My fault for not elucidating what I was really asking. By “upper end”, I didn’t mean first growths, but rather just the classified, non-firsts. I agree with all your observations. I own just a few bottles of firsts and rarely if ever even look at them for purchase. But, my cellar is packed with 2nd through 5th growths.
Put another way, if you offered the French a higher quality (but not trophy) Bordeaux wine at the same price they were used to paying for wine with dinner, would they want to buy it? Or, would they feel that Bordeaux just doesn’t match their palate and/or it isn’t a good food wine. A lot of speculation and generalizations in there I know.
What I’m wondering is, are they like the kid looking through the window at a toy he knows he can’t realistically get, but would love to have? Or, do they just view Bordeaux as wine that matches a foreign palate?
Chris, the point of the Hugh Johnson story is that the “locals” largely drink a light acidic “plonk” made from the local grapes, because they drink the stuff regularly and they can’t afford the big names. I think they must be aware of the great Chateaux (by which I mean the various classified growths first through fifth) but it comes down to economics. Probably, possibly, many Bordelais never get to taste the good stuff.
In a way I think that provides the best imagineable preparation for a true appreciation of the good stuff. I honestly believe that the nouveau riches who start out with Pétrus have no idea what they are drinking because they have nothing to compare it to. Ideally you would experience a “triangle” – drink a lot of cheap stuff, and occasionally the better stuff, and rarely the excellent stuff.
So that would correspond to the pleasure and surprise from those truck drivers, they know what cabernet and merlot etc. taste like but they’ve never had it in this fully ripe, intense, rich form.
First, a tiny little shout out to the industrious Dutch contribution to the development of Bordeaux.
Second, when Daniel noted,
“Yeah I was in France in August and saw a lot of BDX in the supermarkets. I was surprised however that everyone seemed to be drinking mainly rose. But it was hot and they start drinking at lunch.”
You should not be surprised at Frenchmen drinking rose’
at anytime. The French drink a great deal of rose’. For them it’s much more than simply a summer drink. I don’t know of any nationality offhand that drinks as much rose’ as the French.
That is exactly why I drink rosé most of the time during daylight, summer and at the beach here (unless it is a wine lunch - in which case we go through the normal progression of bubbly and/or white, then maybe rosé, then reds after and, occasionally, a sweet one with dessert). Rosés are much more suited to our tropical clime than reds. Further, I like eating several different tapas as a meal (usually lunch) and, with such Spanish fare, I love having Spanish rosados. When having couscous, escargot bourguignonne, I must have rosé (preferably Tempier’s, but, absent that, any good one will be fine).
That said, I personally know probably 5 people in this country who drink as much rosé as I - and 3 of them are regular drinking buddies of mine - and they all were either born and raised or just raised in Europe.
I see, but I was referrring to any classified Bdx that is perceived as pricey - not necessarily a 1st growth.
Put another way, if you offered the French a higher quality (but not trophy) Bordeaux wine at the same price they were used to paying for wine with dinner, would they want to buy it? Or, would they feel that Bordeaux just doesn’t match their palate and/or it isn’t a good food wine. A lot of speculation and generalizations in there I know.
I am certain they would appreciate good Bdx. I can’t see why anyone, French or otherwise, wouldn’t try something supposedly better at the same price.
Anent the French possibly not finding it a good food wine, I strongly doubt it - the cuisine in Bdx is not that far different from the rest of France - well, the regions I’ve been to, anyway, except that of Alsace where the German culture is inherently very strong/readily apparent. There have been some in Bdx, though, that have opined that certain classified growths have adopted too modern a style that is less food friendly - and I agree with them.
What I’m wondering is, are they like the kid looking through the window at a toy he knows he can’t realistically get, but would love to have? Or, do they just view Bordeaux as wine that matches a foreign palate?
The last question is far too broad. I’d say a qualified “yes” - as regards very “modern” or “international” styled classified growths.
As to the first question, let’s put it this way, those French who can afford to buy classified growth Bdx or higher-level Burg, etc., and are willing to spend on it, do buy. Yes, they do in fact. Whether or not those French number as many as similarly situated/inclined Americans, I cannot definitely say, but I would easily guess not from what I have seen.
Again, this is a matter of personal finances/inclination coupled with the fact that, in my perception, the French (and other Europeans who hail from traditional wine producing countries such as Spain and Italy) are much less prone to covet famous or expensive wines (1st growth or otherwise) than others, the latter because wine is something they grew up with as an everyday part of life - not anything like a special treat one has to pay a lot for.
From my experience, I do think the French consider expensive/classified Bdx more as something better suited to foreigners’ wallets and willingness to pay than anything else - though I have heard a few opine that the more modern-styled ones are, as you posit, indeed, more suitable/geared to foreign palates.