THE ‘SALT AND PEPPER’ GRAPES

Bordeaux may be a Merlot-Cabernet-centric region, but a smattering of other red varieties subsist alongside. Look at the figures: Merlot accounts for 66% of the region’s red plantings, Cabernet Sauvignon 22% and Cabernet Franc 9%, leaving a meagre 3% of ‘other red varieties’. For these read: Carmenère, Malbec and Petit Verdot. While not exactly household names – though still officially authorised and very much part of the region’s DNA – these three secondary varieties are belatedly stirring interest as growers rediscover their potential as a single variety or as a component in a blend.

All three varieties were very much in evidence in 18th- and 19th-century Bordeaux. Carmenère, a natural cross between Cabernet Franc and Gros Cabernet, originated in the Gironde and was widely planted in the Médoc. Malbec (or Côt), originally from Cahors, was planted in Bordeaux from the