The French Menu Cookbook: The Food and Wine of France - Season by Delicious Season. Richard Olney

      Musigny is the first growth in the community of Chambolle-Musigny (the village having added to its own name that of its first growth, as have Gevrey and Vosne). As the label describes the firm only as négociants, it is understood that the wine has been bought from a winegrower whose vines are in the climat of Musigny, and “raised” and put into bottles in the négociant’s cellars.

      Far to the north in Burgundy, midway between the Côte d’Or and Champagne, Chablis (which pro duces four categories of wine: Grand cru, Premier cru, Chablis—with no modifier—and Petit Chablis), makes dry, nutty white wines of great quality. They are not flamboyant and they need to be known intimately to be appreciated at their true value.

      BORDEAUX

      There is an endless and foolish quarrel between Burgundy and Bordeaux enthusiasts. It would seem that for many people it is impossible to love the one without detesting the other. Clichés concerning the opposing characters of the one and the other abound. It is claimed that Burgundy wines are “sensual” and beloved by brash youth, whereas the wines of Bordeaux are “intellectual” and that the wisdom that comes only with age is essential to an understanding of their full beauty. Mostly foolishness, of course, although in a general way I think that one might claim for the wines of Bordeaux—in particular for the reds of Graves and Médoc—that they are drier and more reserved in personality (though never sardonic).

      Bordeaux age more slowly than Burgundies and live longer, a Burgundy being most often perfect to drink when it is from four to ten years of age, whereas the great Bordeaux attain their maximum qualities between the ages of ten to twenty. This is all approximate, and both count many exceptions (I have drunk forty-year-old Burgundies that were at the height of their glory and five- or six-year-old Bordeaux whose decline had already set in).

      Bordeaux wines often suffer in the judgment of the uninitiated because they are drunk too young. The great red wines of Bordeaux, and in particular those of Graves and Médoc, have an extremely high tannic content, which renders them harsh and often unpleasant in their youth. The greater the château (the “first growths” start out each year’s production of wine in new oaken kegs, supplementing the wine’s natural tannin with that of the wood), and the better the year, the more tannic the wine. It is precisely this tannin that forms, in a manner of speaking, the structural support for the body of the wine, and permits it to age elegantly without collapsing, while at the same time the harshness of the tannin disappears, and the tannin itself, in part, withdraws into the sediment that is found in old wines.

      The outlying regions of the Bordelais number among the largest wine-producing areas in France. Most make good table wines and many benefit from special Appeliations Contrôlées.

      The great Bordeaux red wines come from Médoc (in which the villages of Pauillac, Saint-Julien, Saint-Estèphe, Margaux, Moulis and Listrac claim their own A.O.), Graves, Saint-Emilion and Pomerol, and the great whites from Graves, Sauternes and Barsac.

      The white wines are made principally from the Sauvignon and the Semillon grapes, and the reds from Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Malbec. The last is used less now than in the past and other varieties have been almost completely eliminated. In the Haut-Médoc and among the finest Graves, the proportion of Cabernet Sauvignon is high—50 percent to 75 percent, and up to 95 percent for the greatest vineyards. Saint-Emilion and Pomerol contain generally about one third Cabernet Sauvignon and 50 percent Merlot. The finest wines are grown in soil so poor that to raise anything else in their place would be unthinkable (Graves means gravel and is so named because of the makeup of its soil).

      Among the wines of Bordeaux, it is easier to know what one is buying than in Burgundy, for each vineyard (or château) is the property of a single person or society, and in most instances the labels are marked Mise en Bouteilles au Château, an assurance to the buyer that the wine has been cared for and put into bottles by the proprietor. The role of the négociant is thus more often minimized to that of distributor.

      The best of the wines from the Haut-Médoc are, when drunk under the right conditions, probably the most subtle of all red wines. (Practically no white is produced.) Château Margaux makes a small quantity of pleasant, nonvintage white wine, marketed under the name of Pavillon Blanc du Château Margaux. Those from Pauillac are generally the “biggest,” “fullest,” “roundest,” but the wines from Saint-Estèphe (Cos d’Estournel, Montrose, Calon-Ségur) have a special elegance of their own, those from Margaux (Margaux, Malescot-Saint-Exupéry, Rauzan-Gassies), a particular earthy flavor, and the Saint-Juliens (Ducru-Beaucaillou, the Léovilles, Talbot), a direct, clean quality that is nonetheless not lacking in nuance.

      The famous 1855 classification of the wines of Médoc remains essentially dependable. Two wines from outside of Médoc (Haut-Brion from Graves and Yquem from Sauternes, the latter the only white wine mentioned in the entire classification) are included among the five first growths. Of the others, two are from Pauillac, Latour and Lafite (a third, Mouton-Rothschild, classed as a second growth, is now considered by everyone to be equal in quality), and the other is Château Margaux. These wines are respectfully referred to as les Grands Seigneurs.

      Graves is the victim of a curious misconception, as widespread in France as elsewhere. It is generally believed to produce only white wines, all of which are thought to be sweet, whereas, in fact, some of Bordeaux’s most elegant reds are Graves, and its finest whites are all dry and exquisitely perfumed.

      Of the reds, those who have drunk old vintages of Château Haut-Brion (in recent years, I suspect the makers of having experimented too heavily with modern techniques of vinification) will not soon forget them. Perhaps my most “transcendental” wine-drinking experience is related to a 1926 Château Bouscaut, whose delicate and complicated bouquet—that of a great wine whose gentle decline has begun—recalled dried rose petals, field mushrooms, decayed leaves and quantities of other autumn odors impossible to define, combined with elusive memories of fresher, fruitier qualities. The beauty of such a wine is elaborated in one’s memory—more precisely defined in retrospect—but brings no deception on retasting. Other particularly fine red wines from Graves are: Pape-Clément, Haut-Bailly, La Mission Haut-Brion, Malartic-Lagravière, Carbonnieux, and Domaine de Chevalier.

      The white wines of Graves, unlike many dry white wines, age gracefully and live long, and, although it is rare to find on the market any that are over ten years of age, the chance should not be missed to try one, should an older one present itself. Among the best of the Graves whites are the Châteaux: Bouscaut, Laville Haut-Brion, Couhins, Domaine de Chevalier and Carbonnieux.

      The wines of Saint-Emilion and Pomerol—all reds—have a great deal in common; they are generally less aristocratic in personality than those just discussed, although certainly not lacking in elegance. They are often heavier of body. Less complicated, both in bouquet and on the palate, in youth they are more supple than the Médocs and Graves, and they mature more rapidly. The Pomerols, in particular, are often ready to drink after a couple of years in bottle (four years of age), but take age well, also. Each has its grand cru. Château Cheval Blanc is considered to be the greatest of the Saint-Emilions, and Château Petrus heads the Pomerols. Other great and good Saint-Emilions are the Châteaux Figeac, La Gaffelière-Naudes, Ausone, Canon, Grand-Mayne, Monbousquet. Vieux Château Certan and the Châteaux l’Evangile, Nenin, La Conseillante and Beauregard are among the Pomerols that demand a particular respect.

      The wines of Sauternes