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Bordeaux’s wine industry has historically adapted to consumer habits. In the 1970s the region leaned towards white, but by the 2000s was famed for powerful oak-aged reds.
Now it’s turning to a much older form of red with a name familiar to anglophones: claret. With origins in the 12th century, when it was first shipped to Britain, claret was soon our favoured wine, an unofficial byword for bordeaux red, which in recent decades has become increasingly full-bodied.
The Bordeaux protected designation of origin has now formally validated bordeaux claret, linking it to the existing Bordeaux appellation. Yet the bottles, available from the 2025 vintage, will differ from what many in Britain consider claret – lighter, less tannic and lower in alcohol.
Bordeaux has been greatly affected by climate breakdown. Some impacts have been a “positive challenge”, said Stéphanie Sinoquet, the managing director of the Bordeaux growers’ association, with producers turning to untraditional, heat-resistant grape varieties. Warmer conditions were allowing grapes to reach a “better and more consistent ripeness”.
Consequently, ever-rising alcohol levels were of concern – 15% is now common. For Jean-Raymond Clarenc, the director of the Bordeaux branch of the Grands Chais de France, the new classification is a “strategic response to these environmental shifts. By opting for shorter macerations and a profile that values freshness over power, we can produce balanced, elegant wines even in warmer vintages. It’s a way of turning a climatic challenge into an oenological opportunity.”
Wine consumption habits are changing for several reasons. Warmer weather means drinkers are seeking lighter, fruitier bottles – in France as well as Britain, consumption of red wine is falling. Lighter, chillable reds have become de rigueur – bordeaux claret is designed to be consumed at 8-12C, experts told the Guardian. “Fresher and fruitier styles are perceived as more relaxed and inclusive,” said Sinoquet, adding they were more versatile and easier to drink outside meals.
While lighter claret (and the even lighter clairet, a dark rosé) never fully disappeared, Bordeaux producers turned to powerful reds that earned international acclaim and appealed to wealthy collectors, and their prices soared. “Classic bordeaux reds will continue to offer the structured, age-worthy styles,” said Sinoquet.
Many cited bordeaux’s spiralling prices as a reason for its struggles. “A 50-year boom is over, vineyards are being abandoned, we’ve even ripped out a few plots ourselves,” said Tony Laithwaite, the founder of the wine retailer Laithwaites. He cited collapsing demand in key markets including China, sales in France dropping and a swing towards white wine. “Bordeaux’s posh and pricey image just doesn’t fit any more, in these times of straitened circumstances for everyone.”
For Jonathan Kleeman, a sommelier and wine consultant, millennials are less likely to collect expensive wines than previous generations, preferring wines that are ready to drink. “The new category is going to be interesting,” Kleeman said. “It actually harks back to the old days. Bordeaux didn’t used to be the big wines they are today. It’s actually bringing an old English term back.”
Could it confuse drinkers? “Not really, these wines are aimed at younger generations who don’t really use the word ‘claret’,” he said. Kleeman cited other old wines now fashionable again, from pétillant naturel or “pet-nat”, a traditional form of sparkling wine, to the use of amphorae, ceramic storing vessels popular with natural wine producers. “It could be a very good move, and people ‘in the know’ might like the irony of calling it ‘claret’.”
Today, Burgundy is widely considered the world’s most expensive wine region. Will claret be more in line with its pinot noir reds? “I don’t think so,” said sommelier Tom Claxton. “I think the similarities will be a lighter body, but I’d expect these to be more playful or ‘fun’ wines.”
