Hi everyone,

this is a post I really am looking forward to share with you.
A while back, in April, I tasted with a jury of Belgian wine professionals a big selection of Bordeaux wines available on the Belgian wine market in the price range of €4 - €20. The selection is published in the press and you can come and taste these wines at the Apéro Vintage de Bordeaux events in Brussels, Ghent, Antwerp and Leuven in September.

Within this selection, we could pick our favorites, the wines that really stood out for us, and call them our “Coup-de-coeur” wines. “Coup-de-coeur is the french word for a crush. I was very proud about the wines I picked ( a white, a rosé and a red wine) and started to get curious : Would my friends or family like these wines as much as I did? What would their remarks be and would they be surprised about the fact that the wines are from Bordeaux?

So I decided to organize a blind battle :
for every coup-de-coeur wine, I tried to find a match : same price range, same grapes and same flavor profile. I let them fill in some tasting notes, asked them about their appreciation and even asked to give the wines a medal like I always do here on my blog. I organized two tasting nights, one at my parents place on a friday night when it was rather hot and humid, and one next sunday at the parents of my girlfriend on a rainy day.

Here are the results

First of all, I started with 2 light rosé wines,

Bordeaux - Le Rosé du Mayne 2011 (Cabernet Sauvignon + Merlot)
vs.
Edoardo Miroglio 2009 from Bulgary (Pinot Noir)

Both wines are very light in style, almost like a white wine, and are made with the acidity up front, and not the fruit.

As a score, the Bordeaux wine got an average score of 57,42% while the Bulgarian wine scored 58,82%. A very close call, but why did the Bordeaux wine got beaten by the other wine?

First of all, the Bordeaux wine has a very high acidity and is really a food wine. Tasting it blind before dinner might not have been the best call.
Secondly, on the rainy day, the second rosé scored better because it is really an autumn kind of wine. It has notes of dried leaves, dried cherry and red fruit, while the rosé from Bordeaux is very high on minerality, acidity and has a punch of strawberry in the end.

I have to say that afterwards, at dinner, the Bordeaux rosé was the preferred wine.

Secondly, I switched to white.

Bordeaux - Lise de Bordeaux 2010 (Sauvignon Blanc + Semillon)
vs.
Woodhouse Estate 2009 from Australia (Sauvignon Blanc + Semillon)

As a score, the Bordeaux white scored 70,75% and the Australian wine scored 54,17%.

Here, everybody was ecstatic about the white Bordeaux, and that’s exactly what I expected. The enormous punch of energy and aroma of a white Bordeaux is nothing compared to the “average” everyday wine from any other region. For a price tag of only €6 a bottle, this Bordeaux blows you away. So folks, the message is clear, try white Bordeaux!

Drink it as an aperitif (entre-deux-mers) or with a salad, or even try some grilled fish or poultry (graves / pessac-leognan). It delivers every time.

For the last round, I paired a

Bordeaux Superieur - Chateau La Croix Lugagnac 2009 (Cabernet Sauvignon + Merlot)
vs.
Telish winery from Bulgary 2009 (Cabernet Sauvignon + Merlot)

This was my closest match, both bottles have the same grapes, the same vintage and come from a region that are both very similar.

As a result, the Bordeaux scored 57,67% while the Bulgarian wine scored 54,67%. Overall, the Bulgarian wine started pleasing everybody with a fruity nose and a very accessible body. But, after a sip or two, the Bordeaux wine started to take over. The structure of the red grapes, the character, the crunchy mouthfeel and the overall freshness made that in the end the red Bordeaux was easier to drink and did a lot better with our food.

What I remember from this tasting was:

• Bordeaux rosé is very structured, light, fresh and does a fantastic job with food. It does not count on fruity almost candy notes, but drives on drinkability. I am sure Bordeaux is a region to look into if you are looking for a good rosé wine.
• Bordeaux white wines for me are amazing. The terroir, together with the aromatics of the Sauvignon Blanc grape, and the fact that a lot of wines are nonetheless oak aged, make up a cocktail of flavor and energy that I have almost never encountered before. One of my biggest wine discoveries so far.
• We all know the expensive red Bordeaux wines. But that’s not what we like to drink. We like wines that are affordable, accessible at a young age, and with a fresh structure to go along with contemporary cuisine. Well, let me tell you that young red Bordeaux wines from regions like Blaye, Bourg, Sainte-Foy, Haut-Médoc, … are doing just that. They are crisp, fun, but still with a certain history behind them that make them interesting and liked by a broad public.

Don’t say that Bordeaux wines are expensive. 3% are, but 97% of the wines are so interesting and accessible that I wouldn’t mind drinking them every day.

I was very sceptical before, but I am really starting to like the region!
Cheers, JDR