Saint-Seurin de Cadourne, Moulis, Listrac and Saint-Laurent. Based on the Mé-
doc model, it then also emerged in the Libourne area (Fronsac, Saint-Emilion,
Pomerol), whose wines were primarily sold in northern France and the Benelux
region thanks to a few capable merchants in the city of Libourne. The global
Bordeaux trade first took an interest in this little corner in the late 19th century
when wines from the Médoc and Graves were in short supply after the phyllox-
era crisis: the vines in the limestone soils of Saint-Emilion withstood the insidi-
ous pest for somewhat longer, and the draining of the Pomerol plateau (which
was often knee-deep in water during the winter) enabled top-level winemak-
ing on a wider scale. The driving force behind this rapid development was Bor-
deaux's moneyed aristocracy, made rich by ‘triangular trade' with the colonies.
I have already suggested that coming to terms with the past is not really one of
The city of Bordeaux
29
Bordeaux's strengths, and one aspect is missing or even completely ignored in
many analyses of Bordeaux, namely the inglorious chapter of the slave trade.
Bordeaux, with Liverpool and Nantes, was for a long time one of its major hubs.
This is how scheming merchants did it: they gathered capital (as already men-
tioned, many Bordeaux citizens were part-time bankers), bought or chartered
a couple of ships, loaded them up with goods (wine) in Bordeaux, sent these
across the world, invested the profits in ‘black ivory' from Africa that they trans-
ported to the colonies, where these slaves were exchanged for ‘colonial goods'
such as coffee, cocoa or sugar which made their way back to Bordeaux – so as
well as making a bigger profit, they only indirectly got their hands dirty. So many
wine estates were created with capital earned from the slave trade that the phi-
losopher Montesquieu, living in neighbouring Labrède, definitely had first-hand
knowledge of what he was talking about when he penned the following: ‘the cry
for slavery is the cry of luxury and voluptuousness, not of public felicity.' How-
ever, in many learned books this chapter reads as follows: in the 18th century
Bordeaux became rich from trade and attracted numerous immigrants from
countries all over the world such as England, Ireland, Scandinavia, Germany
and Switzerland. They generally settled in the Chartrons (‘Carthusians') district
like generations of immigrants before them: originally marshland outside of
the city proper. By the late Middle Ages, Chartrons – with its barrel stores from
Château Gruaud Larose
31
Trade triangle History
which barrels could be rolled directly onto cargo ships – had already become a
traditional winemaking district and remained so until the 1980s. Bordeaux grew
quickly and was soon bursting at the seams, becoming the third-largest city in
France (behind Paris and Lyon), and was able to afford one of the 18th century's
most beautiful (and today one of the best maintained) collections of buildings.
For centuries Bordeaux survived skirmishes and military campaigns un-
scathed or with little damage. Its strategic location was too important, the in
fl
u-
ence of its residents was too great, and too much money was at stake, so Bor-
deaux was forgiven any transgression. During the ‘Fronde' from 1748, Bordeaux
was a sponsor and bastion of this uprising against the power-hungry holder of
the increasingly absolutist French crown. The city's surrender on 3 August 1653
brought an o
ffi
cial end to the protest movement. Despite a few punishments,
such as Bernard de la Nogaret de la Vallette, Duc d'Epernon and owner of Beych-
evelle (who had remained loyal to the government) razing the chateau belong-
ing to agitator Blaise de Suduirault to the ground (although it is still not entirely
clear whether this was to settle a private or a political score) – Bordeaux's mer-
chant nobility remained virtually unscathed, and happily continued making
wine and enjoying its extravagant lifestyle. During the French Revolution, the
parliamentarians once again backed the wrong horse (although who really man-
aged to pick the right one in the bloody confusion?), were declared enemies of
the young nation and made the acquaintance of Madame la Guillotine. There
were many other executions in Bordeaux, and anyone wanting to escape the
sca
ff
old was forced to leave their land and allow it to be con
fi
scated, with nu-
merous
