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Wine Word of the Week: Left bank
By Kori ~ August 16th, 2011.
This week’s Wine Word of the Week is left bank.
Official definition from Jancis Robinson’s The Oxford Companion to Wine:
Left bank is an expression for that part of the Bordeaux wine region that is on the left bank of the river Garonne. It includes, travelling down river, Graves, Sauternes, Barsac, Pessac-Leognan, Medoc, and all the appellations of the Medoc. The most obvious characteristic shared by the red wines of these appellations, as distinct from right bank appellations, is that the dominant grape variety is Cabernet Sauvignon rather than Merlot and Cabernet Franc, although there are many other distinctions.
Layman’s terms from Kori:
Left bank refers to the part of the Bordeaux region of France on the “left bank†or west side of the Garonne River and Gironde estuary. Oftentimes, left bank wines are Cabernet Sauvignon-based blends.
Filed under: French Wine, Wine Word of the Week
