“Lying by the water” was what came to the Romans’ minds when they thought of present-day Bordeaux, and so they called the area “Aquitania”. Its capital and port shares its name with the 100,000-hectare wine region of world renown: Bordeaux, or in French Bordelais. In front of and along the Gironde estuary — fed by the Dordogne and Garonne rivers — lie the world-famous wine areas of Médoc, Haut-Médoc and Graves and, on the right bank, the towns of St. Émilion and Pomerol.

Our hearts have beaten for the fine wines of Bordeaux for many years; we have been collecting them for more than 25 years, regularly purchase private collectors’ cellars and concentrate on the great vintages (among them 1982, 1985, 1986, 1989, 1990, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2005, 2009, 2010 and several more) and the top growers.

When you think of Bordeaux as a wine lover, Cabernet Sauvignon inevitably comes to mind. Why does the variety thrive there so particularly well? The climate on the peninsula to the left of the Gironde, the Médoc, is the mildest in all of Bordeaux, and it is precisely here that world-class Cabernet-Sauvignon-based blends flourish. The variety needs exactly these conditions to reach ripeness with any reliability. Pine forests shield the vineyards from the strong Atlantic winds and also moderate summer temperatures. Because it rains a lot so close to the sea, the typical château grows at least three grape varieties to spread the risk: alongside Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc are the usual partners, occasionally also the later-ripening Petit Verdot and Malbec. Voilà!

Depending on the riverbank, Cabernet Sauvignon dominates the blend (Left Bank) or Merlot does (Right Bank). There are of course occasional exceptions, but that is the broad distinction between the two most famous banks of the wine world.