6 minute read
5 Questions for Christophe Reboul Salze
Photo courtesy of Christophe Reboul Salze
Interview by Gary Hewitt, DipWSET, CWE, FWS, Sommelier
Christophe Reboul Salze is ideally suited to comment on the recent past, present, and future of the Bordeaux wine region. A career veteran of the Bordeaux wine scene, Christophe founded The Wine Merchant, a highly successful négociant firm that deals primarily in Bordeaux’s classified growths. He sold this firm to new interests in 2017, and rather than retire, Christophe refocussed his attention on his own winegrowing properties in Blaye Côtes de Bordeaux: Château Gigault, Château Belle Coline, and Château Les Grands Marechaux.
1 What are the most significant changes in Bordeaux wine that you have seen over your career?
I made my career in the world of Grands Crus Classés of Bordeaux, and to me, it seems important to differentiate this world from that of the petits châteaux. In fact, the difference between the Grands Crus Classés and the petit châteaux has not stopped growing over the last 50 years. In the 1950s and 60s, a First Growth sold at 12 times the price of a table wine; now it’s about 400 times!
Also, in the 1980s, Bordeaux produced 7 million hectolitres and sold it all. The majority of the Grands Crus Classés did not make a second wine, and the vineyards were not in perfect condition. This did not prevent the grands terroirs from producing marvellous bottles in the great years such as ’82, ’85, ’86, ’89 and ’90. Now, the production is approximately 5 million hectolitres, of which approximately 4 million are sold. The viticulture and winemaking techniques have improved a lot, and the wines of Bordeaux have never been better.
Nevertheless, the very top wines are now part of the world of luxury. This world is popular with négociants and “global agents” because it generates a large turnover. In contrast, the world of petits vins no longer interests the négociants who concentrate on the grands vins and adapt their inventories accordingly.
2 What do you see as strengths (and weaknesses?) of Bordeaux in the competitive wine world of today?
Apart from the quality of many terroirs, one of the strengths of Bordeaux is its capacity to distribute wines around the globe. Major foreign winegrowers recognize this capacity. By offering increasingly large allocations of their wines to the Bordeaux négociants, the Rothschilds’ joint ventures Almaviva and Opus One led the way to a great number of
high-quality foreign winegrowers who now sell their wine through La Place de Bordeaux. This is one of the reasons that the trade is no longer interested in the petits chateaux.
One of the weaknesses of Bordeaux is the constraint of an appellation. Outside of the crus classés, there are noble appellations such as Saint-Émilion, Pomerol, etc., and then there are others such as Côte de Castillon, Côtes de Blaye, etc. These latter appellations are very underestimated, and some of their terroirs are simply magical and superior to others in more noble appellations. Nevertheless, with certain rare exceptions, these winegrowers fail to obtain a fair price for their production even when the quality is exceptional. It is very different for foreign vineyards that do not have such constraints.
3 What are the most exciting trends?
Bordeaux’s conversion to organic wines, and the advent of digital platforms that allow people to compare prices. The Internet has radically changed the covert world of grands vins. Up until the end of the 1990s, only Bordelais négociants had access to the price charged by the château owner or the trade. Only a handful of operators and extremely well-informed amateurs knew the prices. The Internet profoundly altered this landscape, and anyone interested in wine can find a reference price or a journalist’s rating.
4 You ran a successful négociant business selling other people’s wine, but now you have returned to your own winegrowing properties. How do you compare these two sides of the Bordeaux industry?
When you are a négociant, if for some reason the sales are slowing down, you can buy less wine and wait for better times. When you produce wines, even if the sales slow down, you have to go on producing and find out how to sell or store the wines. Both jobs are exciting but production needs to find direct outlets without the help of intermediaries. Production, after all, is at the base of the market, and it is possible in this increasingly digital world that there is less need for intermediaries.
5 Why should today’s wine lovers drink Bordeaux wines?
Bordeaux has a very old tradition in its way of making wines. Yet, it is also the region with the most advanced research, and the majority of global wine consultants are from Bordeaux. I think that Bordeaux knew to successfully marry tradition and state-of-the-art modernism.
Bordeaux has the best to offer, especially if we speak about very well-made wines from the Côtes de Bordeaux and satellite appellations that fight [for recognition of] their quality because they cannot count on [the fame of] their appellation to facilitate sales. Bordeaux’s supply, especially in red wine, is very large and exceeds demand, so all the ingredients combine for a competitive price. The most undervalued appellations are the Côtes de Bordeaux and Fronsac.
A Bordeaux Glossary
Appellation: a defined winegrowing region with regulations regarding permitted grape varieties, yields, and winemaking intended to maintain the regional identity of wines.
Grand Cru Classé: In the Médoc, Grand Cru Classé refers to the 1855 Classification of Médoc and Graves in which the top 60 estates were sorted into five tiers, first to fifth growths, as a promotional ploy for the 1855 Exposition Universelle in Paris.
Grands terroirs: Terroir refers to the sum total of location, climate, and soil expressed through viticultural and winemaking practices. Grands terroirs are the most exceptional examples.
Petits châteaux, literally “little castles,” refers to the thousands of lesser producers of the Médoc outside of the classed growth systems that, sometimes pejoratively, are said to produce petits vins.
Négociants are wine merchants whose role has morphed over time from one primarily involving buying bulk wines, blending under “house” labels, and selling to retail markets to being increasingly involved in purchasing finished wines from named estates and moving these to markets.
La Place de Bordeaux: La Place is not a physical place but the network of négociants and other companies involved in the marketing and distribution of Bordeaux, and increasingly other iconic wines. Historically, many such businesses were located along the waterfront in the centre of the city of Bordeaux.
Second wine: Historically, each château produced a single wine. In recent times, Grand Cru producers, in particular, choose to limit production of their grand vin (i.e., their best possible wine) and to make a second wine from vines or barrels below the grand vin standard. Second wines are often excellent and are always less expensive than the grand vin.
