really cool

because I know that they're
making more and more of it.

So where is this wine from?

This wine is from the
Entre-Deux-Mers wine region,

which is very much the
heart of Bordeaux wine region.

Our rosé is done with saignée method.

Citrus and fresh strawberries.

Oh yeah, fresh strawberries.

Yeah, a lot of red fruits.

Chef made the gribiche sauce

with shallot, pickle, capers, fresh herbs,

olive oil, mustard, and vinegar.

Then he pureed the
charcuterie, formed it in little balls,

battered it, and fried it up.

Oh yeah.

It's really good.

It's great with the rosé.

I mean it's perfect 'cause
this rosé that we just had,

it's kind of a versatile pairing wine.

The acidity in the rosé
matched the acid from the sauce,

cut through the fat of
the fried charcuterie,

paired with the salt,

and the wine also matched
the weight of the dish.

This looks gorgeous.

This is duck.

Yes, it's duck.

Strawberries. - Strawberries.

And tomatoes.

Okay. - Okay.

Just to show you, this
is all piment d'espelette.

Okay. - You can smell it.

It almost smell a little like musty.

And obviously this is another one.

This is new. - This is new.

Open it and say it to me.

Oh wow.

Completely different.

This is much more tomato and fresh,

and this is, yeah, musty.

Chef tips number 192, keep
your spices fresh, people.

Okay, next up was Christophe
from Château Plaisance

with his Merlot blend.

Today we drink

my wine, the Côtes de Bourg.

Côtes de Bourg.

Now where is Côtes de Bourg?

It's in the north of Bordeaux,
just front of Margaux.

Merlot 60%, 30% Cabernet
Sauvignon, and 10% Malbec.

Plumy, black cherry. - Yes.

Really, really lovely.

A little bit kinda smokey spice

and the tannin structure
is there, but it's kinda soft,

and I think that's
pretty typical of Merlot.

Seared duck breast.

Seasoned with espelette,

garnished with tomato and strawberry,

topped with foie gras.

Does it get any better than this?

All right, you can eat.

Beautiful.

You could've just gone
with duck, but the French.

You put the foie in there.

It's awesome.

Oh my god, this is good. - It's good?

Really good.

The red fruit notes in the wine

complemented the strawberry and tomato.

And the tannin in the
wine loves the fatty duck.

Last but not least was my friend Roman

from Chateau de Lissenes.

This is a Crèmant de
Bordeaux which is traditional.

So this one, it will be a
Sémillon, Muscadelle,

and Cabernet Franc.

Sémillon, Muscadelle, Cabernet Franc.

Yes.

That is super unique
for a sparkling wine.

Very refreshing, but at the
same time very aromatic wine.

The first thing I get is
beautiful floral aromatics,

white peach, strong fruit character.

Absolutely.

Chef, what are you
making to go with this?

Dessert was really unique.

Chef took fresh fruit like
watermelon, UFO peaches,

cherries, basil, and a
fresh spice called mago

that was citrus, floral, and mentholy,

to help bring out all the
fresh flavors in the crémant.

Then he made a cocktail dessert.

Super unexpected.

Oh, it's good like that actually

'cause you get a little bit of...

The crew and I had to give it up.

Chef knocked it out of the park.

We head out to the yard to
enjoy each others company,

and share the wine together.

The diversity of the day was noticeable.

Different wine styles,

winemakers from France, the US, Russia.

And it always puts a smile on my face

when the show gives people an excuse

to gather and drink wine together.

The Garonne River,

it's what started it all
in all here in Bordeaux.

The ease of transport, the irrigation,

the soils the it provided.

If the downtown is the heart of this region

and the wineries provide the lifeblood,

its the arteries of river
that connects the two.

So it seemed like a good place
to end my Bordeaux journey.

This region still has its past.

They know why they
have the reputation they do,

and the respect that.

But it feels like the people here

have no intention of
resting on their laurels.

The people I talked
to feel a responsibility

to do something new,

make a name for themselves,

reach the next generation of consumers,

and improve upon family legacies.

You know the French have
a reputation of being cold,

unwelcoming to foreigners.

Hopefully you've now seen what I've seen.

That couldn't be further from the truth.

It was the French who invented hospitality,

turned kindness to others from a hobby

into an industry and an art form.

So its no wonder I always
feel at home in France.

All that to say if you can
make the trip to Bordeaux, do it,

because I think you'll get
a bit that feeling as well.

I hope you enjoyed Bordeaux,

and we'll see you next
time on "V is for Vino."