The port city of Bordeaux, including the surrounding region, is the wine capital of the world, as it has been producing superior quality wine since the 8th Century. Home to the world’s biggest Wine Fair, VINEXPO, the city’s economy takes in close to 20 billion Euros each year. But there’s more to the city than just the vintage drink because its historical section is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, cited as “an outstanding urban and architectural ensemble” of the 18th century. However, it cannot be denied that when people think of Bordeaux, they think of wine so, I guess, any tourist attraction in the nearby areas just becomes secondary.
The Bordeaux region is one of the three most famous wine-producing regions in France, the other two being Burgundy and Champagne. But of these three big grape-growing areas, it is only the Bordeaux vineyards that have immediate access to the sea, an advantage that has enabled the region to be France’s leading wine exporter for many centuries. In fact, as early as the 12th Century, it became the main supplier of wine for England. This helped Bordeaux develop far stronger commercial links in the succeeding centuries, firmly establishing its wines in the international market.
The vineyards of Bordeaux surround the city, along the estuary of the Gironde, and the rivers Garonne and Dordogne. They cover a large area which stretches 100 kilometers from north to south and from east to west. What is significant is the fact that one can count with the fingers of one hand the number of families that own these vineyards.
One such owner is the Borie family that traces its origins to as far back as the mid-1800s.
Hardworking brothers Eugene and Emile Borie were very ambitious. They saw a great opportunity in Bordeaux, so they put up a wine distributing company and asked their wives to manage it while they travelled around to develop its intended market. They rented wine cellars and specialized in shipping wine to Normandy and Belgium. The brothers’ business acumen led to the rapid growth of their enterprise.
To ensure high quality wine, the brothers decided to build their own cellars and age their wines themselves. They eventually became the biggest wine producer in the region. Fast forward through several generations later, the family business has merged with Grand Puy Lacoste, a highly successful enterprise originally owned by a member of the Bordeaux Parliament. This business focused on continuously improving the wine’s quality and reputation.
Not too long ago, Manila’s social circles marked a key milestone in the Philippine wine industry because Emeline Borie, the owner of two leading wine estates in Bordeaux, visited our city. Borie’s Chateau Grand Puy Lacoste and Chateau Haut Batailley represent the finest in France’s wine regions under the 1855 Medoc classification which has set the bar for quality and prestige in the wine industry.
Borie represented her family-owned estates which have had love for wine over three generations. She used to handle the public relations tasks for the company, but now leads it with her father, Francois Xavier-Borie. Her Manila visit was made possible by Wine Story, the country’s premiere wine retailer, which aims to raise the bar of wine experience from learning, tasting, buying, collecting and investing.
Wine Story enhances wine culture by enriching appreciation of the finest wines, from the most accessible to the rarest collectibles.
More information on the finest Bordeaux wines in the country may be obtained through info@winestory.com.ph better still, you may want to head off directly to Bordeaux where a visit to any of the vineyards will give you a chance to try their most popular products, for free, over and over and over again. Just be sure you’re not driving when you go back to your hotel.
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YOUR MONDAY CHUCKLE:
A man went to the police station wishing to speak with the burglar who had broken into his house the night before. “You’ll get your chance in court,” said the desk sergeant. “No, no, no!” said the man. “I want to know how he got into the house without waking my wife. I’ve been trying to do that for years!”