Bordeaux Zodiac

The first sign of the zodiac is a starter: brave, impatient, competitive, and happiest when something is just beginning. You like your wine the way you like your plans, with a little heat and no hesitation.

Mouton means sheep, and Mouton Rothschild has used the ram as its emblem for generations. Pauillac holds three of the five first growths and pours first in line, just like the first sign of the zodiac. En primeur week lands in April, right in Aries season.

Your appellation

Pauillac, the power center of the Left Bank.

The bottle

Chateau Mouton Rothschild, ram and all, for the splurge. For real life, Chateau Pontet-Canet or Chateau Grand-Puy-Lacoste.

Pair it with

Rack of lamb. Pauillac lamb is a local specialty, so this is the hometown pairing.

Sommelier's tip

Young Pauillac is all tannin. Decant it for two hours, or buy a bottle with at least ten years on it.

Venus rules you through the senses. You are steady, loyal, and stubborn about quality, and you care how a wine feels as much as how it tastes. Comfort is not a weakness; it is a standard.

Venus rules you through pleasure, and Pomerol is the most hedonistic Merlot on earth. It is tiny, it has no classification at all, and it does not care. Petrus never asked anyone for permission. That refusal to be ranked is pure bull.

Your appellation

Pomerol, the velvet Merlot of the Right Bank.

The bottle

Petrus if Venus is paying. Otherwise Chateau La Conseillante or Chateau Gazin.

Pair it with

Braised short ribs, a mushroom anything, or truffle risotto.

Sommelier's tip

Pomerol softens earlier than the Left Bank. A ten-year-old bottle is often right in its sweet spot.

Mercury makes you quick, curious, funny, and social, with at least two opinions on everything. You light up with variety, conversation, and a good argument.

The name means between two seas, and it really sits between two rivers, the Garonne and the Dordogne. Gemini is the twins, and this wine is a blend of two grapes, Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon. Duality is written into the name.

Your appellation

Entre-Deux-Mers, the bright white between two rivers.

The bottle

Chateau Bonnet, the Lurton family estate and the classic Entre-Deux-Mers. Cheap enough to buy two.

Pair it with

Oysters from Arcachon Bay, the local move, or a plate of fried fish.

Sommelier's tip

Drink it young and cold. This is the one Bordeaux you never need to cellar.

The Moon makes you protective, sentimental, and deeply tied to home and family. You remember everyone's birthday and exactly what they drank at it. Your table is where people feel safe.

The crab lives on the riverbank, and these vineyards hug the Gironde estuary. This is homey, family-run Bordeaux, the bottles locals actually drink on a Tuesday. Blaye even has Vauban's massive riverside citadel, a crab shell built of stone.

Your appellation

Cotes de Bourg and Blaye, the family farms on the Gironde.

The bottle

Chateau Roc de Cambes in Bourg, from the team behind Saint-Emilion's Tertre Roteboeuf, or Chateau Bel-Air La Royere in Blaye.

Pair it with

A Sunday roast chicken, or steak with shallots and red wine sauce, Bordeaux style.

Sommelier's tip

This is where Bordeaux value lives. Same grapes, same river, a fraction of the price.

Ruled by the Sun itself, you are warm, generous, dramatic, and built for center stage. You love hard, host big, and never do anything halfway.

Leo is regal and wants to be adored. Margaux is the most seductive commune in the Medoc, and its namesake first growth lives in the most famous neoclassical palace in wine. Margaux also has more classified growths than any other commune. That is a lot of crowns.

Your appellation

Margaux, the perfumed showpiece of the Left Bank.

The bottle

Chateau Margaux for the palace. Chateau Palmer for the drama, or Chateau d'Angludet for a friendlier price.

Pair it with

Filet mignon, or duck breast with cherries.

Sommelier's tip

Margaux is all about perfume. Use a big glass and smell it for a full minute before you take a sip.

Mercury in an earth sign makes you precise, observant, and quietly devoted to doing things right. You notice every detail, and you want purity, not decoration.

Virgo is the critic who reorganizes everything. Saint-Emilion re-ranks its own classification about every ten years, usually followed by lawsuits, and in 2022 Ausone, Cheval Blanc, and Angelus walked out entirely. Virgo is also the harvest maiden, and her season is when picking begins.

Your appellation

Saint-Emilion, the perfectionist on the limestone plateau.

The bottle

Chateau Figeac, promoted to the top tier in 2022, or Chateau Canon on the limestone plateau.

Pair it with

Lamprey in red wine sauce if you're brave, the Saint-Emilion classic. Roast pork or a mushroom tart if you're not.

Sommelier's tip

Read the label carefully. Saint-Emilion, Saint-Emilion Grand Cru, and Grand Cru Classe are three different things, and only the last one is actually classified.

Venus in an air sign makes you charming, fair, and allergic to ugliness. You see every side of an argument, which makes you a great host and a terrible decider.

Libra is the scale, and Pessac-Leognan is the only part of Bordeaux classified for both red and white. Haut-Brion was the one chateau outside the Medoc invited into the 1855 ranking, the diplomat at the table. It was also the first Bordeaux named in English writing, when Samuel Pepys drank it at a London tavern in 1663.

Your appellation

Pessac-Leognan, where the red and the white weigh the same.

The bottle

Chateau Haut-Brion for the legend. Domaine de Chevalier makes one of the great reds and one of the great whites, a true Libra estate.

Pair it with

Grilled fish with beurre blanc for the white, roast chicken for the red.

Sommelier's tip

Try the white. White Pessac-Leognan ages for decades and costs a fraction of white Burgundy at the same level.

Intense, private, magnetic, and all or nothing. You go deep or you do not go at all, and you trust the things that take time to reveal themselves.

Scorpio rules sex, death, and transformation, and noble rot is all three. Botrytis shrivels the grapes and turns decay into nectar. Pickers go through the vines again and again in late October and November, right in Scorpio season, choosing berries one bunch at a time.

Your appellation

Sauternes, where rot turns into gold.

The bottle

Chateau d'Yquem, the only estate ranked above first growth in 1855. For a gentler sting, Chateau Suduiraut or Chateau Rieussec.

Pair it with

Roquefort, foie gras, or a pear tart.

Sommelier's tip

Serve it cold, around 50 to 54 degrees, in small glasses. A half bottle goes a long way.

Jupiter makes you an optimist, an explorer, and a truth-teller. You would rather have a story than a souvenir, and you will try anything once.

Sagittarius is the traveler at the edge of the map. Saint-Estephe is the northernmost of the great Medoc communes, with more clay and a tougher personality. Its star, Cos d'Estournel, was built by Louis-Gaspard d'Estournel, who shipped his wine to India and crowned his cellar with pagoda towers.

Your appellation

Saint-Estephe, the rugged northern frontier of the Medoc.

The bottle

Chateau Cos d'Estournel, pagodas and all. For value, Chateau de Pez or Chateau Phelan Segur.

Pair it with

Spice-rubbed lamb, or a curry, in honor of d'Estournel's India trade.

Sommelier's tip

Saint-Estephe is the slowest Bordeaux to come around. Buy it young and forget about it for a decade.

Saturn gives you ambition, discipline, and a dry sense of humor. You play the long game, and you understand that the best things get better with time.

The goat climbs, and Fronsac is the hilliest corner of the Right Bank. Capricorn is patient and old money, and Fronsac was more prestigious than Saint-Emilion in the 18th century. It has spent the time since quietly waiting for its comeback, making long-lived reds that reward patience.

Your appellation

Fronsac, the patient climber on the Right Bank hills.

The bottle

Chateau de la Dauphine or Chateau Les Trois Croix, both serious estates making age-worthy Fronsac.

Pair it with

Beef stew, cassoulet, or anything braised all afternoon.

Sommelier's tip

Fronsac is one of the best-value cellar picks in Bordeaux. Buy a case and open one a year.

Independent, inventive, and a little contrarian. You root for the underdog, distrust anything too popular, and usually arrive at the future before everyone else.

Aquarius is the eccentric and the futurist. Clairet is the ancestral pale red the English named claret, now a forgotten oddball between red and rosé. In 2021 Bordeaux also approved new grapes for a warming climate, including Touriga Nacional and Alvarinho. Aquarius gets the oldest Bordeaux and the future one at once.

Your appellation

Bordeaux Clairet, the original claret, plus the new climate grapes.

The bottle

Chateau Penin, one of the best-known Clairet producers.

Pair it with

Charcuterie, grilled sardines, or a summer barbecue.

Sommelier's tip

Serve it chilled, like a rosé with more backbone. Then ask your shop who is planting the new climate grapes.

Dreamy, empathic, artistic, and romantic. You feel everything, you live half in your imagination, and you are drawn to water and anything a little magical.

Two fish swim in opposite directions, and Barsac has two identities: its wines can legally be labeled Barsac or Sauternes. The magic fog comes from two waters meeting, when the cold Ciron river runs into the warmer Garonne. Barsac is a little lighter and more ethereal than Sauternes, which is very Pisces.

Your appellation

Barsac, the dreamy sister of Sauternes.

The bottle

Chateau Climens, long called the lord of Barsac, or Chateau Coutet.

Pair it with

Blue cheese, apricot tart, or spicy Thai food.

Sommelier's tip

Barsac is a touch fresher than Sauternes. Try it with dinner, not just dessert.