If you ever hear an Englishman order a claret in a Bordeaux restaurant, do not search the wine list for a grape variety or an appellation you do not know. You have just come across a word nearly nine centuries old, which has recently made an official comeback in Bordeaux in an entirely new form.
A word born from a royal marriage
The history of claret begins in the 12th century, and it reads like a medieval fairy tale. In 1152, Eleanor of Aquitaine married Henry Plantagenet, the future king of England. This union placed Aquitaine, and therefore Bordeaux, under English rule for nearly three centuries.
English merchants then discovered Bordeaux wines, which were lighter and paler than the reds they were used to. They gave them a name: claret, from the French word clairet, which designated precisely these lightly coloured, almost translucent red wines.
The word was to have an extraordinary journey. Over the centuries, as Bordeaux wines became darker and more structured, claret remained in the British vocabulary as the generic term to designate… any red wine from Bordeaux. To this day, a seasoned English wine enthusiast will spontaneously speak of claret for a Margaux or a Saint-Julien, regardless of the word's original lightness.
An unexpected renaissance in 2025-2026
Here is the most surprising part of the story: Bordeaux has just reappropriated this word to create, literally, a new style of wine.
Facing the continuous decline in red wine consumption, a global phenomenon, but particularly marked among younger generations, the Bordeaux and Bordeaux Supérieur wine council launched a major consultation as early as 2023, and the conclusion was unequivocal: young consumers are turning away from traditional reds, which are deemed too heavy, too tannic, and not suited enough to casual drinking with friends as an aperitif.
The response, unveiled at the Wine Paris exhibition in 2026, was to resurrect the word claret, but not to designate all Bordeaux reds as the English did. It involves a recent relaunch of the Bordeaux appellation for a style of ultra-fresh wines. From now on, the traditional mention Bordeaux Claret is applicable and regulated, starting from the 2025 harvest.
Not to be confused with the AOP Bordeaux Clairet, which is a darker style of rosé, deeply rooted in the Bordeaux vineyards, particularly on the Right Bank.
What is this new claret like?
Concretely, Bordeaux Claret is conceived as the exact opposite of a grand cru classé kept for twenty years in a cellar:
- A pale robe, ruby to violet, far from the dark colour of traditional reds
- Low tannins, thanks to a short maceration of only two to four days
- No oak barrel ageing: a wine designed for freshness, not for oakiness
- Made to be served chilled, around 5°C, rather than chambré like a classic red
- Made to be drunk young, within two years, rather than to age in a cellar
Merlot largely dominates the first vintages, sometimes with a little Malbec. Each wine must pass before an independent tasting jury to earn the right to display the mention Bordeaux Claret on the label.
A calculated commercial gamble
The launch is far from anecdotal. Around forty producers already committed to the adventure in the first year, with nearly two million bottles produced, including names that are far from marginal, such as Mouton Cadet or Calvet, which shows that major Bordeaux houses believe in it.
The marketing strategy is clear: rather than targeting supermarket shelves, Bordeaux Claret is primarily designed for bars and restaurants, served by the glass. A way to reach consumers where they are already drinking wine casually, rather than trying to convince them in the aisles.
A minor irony of history: in the United Kingdom, where the word claret remains very closely associated with classic Bordeaux red wine in the minds of enthusiasts, some wine professionals view this reappropriation with a cautious eye; for them, there is no question of seeing their age-worthy grand crus suddenly associated with a light wine to be drunk chilled with mates.
What this says about wine consumption today
This small Bordeaux episode speaks volumes about a broader evolution. Wine, in France as elsewhere, is consumed less and less, and the global decline in consumption continues year after year, but consumer expectations are changing in nature rather than disappearing:
- People drink less, but they want to understand better what they are drinking. Wine is becoming a cultural object as much as a beverage
- People are looking for lighter, fresher, simpler formats to enjoy without special expertise
- The ritual surrounding wine, the aperitif, the shared moment, sometimes takes precedence over age-worthy and heritage wine
Bordeaux Claret was born precisely from this observation: rather than asking young consumers to adapt to the codes of traditional fine wine, Bordeaux chose to invent a style that adapts to them.
Why it is interesting if you are visiting the region
For a passing visitor, this return of claret is a rare opportunity: that of witnessing, almost live, the birth of a new style of wine in a region with over two thousand years of winemaking history. If you come across the mention Bordeaux Claret on a wine list or a label during your stay, you will not be stumbling upon an old classic, but rather one of the very first vintages of a category officially born in 2025.
Enough to turn a simple glass of fresh red wine into a brief lesson in Bordeaux history and current affairs!