Best of Bordeaux. Rolf Bichsel

       Impress your guests with

       choice delicacies

       and sophisticated creations.

       Exclusive appetisers

       www.lepatron-cuisine.ch

       Available in

       SIGNER AG

       Fabrikstrasse 1

       CH-8586 Ennetaach-Erlen (TG)

       Tel. [phone]

       Fax [phone]

       [email protected]

       www.signerag.ch

       SIGNER AG

       Metallverarbeitung

       von A–Z

       Für Sammler und Geniesser, die ihre wertvollen

       Bordeaux-Weine gerne in den Originalkisten lagern:

       Das universelle

       Bordeaux-Kisten- und

       Weinflaschen-Gestell

       ƒ

       8 Bordeaux-Kisten

       übereinander stapelbar

       ƒ

       Einblick und Zugriff in

       jede einzelne Kiste

       ƒ

       Spezialtablare für

       Einzelflaschen

       ƒ

       stabiles korrosionsge-

       schütztes Stahlgestell

       ƒ

       einfachste Montage

       und Demontage

       ƒ

       modularer und kom-

      pakter Aufbau für opti-

       male Platzausnützung

       ƒ

       beliebig kombinier- und

       erweiterbar (Platzbedarf

       pro Erweiterungssatz:

       381 mm)

       ƒ

       u

       nübertroffen preis-

       günstig: Basisgestell

       CHF 790.– inkl. MWST

       (3 Gestelleinheiten für

       total 24 Kisten; H x B x T

       1846 x 1178 x 440 mm)

       ƒ

       A

       uch als praktisches

       Tischgestell erhältlich.

       Besuchen Sie unsere

       Website oder verlangen

       Sie unsere Unterlagen.

       Spezialkonditionen ab 5 (wie Bild)

       bzw. 10 Gestelleinheiten.

       51

       Oenologists History

       neoclassical stucco villa with a liveried English servant in white gloves shak-

      ily pouring an ancient Margaux into a decanter in candlelight to the sounds of

       chamber music from a Russian string quartet flown in for the occasion, has been

       sadly deceived. Bordeaux is not classic and aristocratic, Bordeaux is luxury, and

       thanks to its increasingly broad range has remained astonishingly affordable.

       Bordeaux is fashion and fun, Bordeaux is something for modern people, Bor-

      deaux is young and urban, and if Bordeaux were music it would not be merely

       Mozart echoing from the loudspeakers, but also techno, lounge and dub. There

       is just one facet of Bordeaux which does not fit our fast-paced era: Bordeaux

       needs time and leisure.

       52

       History Overview

       56 BC Crassus conquers the Bituriges: Burdigala (Bordeaux) becomes Roman.

       According to the historian Strabo there is virtually no home-grown wine, with

       the drink instead being imported from Iberia and southern Italy.

       71 BC Pliny visits Bordeaux – the city is entirely surrounded by vines.

       400 AD The teacher and rhetorician Ausonius describes Bordeaux as ‘charac-

      terised by rivers and vines'.

       1154 Bordeaux comes under English rule. Wine becomes the city's most impor-

      tant export product and ensures the wealth of its inhabitants.

       1214 The inhabitants of Bordeaux persuade King John of England to abolish all

       export taxes on wine. The ports of Bordeaux become the world's most impor-

      tant wine ports at this time.

       1241 Henri III Plantagenet extends the privileges of Bordeaux citizens. Wines

       from other regions can only enter the city after 25 December, and thus cannot

       be shipped. This privilege continues (with a few interruptions) under suc-

      cessive French kings until being finally abolished in 1776 by Turgot, the first

       French liberal.

       1303 Bordeaux exports 102,724 tonneaux (one tonneau = four barriques = 900

       litres = 1,200 modern bottles) of wine, or 924,518 hl, around the equivalent of

       Switzerland's entire current annual production or around 120 million bottles!

       1550 Jean de Pontac builds a ‘Maison Noble' amid his vines to the south of the

       city of Bordeaux, which becomes a centre and symbol of winemaking, and

       thus invents the wine chateau.

       1660 François-Auguste de Pontac opens a tavern in London. It serves a wine

       called Ho Bryan, which unlike the light red ‘clarets' is dark in colour and has

       a ‘most particular taste', as Samuel Pepys wrote three years previously in his

       famous diary. New French Claret is now in fashion.