Mon dieu! Bordeaux and Burgundy on a budget?
One of the most enduring trade relationships we have within the UK wine industry is with our cousins across the Channel. We have been buying wine from the French for centuries, notably since the marriage of Henry the second and Eleanor of Aquitaine in 1154 when a large chunk of modern-day Bordeaux came with her as a dowry.
According to a report from Statista our love of le vin Français is not diminishing either. The value of our imports from the country grew by ten per cent to £754m in 2019, making France our favourite go-to and beating Italy, the nearest competitor, by £70m. The vast majority of the wine we enjoy comes from the approachable, easy drinking styles produced in the sun-baked southern areas of Languedoc and Roussillon.
For many consumers, French wine continues to hold the reputation of being intimidating. When talking wine with friends or customers, the regions of Bordeaux and Burgundy are often discussed with a mixture of hushed deference. I hear people wrongly describe the wines from these “serious” areas as complicated and only for the “educated” wine drinker; a concept that is mirrored by many restaurateurs listing wines from these regions at the top end of their wine lists.
Why do they hold this view? The most common answer I hear is that they or their customers don’t see themselves as having a sophisticated enough palate to appreciate these types of wine, an observation I find bizarre.
How is this tasting inertia formed? If we take Bordeaux for example, there are options available on the shelves and websites of UK merchants in the retail sweet spot of £8 to £15, so it can’t be price that is the true inhibitor.
In the restaurant supply side of the trade, sales of Bordeaux wines account for a tiny percentage of overall business; less than one percent typically. A point of note, however, is that due to much sought after famous names like Chateau Lafite or Margaux, when people buy Bordeaux or Burgundy the price ticket is often much further up the scale. This phenomenon blinds us to the seven hundred million bottles (on average) of every-day table wine that are produced in Bordeaux each year.
It strikes me that to reduce the intimidating persona of these areas, governing bodies and major producers of the French wine industry need to coalesce around a welcoming strategy where they invite the mainstream drinker back with engaging and accessible labels to entice the everyday wine-lover.
This need not mean that they compromise their style, traditions or quality, they just need to be a little less serious.
Lesser-known French wines to look at for super value:
Bordeaux ‘Cru Bourgeois’:
Chateau Muret 2018 Cru Bourgeois Haut Médoc 2018 from Lea & Sandeman @ £11.99 per bottle
Burgundy “unfashionable” areas:
Viré-Clessé 2018 Louis Latour from Drinks Stop @ £18 per bottle
And a Rhone bonus – Cote du Rhone ‘Village’:
Ségurét, Côtes du Rhône Village 2018 Domaine de l’Amandine from Tanners @ £12.50 per bottle