Oh my goodness, I could probably do an Advent Calendar from Bordeaux wines alone! The area is large - around 100km north to south and east to west. It covers two rivers (Dordogne and Garonne) which feed into an estuary (Gironde) which meets up with the Atlantic Ocean.
As I understand it - thanks to a brief study at the University-O-Wikipedia - the better the wine, the more specific they are about where it came from. Starting with the great big region of Bordeaux, you get to smaller areas, such as Médoc, and whittle right down to the few premier cru wines proudly bearing the names of exactly whence they came, with all sorts of other labels in between.
Medoc itself is the northwest-most area of Bordeaux, near the edge of the estuary, almost next to the Atlantic.
~The details~
Name: L'Allée du Roy
Year: 2014
Grape/Cépage: Unlisted
Region: Médoc - North-west end of the Bordeaux region, near the Atlantic
Label: Grand Vin de Bordeaux; Appellation Médoc Contrôlée
Alcohol: 12.5% vol.
Serving Temp: 15-16C; 59-61F
Serving Ideas: Cheeses or grilled meats
I'll admit, we only had this with supper on the 5th because nobody was feeling well on the 1st, but I'm glad it worked out this way. We got to experience this Médoc after the Vin Primeur and after the Côtes du Rhône. What a difference! Where the others wines were sweet, sharp, fruity, and zingy, this was deep with oak and just... velvety. Hello, tannins. I can't even compare the two. They're like apples and oranges: sure, they're both fruit and both great but they're just not the same!
Burgers probably weren't the best or most sophisticated pairing but we enjoyed ourselves and our meal and comparing the two wines (Médoc and leftover Côtes du Rhône from lunch) made for a very fun experience.
1- Link to map of Bordeaux sub-regions.
2- More about Bordeaux. (Wiki)
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