My Gourmet Tours offers you a gourmet walk through time in search of the history of Bordeaux wines
The first Bordeaux wine is not red but clear…
Be careful not to consider Bordeaux-Clairet wine as a rosé wine, you would offend the people of Bordeaux and show that you are not a connoisseur of Bordeaux wines. The Clairet de Bordeaux has a more assertive structure than rosé wines. The difference is made during vinification – 24 hours for rosé wines and 48 hours for Clairet.
Clairet is the oldest of our French wines, the ancestor of our Bordeaux wines, highly appreciated by the English since the Middle Ages. But I want to consider Eleanor of Aquitaine as the first ambassador of this exclusively Bordeaux wine, which she particularly loved. Through her marriage to Henri Plantagenet, who became King of England in 1154, she greatly contributed to the marketing of this wine from Bordeaux to England and thus to Bordeaux’s fortune.
Slightly red in colour, Clairet – “French Claret” for the English – was described in the 15th century as “light, good and commercial”. Originally made from a mixture of white and red grapes and crushed, it is the first known form of wine in the history of wine. The rudimentary means of production of the time gave it a completely different flavour and this particular light colour.
The development of new and more sophisticated winemaking, vatting and maceration techniques contributed to the end of Clairet. Similarly, and under the impulse of the English, a taste break occurred after the 17th century in favour of darker and thicker Bordeaux red wines. Wines that “stain” with a higher alcohol content and colour.
Today, and since the early 1970s, several dozen producers have resumed the production of this traditional wine from our Bordeaux terroir made of clay, limestone, gravel and sand. About 700 hectares of vines from the Médoc, Graves, Entre-deux-mers, Sauternes, Libourne and Blaye-bourg are used to produce Clairet.
To know: Clairet has the French AOC (Appellation d’Origine Controlée) and the European AOP (Appellation d’Origine Protégée) labels and can therefore only be produced in Gironde from Bordeaux grape varieties: Merlot, Cabernet-Franc, Cabernet-Sauvignon, Carmenère and Petit Verdot.
It has become a true appellation now called “Appellation BORDEAUX CLAIRET contrôlée” and enjoys a true worldwide reputation. More supple in the mouth and less lively than rosé, it has a good ageing potential but is most often drunk young and in all seasons.
The best way to taste this Bordeaux wine
With its raspberry, strawberry and violet flavours, Clairet de Bordeaux goes perfectly with country meals and other summer picnics. To enjoy the tasting of Clairet, serve it chilled (10/12°C) and with friends as an aperitif. A friendly wine by nature, it has the advantage of harmoniously accompanying all dishes, including grilled meats and seafood. Then discover the famous Bordeaux entrecote inevitably accompanied by its candied or grilled shallots with a glass of this exclusive Bordeaux wine and you would be at the heart of the pure tradition of Bordeaux gastronomy.
Don’t look for a great vintage! Hurry up and enjoy the Clairet within 3 years it will be perfect!
The ideal menu with Clairet de Bordeaux
A dozen oysters from the bay of Arcachon or Marennes in Charente Maritime
A Bordeaux-style rib steak with its wine and shallots sauce and fried cèpes
Rocamadour goat cheese and an Iraty Ossau of sheep
A Bordeaux canelé with a scoop of Périgord walnut ice cream
And don’t forget the wise words of one of the best ambassadors of our Bordeaux wines, Charles Louis de Secondat, Baron of La Brède and Montesquieu, political thinker and philosopher born in La Brède near Bordeaux and producer of Bordeaux wines in the Médoc: “the air, the grapes, the wines of the Garonne and the mood of the Gascons are excellent antidotes to melancholy”.
My Gourmet Tours agree 120% with these words and assures you that its Bordeaux walking food tours that make you discover Bordeaux on foot while tasting its best specialities are also good antidotes to melancholy!
So don’t delay to experience one of our unique and luxury Food and Wine tours