Bordeaux is home to many of the world’s most famous wines, Chateaux with famous names like Latour, Mouton-Rothschild, Cheval Blanc and Petrus. Yet, what may be even more famous about Bordeaux is the grapes that come from there. This week we are highlighting some of those grapes and where they grow today!

We’ll start with some white wine, Sauvignon Blanc is the world’s 8th most planted grape, 3rd on the list of white wines. While the grape may not have originated in Bordeaux it has been there for at least 300 years, make minerally wines with bright acidity and a good back bone of citrus. Today, you can find Sauv Blanc all over the world major countries include: France (still the leader in terms of plantings), New Zealand, the US, Australia, Chile, South Africa and plenty of other places. We love the fresh New Zealand style!

Two other white grapes you can find in Bordeaux are Semillon and Ugni Blanc. Semillon is the primary grape used to make the famous dessert wines of Bordeaux, Sauterne and Barsac. Those wines are rich and honeyed with huge aging potential. Ugni Blanc is more widely considered a blending grapes. It is more famous a bit north of Bordeaux in the area of Cognac where it is the primary grape used in producing the spirit.

Now on to the reds. Let’s start with the King, Cabernet Sauvignon. Cab Sauv is the most planted grape in the entire world. In fact, you could plant every inch of Marion, Hamilton and Hendricks county in Cabernet Sauvignon vines and you’d still need another 64,000 acres to plant all of the Cab in the world. France is still the number one country for production, followed by Chile and then the US. The nice thing about Cab is while it does change a bit depending on where it is planted, but keeps most of its identity no matter where it is. Cab is also interesting in both of its parent grapes are also on this list, Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc.

The second most planted grape in the world is also a grape from Bordeaux, this time we are talking about much maligned Merlot. Merlot gets a bad rap, probably do to over plantings in the US back in the 80’s and 90’s. However this delicious grape is great on its own, and is often planted alongside Cabernet Sauvignon and blended with it to help tame some of Cab’s harsher tendencies.

There is a smattering of other red grapes that call Bordeaux home, Cab Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot chief among them. While these grapes are typically just seen as blending grapes in Bordeaux Cab Franc and Malbec in particular have seen wide success elsewhere in the world. Petit Verdot is still a grape that hasn’t quite been elevated to worldwide acclaim yet, but you never know what the future holds for this dark, inky red.

Through the centuries these grapes have come to not only define Bordeaux, but in many ways to define the world of wine as a whole! Whether wanting to start your journey in Bordeaux or elsewhere in the world be sure to stop into Crown Liquors to pick up some of your favorite Bordeaux Varietals!