WTF is White Bordeaux? (+ Fish & Chips pairing, Lent, Filet-O-Fish)

Transcript and Show Notes

Episode 22: WTF is White Bordeaux? (+ Fish & Chips pairing, Lent, Filet-O-Fish) 00:00

Hello! And welcome to the Wine Pair podcast. I’m Joe, your sommelier of reasonably priced wine, and this is my wife and wine-pairing partner in crime - Carmela. And we are the Wine Pair.

Ok, this week is going to be a really fun and interesting week because we are back to our WTF or What the BLEEP series, which is one of my favorites because we generally get to learn about some new wines, or new things about wines we may think we know, and we hope those of you out there in listening land learn something new, too. 

This week, we are going to learn about White Bordeaux. Do you ever remember having a White Bordeaux Carmela? Do you know what Bordeaux is more famous for? Most Bordeaux wine is red - like 90%, and we will talk about that a little bit more later in the podcast. But do you remember what grapes make up a red Bordeaux? We will also cover that a little later in the podcast, but the most common are Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. But White Bordeaux is a different story. There isn’t a lot made relative to red, but the most common grapes found in White Bordeaux are Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon. 

How to pronounce Semillon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIMx1xfPLiY 

I’ll talk about this a little later in the podcast as well, but I really wanted to focus on Semillon because it is supposed to be a great wine with fish, especially fried fish, and we are in Lent, so I thought it would be fun to do an episode on fish and chips and wine or Filet O’ Fish and wine, but when I went to find Semillon wine, I mostly found it as a White Bordeaux or Bordeaux style blend. It was almost impossible to find it as its own varietal, and not cheap, either.

So, today, we have three White Bordeaux style blends, two from France, and one from right here in Washington State!

And why three wines you ask (ok, you didn’t ask but we will tell you anyway) - each week on our podcast we taste and review three reasonably priced wines - that means under $20 - that should be easy to find. We release a new episode every week, and we would love it if you would give us a review and, oh I don’t know, a 5-star rating, please subscribe if you like us, and tell your significant other that you should listen to us together while you are driving in the car. 

Topic: Fish Fridays and giving stuff up for Lent  04:31

But, as we always do in each episode, we are going to take our customary left turn, and talk a little bit about something that is a least tangentially related to our wines, and this week we are going to talk about what it was like to experience Lent growing up as a Catholic in America. Now, I know we are a little late to the party here as Lent only has a few more weeks to go, but hey, better late than never, I say!

For those of you who don’t know a lot about Lent, we’ll just say that both of us grew up in Italian-American Catholic families and both of us attended Catholic schools (and we even taught at Catholic schools for a bit), so Lent was kind of a big deal. There were three things I really remember about Lent growing up - giving something up for Lent, meatless Fridays, and going to the Stations of the Cross on Good Friday. 

All I’m going to say about the Stations of the Cross was that, if you were an altar boy, which I was, the Stations of the Cross sucked. There were usually three of us, two holding candles, and one holding the large metal cross. All of these were large, metal, and heavy, and you did not get to rest, you went through all the stations - I think there were 13 - and so it ended up being a test of stamina. And, without exception, the older altar boys would make the youngest and weakest altar boy carry the cross. 

Ok, but I digress, so let’s move on. It was kind of a big deal in Lent growing up to give something up. Most of the time, kids gave up something pretty typical like candy. There were always the kids who tried to be funny and gave up things like vegetables or soup or something like that, but usually you wanted to give up something that caused a little - what Carmela? Lent is not fun like Advent which leads up to Christmas. As a Catholic and an Italian, it was important to suffer!

Carmela, what do you remember about giving things up for Lent? What did you give up for Lent? Do you remember giving up anything dumb for Lent? (She remembers writing things down in school - but I don’t)

But, I have to be honest, that the hardest thing about Lent for me, but really not for you, Carmela, was meatless Friday. For those of you who are not Catholic, it is a tradition that you do not eat meat on Fridays in Lent. And, actually, for a lot of our parents and grandparents, prior to Vatican II, every Friday was what they called a day of abstinence. 

Fridays in Lent were kind of hard for me because I don’t like fish, and fish was probably the most common thing to eat on Fridays in Lent. For whatever reason, fish did not count as meat, and so people would go nuts for fish. That is where things like Friday Night Fish Frys came from. It is also why you might start noticing that right around Lent, fast food places like McDonalds and Burger King start to advertising their fish sandwiches.

Now, I do like a good plate of fish and chips, but for you, Carmela, fish was actually a treat. Most of the time, though, my mom would make some baked fish dish, and I wouldn’t eat it, so she would make me an egg. That’s right, an egg. Eggs were ok on Fridays in Lent. 

But I do love fish and chips. And, just one other rando fact, in the US, we still use the term “chips” when we serve fish and chips, but honestly, we don’t serve chips, we serve french fries. In the UK, the fried potato treats called chips actually are a little different - they are shorter and thicker. And potato chips are called crisps in the UK. Go figure. 

https://spoonuniversity.com/lifestyle/difference-between-chips-vs-fries 

And I remember it being a REALLY big deal not to eat meat, and that if you accidentally did, it felt like a really huge sin. Which was stupid, but I just remember it being a huge deal. 

But fish and Lent are relevant for the episode this week because White Bordeaux is supposed to be a great wine for fish, and fried fish in particular, and so we thought it would be great to try some White Bordeaux with a couple of fish favorites. Fish and chips, and the McDonalds Filet-o-Fish which Carmela insists on calling a Fish ‘Wich. 

So should we talk a little about these wines before we taste and review them?

Brief overview of White Bordeaux 14:06

As I mentioned before, when I was originally thinking about what to cover in this episode, I wanted to focus on Semillon as a varietal by itself, but I found, at least around where we live, Semillon is really hard to find as a single varietal. It is most commonly found paired with Sauvignon Blanc, which is the classic blend in a White Bordeaux wine. So, that is what we are going with this week. Semillon, but as part of a white wine blend. 

And that is something really interesting about French wines - which I am still learning about - and that is they tend to be blended wines rather than single varietals. There are some exceptions, like Burgundy tends to just be Pinot Noir, but I find that the French, probably more than any other region, often blend their wines. And that means there can be a lot of variety in the wines, because the blends can vary quite a bit. 

And, we’ll see that in these White Bordeaux blends, two of which are from France, and a Bordeaux style blend from Washington State. All of these wines have Semillon and Sauvignon Blanc, but in different percentages. And one of these wines is a blend of Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc, and Muscadelle - which is a sweeter wine. Some White Bordeauxs are even 100% Sauvignon Blanc, so that’s where you see the variety of tastes and styles within White Bordeaux can be so broad.

In doing a little research on the interwebs, I was surprised to find out that only around 10% of all Bordeaux wine is white - the rest is dedicated to red Bordeaux wine. There is a historical reason for this - there as a terrible frost in the mid-1950s, and then a big demand for red Bordeaux (which is most famously a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot - along with other things like Cabernet Franc, Malbec, and Petit Verdot). Before that, about half of the wine in Bordeaux was white. 

https://www.vinovest.co/blog/white-bordeaux 

What I always find very interesting is that so many of the wines we see today in the US that are sold as single varietals - Cabernet, Merolt, Malbec, Petit Verdot, Cabernet Franc, Sauvignon Blanc - are very often used as blending wines in France, and not quite as often consumed on their own as a wine. 

According to an article on Wine Folly - which I love - called “Love Sauvignon Blanc, Try White Bordeaux - which seems to fit us great, because we love Sauvignon Blanc -  there are two types of White Bordeaux. The more common is the light and fruity style, and tends to be heavier on the Sauvignon Blanc. They are easier to find and a little less expensive, too. The more rare type, which I am not sure we are going to find in these, but may be in the Washington State wine which is heavier on the Semillon, is considered to be rich and creamy - maybe like a Chardonnay?!? - and more expensive and harder to find. 

We have a link in our show notes to this article from Wine Folly: https://winefolly.com/deep-dive/love-sauvignon-blanc-try-white-bordeaux/ 

All right, enough of this jibber jabber, let’s get to it! I am excited for this episode because this is another opportunity for us to learn. I don’t think this is a wine we have had before. Do you recall? I mean, we have had a lot of Sauvignon Blanc as a single varietal, but not so much as a blend. So, this will be really fun!

Wines and Ratings in this Episode  18:18

Wine: Dubourdieu Liaison Bordeaux

Region: France, Bordeaux

Producer: Dubourdieu

Year: 2019

Price: $19.99

Retailer: Total Wine

Alcohol: 13%

Grapes: 50% Sauvignon Blanc, 50% Semillon

What we tasted and smelled: airplane glue, rubber cement, oak, strong after taste, bitter, grapefruit, circus, tropical fruit, pith. Strong smell. Needs to warm up a bit.

Food pairing with: must be paired with food, especially fried fish

Rating: Joe   5 Carmela  5

Wine: L’Ecole No. 41 Luminesce

Region: Washington, Walla Walla

Producer: L’Ecole No. 41

Year: 2020

Price: $19.99

Retailer: Total Wine

Alcohol: 14.5%

Grapes: 62% Semillon, 38% Sauvignon Blanc

What we tasted and smelled: tropical fruit, guava, POG, tropical flowers, banana, glue, daiquiri, chi chi, pina colada, explodes in your mouth, needs to be a little warmer than ice cold, tasty.

Food pairing with: good on its own, cheese board, baked fish, not as much fried fish, luau party

Rating: Joe  7 Carmela  7

Wine: Belingard Bergerac Sec

Region: France, Dordogne Valley (South of Bordeaux, Southwest France)

Producer: Chateau Belingard

Year: 2021

Price: $14.99

Retailer: Total Wine

Alcohol: 13%

Grapes: 60% Sauvignon Blanc, 20% Semillon, 20% Muscadelle

What we tasted and smelled: passion fruit, POG, lemon, gummy candy apple, apple pie, yeast, cinnamon, spice, pie crust, smooth, delicious, sweet. Citrusy, lemon, orange in the taste. Glue.

Food pairing with: (Label says seafood, fried/smoked fish, salads) good with fried fish, shellfish, spicy food, Chinese food, ceviche.

Rating: Joe  8    Carmela  8

What is your overall take White Bordeaux? 

Not sure if it is a go-to. Would go for a plain Sauvignon Blanc. Good, enjoyable. If you like Chardonnay, may really like White Bordeaux. You must try it. 

Which one of these are you finishing tonight?

Carmela - Belingard

Joe - Belingard

Taste profiles expected from White Bordeaux:  37:23

• From Wine Folly
  • Some Bordeaux - the light and fruity which is more common - can have citrus, grapefruit, lemon, gooseberry (a tart grape), lime, grass, wet concrete, honey, passionfruit, honeysuckle flower.
  • Other Bordeaux is rich and creamy, tend to be heavier Semillon (L’Ecole?!?), and can leave an oily feeling on the tongue. Flavors include baked apples, pear, creme brulee, carmelized grapefruit, orange zest, ginger, figs, lemon butter, chamomile
• From the Dubourdieu winery
  • peach, citrus and hints of oak, bright acidity 
• L’Ecole
  • Citrus blossom, key lime, and lanolin (?!?) (which many compare to the smell of sheep – or almost metallic-y, but sweet, grassy and perhaps a little sour), accented by a warm, delicate spiciness. Crisp peach, Canary melon (?!?) (like a sweet honeydew, cantaloupe-meets-asian pear flavor), and lemon tart pervade, notes of jasmine, tangy
• Belingard
  • Citrus, intense flavor, dry ?!?

Outro and how to find us 40:07

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