Most Red Bordeaux style Wines are blends of several varieties of grapes, notably Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot and Petit Verdot. Finding the right amount to blend will make the difference between a wine that sits on the shelve for ageing or to collect dust and be forgotten.

There are many Bordeaux style wines all around the world, all trying to emulate the bouquets and colors found in Bordeaux wine. Bordeaux wines have been the reference of greatness for centuries and while California, Chile, Australia and dozens of others have made great leaps of progress, traditionalists always find their way back to their beloved Bordeaux.

Sure, as just about any wine producer knows, it is the unique climate and soils of the Gironde area that make the nearly 300,000 acres of wine making grapes exude their one of a kind flavors. Producers have taken their shot at taking their savior faire from wine making in Bordeaux and applied it to other areas in the world, only to come up short handed. Nonetheless, this has also opened up a Pandora’s Box of great possibilities with bottles which cater to other markets. Some may say Bordeaux is losing ground to New World wines, but it should be looked at as a blessing as more people become interested in enjoying a great glass or bottle of wine.

It would be unfair to say that a bottle of Opus One tastes better than a Chateau Haut Brion. Both have their unique smell, flavor, colors and connoisseur. Playing devils advocate here but, since wine stocks in California originally came from France, could a bottle of Opus One be considered a Bordeaux style wine, vice-versa as vines were re-sent back to France after the terrible disease that nearly wiped out all French stock.  The best wines in the world are Bordeaux styles wines.

Just as there are dozens of tour operators which offer you three to six day Bordeaux Wine Tours, you will find online sites featuring “cheap” Bordeaux wines.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that two gallons of Bordeaux wine, found at a service station, in a huge plastic jug would taste bad at very best. Oh yeah, it would most likely be pretty inexpensive or cheap.

For some, a 300 dollar bottle of Cheval Blanc would be reasonably cheap and to others a nice Pessac Leognan at 8 dollars would be a steal. The French have a term they use when they purchase; qualite rapport prix, basically translating into quality to price.

What makes Bordeaux Wines so special is the term “you get what you pay for” doesn’t always apply and should be described more as “you can’t judge a book by its cover”.

Many specialists were predicting a grand cru during the extremely hot, dry summer of 2003. Nature thought differently and the majority of Bordeaux’s red wines were “okay to good” but nothing exceptional compared to 2000 and those of 2005 which has been called “special” to even those skeptical on Bordeaux Wine.

There is a good chance that some of the cheaper Bordeaux’s you find online are from the 2003 harvest. But don’t be fooled, there dozens of great wines out there, ranging from a mere 6 dollars which has surprised me and has found its way down into my wine cellar. While we’re in the cliché mood, let me end by saying “One man’s garbage is another man’s treasure”. 

Good luck in your search of Bordeaux wine cheap online!