Vendange Press
About the Author
The Back Cover
Contents
The Preface
Sample Pages
The last two decades have seen a
revolution in Bordeaux. Prices for
the top châteaux have climbed into
the stratosphere, but smaller
château owners are going bankrupt.
What Price Bordeaux?
pulls together information
from many sources, including
previously unavailable data from
the internal market in Bordeaux,
to present a unique overview
of the forces making Bordeaux wine
what it is today.
Asking whether the great châteaux
make wines based on unique terroirs
or whether they are merely brands,
how Bordeaux's unusual market system
determines price, why the style
of Bordeaux is changing,
and whether Bordeaux can survive
global warming, this book provides
new insights into the mysteries of
the en primeur system,
the rising influence of oenologues
and critics, and the rise and fall
of individual châteaux.
A running theme is the powerful
effect that the classification
of 1855 continues to have on
both Left and Right Banks,
and the book concludes with
a long-overdue reclassification
of the leading châteaux. Fewer
than half the châteaux retain
their original classification;
several are dropped altogether
and replaced by châteaux
presently classified as Cru Bourgeois
or by second wines of classed growths.
Setting a new standard for wine
writing, Lewin ensures that
Bordeaux will never
be the same again.