Bordeaux for Connoisseurs
*Copyright Aksel Ritenis
Connoisseur Magazine Editor Axel Ritenis has a passion for Bordeaux that started in Australia as a Sydney retailer with the discovery of Ch. Lascombe and Latour, a revelation! He has made numerous trips to Bordeaux and regions over 30 years, attended VINEXPO on 4 separate occasions, been a guest at many Chateaux dinners and Tastings, attended many Bordeaux tastings in London whilst Connoisseur editor, and has visited all the major wine regions of France as well as many of the main chateaux in Bordeaux. As a wine educator and Bordeaux wine Importer and merchant in the Baltics (as the local Baron Philippe de Rothschild agent) he educated the Hoteliers and restauranteurs about Bordeaux wines and also had the “dubious honour” of consulting some of the Top Oligarchs on establishing their Bordeaux Collections. He authored the first Latvian language Wine Book, launched a wine and Food magazine Vins+Gastro as well as the first Restaurant Guide and spent many years educating sommeliers and restauranteurs on wine service and wine culture. He continues to visit many of the wineries of the Bordaux region keeping abreast of the latest developments. Axel is a seasoned wine educator and is offering Bordeaux Wine tours in 2014 as part of the Connoisseur Magazine Events and Tours Programme!
The Bordeaux region is located in south east of France and it is the largest region of winemaking in the world. It is as large (100 000 ha) as all the vineyards of Germany together. Four of five Bordeaux wine bottles are filled with red wine. There are about thirteen thousand wineries located here and mainly red wines (a little also white, sparkling and rose wines) are made in them.
