Читать книгу Best of Bordeaux - Rolf Bichsel - Страница 22

22

B) all other wines from surrounding areas and the remaining southwest were

refused access to the port until after Christmas, could not bear comparison with

other generally more powerful and transportable drinks such as coffee, tea and

chocolate. This also applied to brandy and there was strong competition from

Portugal – military and economic partners of England since the 1386 Treaty of

Windsor – and Spain whose ‘sack' from Jerez was sold by the Vintner's Company

in London from 1565. Did Shakespeare have Falstaff drink Bordeaux? Absolutely

not! The womaniser declaimed in the 1597 play Henry IV, part 2: ‘A good sherris-

sack (...) ascends into the brain (...) and warms the blood'. No mention of claret!

A successful product cannot just be plucked out of thin air: you first have to

analyse the production conditions, the market and sales opportunities. If the

conditions do not match the consumers' needs, you invest in clever marketing.

You identify consumer motivators – people who define the spirit of the age – and

allow them to test the product, invite them to a good meal or a relaxing few days

on a yacht. That is exactly what the de Pontacs and their neighbours skilfully

did – they analysed the natural conditions and made the best of them. Because

they had gravel mounds rather than the fertile sediment along the banks of the

Garonne, they simply gathered up the latter from every mud deposit they could

find in order to improve their gravel soils (anyone who believes that vines will

grow in stone alone will end up bitterly disappointed) and then planted their