EATS // saluté A worldly look at wine
SAINT-ÉMILION CLASSIC WINES
LEFT TO RIGHT M STORY+PHOTOS: MARY ANN DESANTIS
ention Bordeaux and wine drinkers get all gaga… or intimidated. In fact, I can’t think of any wine that has been more daunting for me to purchase. Prices seemed astronomically high and the labels were not much help in letting me know exactly what I was buying.
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And all that talk about left bank versus right bank left me totally perplexed. That is until I actually had a chance to visit the historical city of Bordeaux, long considered the wine capital of the world. My goal was to understand why Bordeaux wines are the standard by which so many other wines are compared. For years, Bordeaux — both
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the wine and the city — were often associated with wine snobbery. People who ordered a glass of Bordeaux seemed to be confident about what they were getting and didn’t mind telling you. The region’s winemakers were not known for flinging open their chateau doors to tourists, either. That has changed, though, as Bordeaux has awakened to a
competitive and international world of wine. The lovely gardens along the Garonne River have replaced the dingy warehouses of years past, and now tourists, local families, lovers, and street musicians frolic in the world’s largest water mirror near the Place de la Bourse. The revitalized historic city center became a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2007, and more and more chateaux are open for tours and tastings. In fact, Bordeaux has become one of France’s most popular tourist destinations, especially for those who want
