September 24, 2010

About Wines from Bordeaux

Best wine supplier in Philippines discusses wine related topics

Bordeaux Wine Information

The region of Bordeaux, France is largest region of wine growing in the world. Bordeaux is made up of five main districts – Medoc, St. Emilion, Pomerol, Graves, and Sauternes. While Medoc and the entire region are best known for their reds (“Clarets”), white wines also have their place. Graves creates dry whites, and Sauternes is known for its sweet whites.

When people just say “bordeaux wine”, they typically mean the classic red blend. The red Bordeaux are created with Cabernet Sauvignon, often blended with Cabernet Franc and Merlot. The color tends to be a garnet/ruby shade. The flavor is typically a light one, with blackberry, black fruits, wood, and other notes. A classic Bordeaux is said to have a “cigar box” aroma to it.

Graves, the dry whites, are made by blending mostly Sauvignon Blanc with a small amount of Sauvignon Gris. Sauternes, the sweeter whites, are made with Sémillon, Sauvignon and a drop of Muscadelle.

There are many levels of quality of wine grown in Bordeaux, so for the 1855 Exposition Universelle de Paris (sort of like a World Fair) Napoléon III asked a panel to break the region’s wines down by price (therefore, hopefully, quality as well). These classifications of 1855 were never meant to be an official quality roster.

The classifications were grouped by region within Bordeaux, and remain mostly unchanged even today.

Bordeaux is divided by the Gironde River and Garonne River. To the west, or “left bank”, contains the capital city of Bordeaux. The Left Bank is the more well known of the two banks. It contains Medoc, Graves, Margaux, Pauillac, and Pessac-Léognan.

To the east, or “right bank”, is Pomerol and St-Émilion. In the middle of the two is the Entre-Duex-Mers (between two seas) area.

The first level ratings are listed below; See the classifications of 1855 for the lower level Bordeaux wines.

“First Growths” (Premiers Crus) of Medoc (red) Bordeaux (1855):

• Château Lafite-Rothschild (Pauillac)
• Château Margaux (Margaux)
• Château Latour (Pauillac)
• Château Haut-Brion Pessac (Graves)
  (included because of its greatness)
• Château Mouton-Rothschild (Pauillac)

First Growths (Premiers Crus) Classés of St-Émilion (1985):

• Château Ausone
• Château Cheval Blanc

Sauternes Cru Chart

The St-Émilion classification was added 130 years later than the others. A classification was also done for Graves, but this was only done by red/white type and not by quality.

Legally, the grapes that can be included in a red bordeaux can only come from these varieties:
Cabernet Sauvignon
Merlot
Cabernet Franc
Petit Verdot
Malbec
Carmenere

Source: http://www.wineintro.com/types/bordeaux.html

Clark Wine Center was built in 2003 by Hong Kong-based Yats International Leisure Philippines to become the largest wine shop in Philippines supplying Asia’s wine lovers with fine vintage wines at attractive prices.  Today, this wine shop in Clark Philippines offers over 2000 selections of fine wines from all major wine regions in the world.  As a leading wine supplier in Philippines, Pampanga’s Clark Wine Center offers an incomparable breadth of vintages, wines from back vintages spanning over 50 years.  Clark Wine Center is located in Pampanga Clark Freeport Zone adjacent to Angeles City, just 25 minutes from Subic and 45 minutes from Manila.

Wines from Burgundy, Bordeaux, Rhone, Loire, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Austria, Alsace, USA, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, South Africa, Chile and Argentina etc. are well represented in this Clark Wine Shop.

For more information, email Wine@Yats-International.com or visit http://www.ClarkWineCenter.com

Getting to this wine shop in Pampanga Angeles City Clark Freeport Zone Philippines from Manila

Getting to the Clark Wine Center wine shop from Manila is quite simple:  after entering Clark Freeport from Dau and Angeles City, proceed straight along the main highway M A Roxas. Clark Wine Center is the stand-along white building on the right, at the corner A Bonifacio Ave.  From the Clark International Airport DMIA, ask the taxi to drive towards the entrance of Clark going to Angeles City.  From Mimosa, just proceed towards the exit of Clark and this wine shop is on the opposite side of the main road M A Roxas.