Best of Bordeaux. Rolf Bichsel

       24

       History New luxury

       4 pence per full bottle), stopped with a cork (the use of which also gradually

       came into fashion), left to mature for a while and served in delicate Venetian

       crystal glasses rather than the drinking horns, pewter mugs or leather cups of

       the common people. If left to mature for a while, this new wine gradually de-

      veloped astounding smoothness, a well-balanced taste and a stunning bouquet

       the like of which no one had ever experienced before. And to ensure that the

       wine would not be confused with others and would become its own brand, it

       was named after its producer and place of origin and ultimately transformed

       into a luxury product with the clever suggestion that it might be of noble origin

       and have bathed in the twilight of a cellar in a chateau owned by some ancient

       aristocracy. But more on that later.

       After the end of the English Civil War (1642–1650) London became the intel-

      lectual and cultural capital of Europe, knocking Paris off the podium. Not even

       the plague to which a fifth of the city's population fell victim in 1665 or the Great

       Fire of September 1666 (which actually claimed very few lives but caused mas-

      sive destruction) could not compromise this development: London had made it

       to the top and was there to stay. Shortly after the Great Fire, the Pontacs opened

       a tavern in the capital called the Pontac's Head which quickly became the best

       eatery in the city. It served up French specialities and its own wine, and soon

       anyone who was anyone was seen there. Although Jonathan Swift complained

       that the wine was much too expensive at seven shillings a flagon, other intel-

      lectuals such as the philosopher John Locke became veritable ambassadors for

       the brand. Locke paid a visit to Haut-Brion in 1677, carefully examined its terroir,

       studied cultivation techniques and set about solving the mystery as to why the

       Pontacs' wine tasted so delicious that ‘the rich English would order it for any

       price'. He also noted: ‘The wine of Pontac, so revered in England, is made on a

       little rise of ground, lieing open most to the west. It is noe thing but pure white

       sand, mixed with a little gravel. One would imagin it scarce fit to beare anything.'

       And suddenly everyone wanted some, and the de Pontacs were able to sell Ho

       Brian at ten or twenty times the price of standard claret, pay off their creditors

       and a

       ff

       ord younger courtesans.

       However, the competition never sleeps. What was just right for the de Pontacs

       was sacred to the de Ségurs, de Rauzans or de Lestonnacs, and the Bordeaux

       bourgeois (who were all also ship-owners and merchants, and often lawyers or

       notaries and bankers and always city parliamentarians) thus triggered what you

       might call a veritable cultivation war in Bordeaux. And when the gravel mounds

       to the southwest, west and northwest of the city (what is now Pessac-Léognan)

       were requisitioned and seemed particularly suitable for producing this new

       style of French wine which the Brits called ‘new French claret', Bordeaux's

       moneyed aristocracy simply purchased the endless hunting grounds of the Mé-

      doc, now dried out by the Dutch. These were characterised by the numerous

       Château Lafaurie-Peyraguey

       Sauternes

       1945

       Château Lafaurie-Peyraguey, Sauternes, 1945

       Tasting note by René Gabriel:

       Medium dark bright gold, freshly picked apricots,

       caramel, orange peel, Butterscotch.

       Exhibition: 10 to 24 May 2017, studio visits on request.

       Pierre Aerni, Burgstrasse 4, CH-8604 Volketswil, e-mail: [email protected]

       www.sauternes-art.ch

       sauternes-art.ch

       Tasting Notes Metamorphoses

       27

       Early years History

       flat gravel knolls transported from the Pyrenees by the Garonne in prehistoric

       times, which are very good at regulating the water balance thanks to their gentle

       undulations and the excellent filtration capacities of their soils (preventing the

       vine roots from rotting in overly damp ground, or conversely from drying out

       excessively in the Atlantic weather with the exception of a few days or weeks

       between mid-July and mid-August that cause the delay in ripening which is one

       of the secrets behind great Bordeaux). The fact that producers also flirted with

       rather dishonest methods to acquire these suddenly extremely precious soils

       is illustrated by the case of Pierre de Mazure de Rauzan who was involved in

       estates such as Latour, Pichon Longueville, Rauzan Gassies and Rauzan-Ségla

       as founder, director or owner: he would lend small producers money in an ap-

      parently benevolent fashion, and when they were unable to pay it back he pock-

       eted their land.

       Another illustrious estate owner Nicolas Alexandre de Ségur, the ‘prince of

       vines', popularised his wines Latour, Mouton, Calon and Lafite at the court of

       the French king from 1716 onwards via the intermediary of the Marechal de

       Richelieu. Lafite was said to be a treatment for gallstones. Legend also has it

       that the Marquis de Ségur adorned his waistcoat with polished Médoc pebbles

       rather than precious stones in order to demonstrate the source of his wealth.

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