Bordeaux

Bordeaux (French pronunciation: ​[bɔʁdo]; Gascon: Bordèu) is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.

The municipality (commune) of Bordeaux proper has a population of 241,287 (2012). Together with its suburbs and satellite towns Bordeaux is the center of the Bordeaux Métropole, which with 737,492 inhabitants (as of 2012) is the 9th largest in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture of the Gironde department. Its inhabitants are called "Bordelais" (for men) or "Bordelaises" (women). The term "Bordelais" may also refer to the city and its surrounding region.

The city's nicknames are "La perle d'Aquitaine" (The Pearl of Aquitaine), and "La Belle Endormie" (Sleeping Beauty) in reference to the old center which had black walls due to pollution. Nowadays, this is not the case. In fact, a part of the city, Le Port de La Lune, was almost completely renovated. Bourdeaux is the city with has the highest number of preserved historical buildings in France, except for Paris.

Bordeaux wine

A Bordeaux wine is any wine produced in the Bordeaux region of France, centred on the city of Bordeaux and covering the whole area of the Gironde department, with a total vineyard area of over 120,000 hectares, making it the largest wine growing area in France. Average vintages produce over 700 million bottles of Bordeaux wine, ranging from large quantities of everyday table wine, to some of the most expensive and prestigious wines in the world. Eighty-nine percent of wine produced in Bordeaux is red (called "claret" in Britain), with sweet white wines (most notably Sauternes), dry whites, and (in much smaller quantities) rosé and sparkling wines (Crémant de Bordeaux) collectively making up the remainder. Bordeaux wine is made by more than 8,500 producers or châteaux. There are 54 appellations of Bordeaux wine.

History

The vine was introduced to the Bordeaux region by the Romans, probably in the mid-1st century, to provide wine for local consumption, and wine production has been continuous in the region since then.