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Vineyards of Château Latour in Pauillac, with the iconic round tower and château framed by clear blue skies.

Bordeaux

Bordeaux wines at Berry Bros. & Rudd span red, dry white and sweet bottles from the Médoc, Graves, Sauternes and the Libournais. Our Bordeaux wine range starts with Own Selection Claret for regular drinking and extends to classed growths for the cellar. Filter by sub-region, grape, vintage, or maturity, or read on to learn how the styles differ and how to buy En Primeur. Explore our full Bordeaux wine selection today.

Choosing Bordeaux wines by sub-region

Bordeaux sits close to the 45th parallel, where the Atlantic gives a maritime climate of mild winters and warm summers, well suited to grapes of structure and finesse. Red wine makes up the large majority of production.

The Gironde estuary and the Garonne and Dordogne rivers divide Bordeaux into a Left Bank and a Right Bank, and the split is the quickest guide to style.

Left Bank styles

On the Left Bank, which includes the Médoc, Graves and Pessac-Léognan, Cabernet Sauvignon leads. It ripens late on gravel-rich soils and gives powerful, structured wines, often blended with Merlot, Cabernet Franc and sometimes Petit Verdot.

Right Bank styles

On the Right Bank, home to St Émilion and Pomerol, Merlot takes the lead. Soils here are more mixed, with clay and limestone creating diverse expressions: richer and softer in Pomerol; more structured and mineral-driven on the hillside in St Émilion.

Bordeaux wine by drinking window: ready now or to lay down

A single Bordeaux grid holds bottles ready to open alongside bottles built for the cellar. Our range of Bordeaux wines at Berry Bros. & Rudd is available from youthful and ready to drink now, through to mature, so you can match a bottle to when you plan to open it.

For bottles ready to open, browse our Bordeaux wine to drink now, our Claret to drink now selection, or our mature fine wines. For the cellar, see wines to lay down.

Claret and Own Selection Bordeaux

Claret is the traditional British name for red Bordeaux, a legacy of the long trade between the region and England. Our Own Selection Claret is a natural place to begin. Good Ordinary Claret, made in partnership with Dourthe, is the flagship, and Château Villa Bel-Air makes Extra Ordinary Claret.

Own Selection Bordeaux is made in collaboration with estates including Château Lynch-Bages and Château Léoville-Las Cases. The appellation wines name the château behind each bottle. See the full selection under our Own Selection Clarets.

Classification and châteaux

By the mid-18th century, individual châteaux were gaining renown, culminating in the 1855 Classification, which ranked the Médoc’s top estates into five growth tiers. The First Growths, Lafite, Latour, Margaux, Haut-Brion and, since 1973, Mouton Rothschild, remain among the world’s most prestigious wines. Beyond the classified growths lie excellent Crus Bourgeois and numerous petits châteaux producing authentic and accessible Claret.

White Bordeaux wines and Sauternes

The sweet wines of Sauternes and Barsac, particularly from Château d’Yquem, are among the world’s finest. Here, autumn mists encourage botrytis, or noble rot, which concentrates sugars in Sémillon, Sauvignon Blanc and Muscadelle grapes, creating wines of incredible complexity and ageing potential. Bordeaux also produces dry whites, often Sauvignon-led, especially from Graves, Entre-Deux-Mers and Pessac-Léognan, home to elite wines like Haut-Brion Blanc and Domaine de Chevalier.

Buying Bordeaux wine En Primeur through BBX

Fine Bordeaux is often sold En Primeur, or as futures, in the spring after harvest. Wines are offered via négociants, who distribute them globally. Pricing depends on vintage quality and demand, especially high in exceptional years, where global interest remains unwavering.

Our Bordeaux En Primeur page lists the current campaign.

Explore more wines and regions

Bordeaux sits alongside the other regions and styles in our range.

Other wine regions

  • Burgundy: Pinot Noir and Chardonnay from small, individually named vineyards

  • Champagne: Champagne from established houses and growers

  • Italy: reds and whites from regions including Piedmont and Tuscany

  • Spain: wines from regions including Rioja and Ribera del Duero

More ways to browse

Bordeaux wine FAQs

What kind of wine is Bordeaux?

Bordeaux is a wine region in south-west France, and its wines are mostly dry reds blended from Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc. The region also makes dry white wines from Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon, and sweet wines in Sauternes and Barsac.

Is Bordeaux wine sweet or dry?

Most Bordeaux is dry. The sweet wines come mainly from Sauternes and Barsac, where botrytis concentrates the sugars in the grapes. Dry whites come from Pessac-Léognan, Graves and Entre-Deux-Mers.

Which are the First Growths of Bordeaux?

The First Growths of the 1855 Classification are Château Lafite Rothschild, Château Latour, Château Margaux, Château Haut-Brion and, since 1973, Château Mouton Rothschild.

What does Claret mean?

Claret is the traditional British name for red Bordeaux. In the UK, it covers reds from the region at every level, from regional Bordeaux to classed growths.