Best of Bordeaux. Rolf Bichsel

       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.

       Another regular consumer of his wines was the first British Prime Minister Sir

       Robert Walpole, ensuring that Ségur wines enjoyed success in London. Be-

      tween 1705 and 1711, the ‘London Gazette' newspaper (founded by the journalist

       Henry Muddiman in 1667 and still in existence today) listed privateer booty for

       auction, including on 22 May 1707 hundreds of barrels of Haut Brion, Margaux,

       Latour and Lafite which all fetched impressive prices several times higher than

       standard ‘claret'. So it is no surprise that local merchants began looking for more

       affordable alternatives. As the four aforementioned top wines were virtually

       una

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       ordable in the 1727 vintage, one Bordeaux broker wrote a letter to the cel-

      lar master to the heir to the throne suggesting a replacement which he tastily

       described as follows: ‘Never in my life have I tasted a Chateau d‘Issan so good

       as this vintage. It truly is a wine full of charm which I would very much like to

       send to the Prince.'

       From then on, new Bordeaux from fairy-tale Bordeaux chateaus became a

       status symbol of the rich and beautiful. In the second half of the 19th century,

       Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria-Hungary could be counted among Issan's fans,

       and the ambassador and future US President Thomas Je

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       erson said ‘there can-

      not be a better bottle of Bordeaux wine than Margaux 1784'. Château Margaux

       was praised by Rossini and drunk by Engels, who gave a simple answer to a

       question from Karl Marx's daughter Eleanor about what he considered to be the

       greatest expression of happiness: ‘a Château Margaux 1848'.