Imperial Wines of London’s guide to the history of winemaking within Bordeaux

The region of Bordeaux has produced wines in excess of two thousand years; according to Imperial Wines of London, the actual first vineyards were planted within the 1st century AD, once the Romans conquered the Gaul region as well as wanted to provide their troops with wine. During medieval times, Alienor d’Aquitaine and Holly II married and as a result of this particular union, most of the wine manufactured in Bordeaux was exported. The wine turned out to be exceptionally popular abroad, and also the vineyards expanded to meet increasing demands.

However, the 100 Years’ War put a stop to this exportation until the 17th century, whenever Dutch merchants began to motivate those who owned chateaux in the region to start planting vineyards once more. Through the eighteenth century, Imperial Wines of London say that wine production in the area was back in full golf swing, to the point where the land needed to be divided up into called areas, so that the exact source of the wine could be deciphered. It was throughout the 1800s that the wine brokers within the Bordeaux region developed a taxonomic system, that was based on the market prices the wines from each chateau commanded. The explanation for this, Imperial Wines of London (http://www.imperialwinesoflondon.co.uk/c4video.html) explain, was that the Holding chamber of Commerce in Bordeaux wanted to provide the very best wines from the region in the 1855 Paris Exposition. This was how the well-known 1855 Classification came about, and with this the ranking system of the actual First Growth.

The top wines (premier cru) originated from four chateaux; Haut Brion, Margaux, Latour and Lafite. More than A hundred and fifty years later, Imperial Wines of Londno say that just five red wines from Bordeaux continue to be permitted to use the Premier Great Cru Classe on their labels (the Mouton Rothschild property was the fifth chateau to be put into the list in the 20th century).

These days, many of the vineyards within Bordeaux are still owned by families, and although modern winemaking techniques tend to be more readily embraced nowadays, these people still benefit from traditions of yesteryear. According to Imperial Wines of London, over the years, Bordeaux has become much less reliant on vintage; developments within viniculture and viticulture have allowed wine manufacturers in the area to maintain a consistent high quality of wine, regardless of the weather conditions every year.