Wine Score
Grape Variety
Bordeaux Blend
A Bordeaux Blend is a blended red wine that contains only those varieties that are authorized for use in the red wines of the Bordeaux region of France. Bordeaux is the most famous and highly coveted wine blend in the world. Like many wines with a long history, there’s a lot to learn, so we’re here to just cover the basics.
- Red Bordeaux blend is primarily composed of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Cabernet Franc, with smaller portions of Malbec and Petit Verdot.
- White Bordeaux blend is primarily made of Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon, with a splash of Muscadelle in the mix
While there are both red and white Bordeauxs, the name Bordeaux is primarily associated with the red wine blend. Red Bordeaux is a red wine that is always made from blending Cabernet Sauvignon wine and Merlot wine together, though the proportion of each depends on the location of the winery that made the wine.
- Left bank blends : tend to be higher in tannins, alcohol and acidity. They are powerful, rich wines that are said to age a bit better than wines from the Right Bank.
- Right bank blends : tend to be softer, less tannic and lower in alcohol and acidity. Because Merlot is the dominant grape, they are much more juicy and usually ready to be drunk much earlier than Left Bank Bordeauxs, and they’re often less expensive.
Margaux Wine
Margaux’s fame relies on its light and divinely perfumed wines. But consistency has never been Margaux’s strong point, as the vineyards sprawl more widely than those of the other Haut-Medoc communes and over more diverse soils. The best wines hail from the gravel banks that weave through the appellation. The southernmost vineyards produce a rounder but still perfumed style.
Margaux and Cantenac, the village just south of it are considered to make the Medoc’s most polished and fragrant wine. Their historical record says so; and contemporary reality is slowly catching up. There are more second and third growths here than anywhere and a new broom has been sweeping through the southern Medoc.
Margaux Wine Style
Good Margaux beckons with seductive fragrance enriching the Medoc’s trademark blackcurrant and cedarwood perfume with violets and rose petals, roasted nuts and vanilla, plums and hedgerow berries, The body is certainly lighter and more supple than in wines from the communes to the north, yet by no means wanting for intensity or substance.
![Amuse Bouche, Napa Valley [Merlot/Cabernet Franc] 2010](https://www.wineyou.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Amuse-Bouche-Napa-Valley-Merlot-Cabernet-Franc-2010.jpg)