Bordeaux trade

The sheer quantity of wine produced in Bordeaux, the fact that so much requires ageing, and the historical importance of Bordeaux as a port (see bordeaux, history), mean that its wine trade is more stratified than most—even if wine is no longer the city’s economically most important commodity.

Bordeaux wines have always been produced by one category of people and sold by another. The wine producers of the region range from world-famous estates with 200 ha/500 acres under vine, to owners of 2.5 ha or less, whose wines nowadays may also be world-famous (see garage wines) or whose grapes are delivered to one of the region’s wine co-operatives, or vinified in conditions of precarious hygiene for personal consumption.