France - The most famous wines in the world | Worldwide Wine Civilizations

Along the Gironde river, home to Europe's largest estuary, is a territory that seems to have been created for growing vines. With its perfect geometry, Bordeaux's vineyard region produces the most expensive and most widely distributed wines in the world. A symbol of elegance and absolute refinement, Bordeaux's chateaus have been a showcase for its famous Grand Cru for over three centuries. Bordeaux vineyards are worthy of endless superlatives. And yet, here, vines originally found a landscape that could have been perilous. A humid climate and the presence of water could have compromised the vineyards. Fortunately, over the ages, growers have cultivated an expertise that has allowed them to get around the constraints imposed by nature. Very fruity, in just one week, impressive. The seeds are already ripe. If they're like that already, they'll be great. Really great. Like every morning, the owner of Chateau Lojac, René-Philippe Dubosc, and his cellar master, Vincent Bonneau, inspect their vines. They're very ripe. If we wanted, we could pick them tomorrow. We could pick them tomorrow, but... They'll be even better next week. They're healthy, so I think we can wait 10 days at least. The seeds are completely brown. Yes, they'll be delicious. Really splendid. They'll make great cabernets. A fantastic vintage 2016. Go, go, go, go, go! When René-Philippe is not in his vineyard, he visits Blonde's. His limb is in cows. Let's go, girls! His almost 1,000 acres in Lojac don't only produce wine. Located in northern Médoc, three miles from the estuary and the Atlantic Ocean, his property, originally saturated with water, has undergone improvements to adapt it to growing vines. We're in a mixed zone here, with the first hills of Graves surrounded by these meadows. To be able to plant these vines here, the water had to be drained off, so drainage was created for the water to flow out. And for these prairies to be usable, they had to be drained too. The entire system was created in the 17th and 18th centuries by the Dutch. So if we take the example of Lojac, here you have a drainage ditch able to drain a field, which empties into a larger ditch, which flows into a canal that's about 20 feet wide. And if we didn't maintain all these canals, the 430 hectares of Lojac would soon become woods and then become a swamp full of mosquitoes, like it was before in the 19th century. All the vines are drained, either naturally by the slope or artificially, when previously, during planting, we created the drains. We dug trenches and placed drains to collect the water that flows into the ditches that empty into the estuary. In Latin, medoc means land surrounded by water. For centuries, these wetlands, bounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Gironde to the east, and the Pointe de Graves to the north, remained fallow. Yet it is here that the Bordeaux vineyards would win their noble acclaim, thanks to King Henry IV. A specialist in the estuary's history, Jean-Marie Calbet knows that the best view is from atop the Richard Lighthouse, to explain how man reclaimed these lands from the sea in the 17th century. The king had big problems here with pollution, with insolubility, because the marshes were very unhealthy. So the king researched this, and he learned that the Dutch were masters in the art of draining the land to recover them, in the north, in Netherlands. So he appealed to the Dutch, saying, Gentlemen, you can come and have the land along the estuary. All the land that you drain is yours. In fact, the land didn't exist, so it cost the land nothing to offer them to those who could drain the land. And the fields were drained and planted along the river. So we really have the perfect soil for farming. And then afterwards, we realized that this land could also be excellent for growing vines. This is how the great Dutch and Danish families settled in the Medoc region, where some became rich. They would pass their domains from generation to generation. Philippa, hurry up now. Vanessa Dubosch embodies the sixth generation of the Cus family. These Danish merchants first arrived in Lojac in the 19th century. Her ancestors embellished and enlarged this chateau, very representative of Medoc chateaus. The real treasure of this architecture is this Bordeaux-style salon, which is really THE bourgeois salon of these Bordeaux winehouses, where one receives both family and clients, to always show off the splendor of these traders' homes. My great-grandfather Henri Cruz, who's there, held the family's reputation very high. He lived on the Pavé des Chartrons in Bordeaux, where the big traders, the Protestant families, had their city mansions. In 1847, it's Herman Cruz, the first in Bordeaux, to speculate on wine, using his wife's money. In June, he buys the grapes on the vines, and the result is that the harvest is beautiful, delicious, and these wines will make his fortune. And he'll even make the first wines to be bottled at the chateau. Thanks to these great wine lovers who excel in wine commerce, Bordeaux exports even more barrels, especially to England, which has held the city of Bordeaux since the Middle Ages. The English buy up the French claret, a wine mixed with water. The barrels travel by rivers, which offer ideal navigable waterways. The heavily loaded barges go up the Gironde and Garonne to the city. After the Hundred Years' War between France and England, Bordeaux returns to prosperity in the 18th century. The Port of the Moon becomes the busiest French port. The city that grew rich thanks to the wine trade will offer itself the largest urban architectural complex in all of Europe. A neighborhood will be born thanks to these traders from the north. At the Museum of Fine Arts, Isabelle Béthier likes to tell visitors about the history of the docks, using this canvas by the Bordeaux painter, Pierre Lacour. This painting is a perfect image of the Chartrands' docks 300 years ago. Pierre Lacour represents the people of Bordeaux, who've come to Chartrands, to walk along the Chartrands. And we see all the social classes represented. For Lacour, the idea is to represent a multitude of details extremely realistically. The work of men and women along the Garonne. We see all the activities related to trade, mainly the wine trade, with the barges, these very wide boats, which could transport goods, wood, stone and especially wine barrels. And the idea is that trade is very related to wine, and international shipping can bring wealth to the city, and will allow it to make a new start. The facades are organized according to the wine trade. The ground floor windows are of course the commercial area, and then to the rear, warehouses, cellars where they looked after the wine. There really is a social hierarchy in the building, with the ground floor linked to the wine world, the nobles on the first floor with balconies, and then the servants in the rooms above. Today the famous Chartrand district has kept its appearance from 300 years ago, or almost. Nobody stores wine in these cellars anymore. But entering this old merchant's house, one finds in these corridors imprints that time has not erased. Imprints in the stone from barrels. A silent testimony of a bygone era. Traveling by the Chartrand's docks on the Garonne, the city appears transformed. This building of the city of wine can evoke different images. Its futuristic lines can look like wine turning in a glass, or maybe a wine decanter, depending on your mood. Laurence Chenot Dupin helped imagine this unique place. A symbolic spot in Bordeaux. This region sells 23 bottles every second, worldwide. The particularity of this place in Bordeaux is that it explains the great universal history of wine. And this is a way to address the subject of wine civilizations. There is no building like this to visit anywhere else in the world. The history of vineyards and wine towns is often related to the history of rivers and seas, because wine has always been a product that is sold. Since its beginnings, this product really acted as a link between people. It is a valuable product, which has a unique status. So the Garonne river leads to the estuary and the Atlantic, and also to the Châtrons district, right next to the city of wine. These are emblematic places in this great history of wine, and they are vibrant places in the city of Bordeaux today. So today, it's legitimate and consistent that the place honoring all of these wine cultures and civilizations is located in Bordeaux. In Lojac, the harvest has begun. The château is alive with workers. While his team are busy, René-Philippe has an appointment with a soil specialist, because he wants to plant new vines, here where his cattle like to graze. The soil scientist Peter Bechler is able to read Medoc's soil better than anyone. I hope this gives us a good idea of what we have to do. Go ahead, Peter, after you. You weren't afraid to go deep, huh? We dug it seven feet deep, I hope it's okay. Perfect. The general idea is to define certain details concerning the plant material found to help choose the proper grape variety and rootstock. We'll examine each of these soil horizons for their potential water resource. Okay. We have certain zones like this. That is 100% clay. You can see where the clay has accumulated. It's a solid block of clay, right? Exactly. No pebbles, no sand. Right. And we can do something that may surprise people. You can bite off a piece. Chew a little. And you realize there's practically no sand. It's 70 to 80% clay. Clay is able to store a lot of water, but ultimately returns little to the vine. In a way, it's like the vine had an Olympic swimming pool at its disposal, but could only drink the water with a teaspoon. Okay. So it's not going to empty the pool, but this allows the vine to have a steady and very long supply cycle. The water supply is never interrupted. Neither lack of water nor excess. Okay. So the analysis confirms, in this case, you can plant Cabernet Sauvignon. Right. We're not in the Médoc for nothing. No, it's the country of Cabernet Sauvignon here. We'll confirm it after sampling and analysis, but it's the most likely scenario. So it will be Cabernet Sauvignon that they'll grow in this spot next spring. It will take at least 15 years for the vines to best express their character. 25 miles south of Lojac, a man impatiently awaits the sunrise. In the Sauternes region, a more contrasted landscape emerges. This region is one of the few in the world to produce wine from confit grapes. It's an iconic Bordeaux wine. Water is once again responsible for its success. Flowing from the Pyrenees, the Siron river, a small tributary of the Garonne, ends up here in the Lannes region after a long trip through pine trees which cool it. The meeting of the Siron with the warmer river creates a morning mist that settles fine droplets of water on the grape vines and causes a noble rot on the grapes. Every autumn morning for over 30 years, Xavier Perromat awaits this mist to produce his Siron wine. For 30 years, this local wine grower has observed this unique phenomenon of maturation. Every day I come to observe these plots to see the grape's evolution and the evolution of the famous noble rot that will concentrate the grape's flavor. And a grape like this, it's perfect. The Botrytis has settled here gradually over the past weeks. What Xavier Perromat calls Botrytis is a fungus that absorbs the water droplets on the grapes. Without this phenomenon of morning mist, this transformation so beneficial to the flavor of the grapes wouldn't occur. This is a fungus that settles on the skin and that punctures the skin that feeds on water, enriches and doubles the sugar concentration in the cluster of grapes which will produce a wonderful Siron wine. Very aromatic, very concentrated. The onset of Botrytis is the result of a delicate balance between cool air and heat, humidity and dryness. But this year is like no other. It's October and Xavier has not yet been able to harvest. It's hot out. It was a great summer and the harvest is late. The Botrytis arrived late, so I'm trying to understand this phenomenon. Well, first sorting September 28. Here I'm looking at the comparison of dates in 2016, compared to the previous warmest summers in all these harvest notebooks, to see that in warm years such as 2003 we began on September 12. In 1996, which was also a hot year, we began on September 16. And now it's October 7. And I'm observing the fragility of this fungus phenomenon that must develop with a little moisture on the grapes. The first act of winemaking begins in the vineyard, with the grape quality, in the choice of the harvest date. Showing you the importance of the harvest dates. And the optimum is to get the best from what nature gives us. But it is man who has to make the choices. We know when we'll start the harvest, but not when we'll finish. These wine-producing Bordeaux chateaus are also unique legacies to visit. And for many winemakers, this sense of sharing strengthens their visitors' attachment to the wine from their domain. Finally, the long-awaited day has arrived. The owner inaugurates the first harvest with his friends. Everyone is here, with all of those over there. Okay, now follow my car and we'll go to the site. Get yourselves in working positions and I'll come to see you. The exercise is proving a little more complicated than expected for these apprentice pickers. Recognizing noble rot is a complex skill. Smell them. You smell, it smells good, it's perfect. I don't smell anything. For me, this one's not rotten enough. You cut it, it's too late. Here, it's compacted. It's not good. David and Dominique help me because they're calling me. I'd like to know if that's good or not. Because it's not bad. No, there's not enough botrytis. Look for just a second over the vines. This is exactly what we should not do. Here, the mold developed because there was a light rain. The botrytis is too musty and the grape clusters are too compact. They're too clingy. So if you open them, leave them on the ground. It's heartbreaking to leave them here. But we like them. We like them also. So there, we have it. That should be it. That's pretty. Here, there are really very ugly grapes with good botrytis. Highly concentrated, with virtually no juice left inside. This is the first selection. But others will follow throughout the fall, rhythmed by the appearance of mist. Lojac in the early morning. A hot air balloon rises into the sky above the Medoc. René Philippe takes a unique opportunity to get some height over the water, the landscapes and the vineyards. Far from the unexploitable Medoc of the 17th century, today we now have this huge pine forest running along the ocean. And on the other side, along the river, these vineyards. So water is very present because the estuary curves here and the water returns to Bordeaux. And the ocean is always close to the right. So we're surrounded by these bodies of water. We see that very well and it's thanks to these two huge water masses that we have a unique climate, allowing us to cultivate our vines in optimal conditions. And thanks to all that, not to mention the terroir and movements of the riverbed over the centuries and millennia, we have gravel deposits all around that make the vines suffer a little, making good wine. Yes, it's absolutely gorgeous and we should do this every morning. Vineyards of many paradoxes, Bordeaux must now face new challenges. Global warming is one. The lengthening of the vine growing cycle challenges the aging potential of wines, whose alcohol content reaches its highest levels in the warmer years. But Bordeaux and its wine growers are preparing for this transition. In order to once again adapt to a rebellious nature, as they have always done.