This Offer Isn't Really About Wine; It’s a Small Way to Help the People of Bordeaux
Atlas Fire. Glass Fire. Tubbs Fire.
These are names that anyone who follows California wine knows all too well. They forever changed parts of Napa and Sonoma. The current wildfires outside Bordeaux—the Gironde Fires—have burned nearly twice as much land.
The good news is that the fires are now contained, and the vineyards themselves have largely been spared. But as we saw in California, the story isn't just about vineyards. It's about the people.
These fires tore through some of the oldest man-made forests in France. Beginning in the 1400s, generations planted these forests to help drain the marshlands around Bordeaux and transform them into productive farmland. Today, after years of drought and extreme heat, those same straight rows of resin-rich maritime pines became enormous corridors of fuel.
More than 220,000 residents were evacuated. Over 105,000 acres have burned—an area nearly twice the size of Washington, D.C. What many families will find when they return home remains uncertain. I honestly cannot begin to imagine what they are going through.
Yet there have also been remarkable stories of courage. I watched an interview with a local farmer who said, "I was born here. I'm going to die here. Why wouldn't I stay and help?" He had mounted a water tank in the back of his pickup truck, spending his days extinguishing small brush fires and alerting firefighters through WhatsApp whenever one grew beyond what he could manage. That, to me, is heroism.
So today's offer is a little different.
If you would like to support the people of the Gironde, I've included a link to donate directly to the Gironde Red Cross. Any contribution, large or small, will help the people who make Bordeaux what it is—not only the vineyard workers and château staff, but the families who own small businesses, the hospitality workers, the truck drivers, the coopers, the merchants, and countless others whose names we'll never know but whose work sustains one of the world's great wine regions. If you choose to donate, I'd genuinely love to hear from you so I can thank you personally.
I've also chosen a wine that feels particularly appropriate: 2019 Madame de Beaucaillou, the regional wine of the Ducru-Beaucaillou family. Merlot-driven and just entering a wonderful stage of maturity, it delivers everything I enjoy about classic Left Bank Bordeaux: medium-bodied, elegant, quietly complex, with the distinctive stony minerality that has long made Ducru one of my favorite estates.
For every bottle purchased, Gordon's will donate approximately 15% of the purchase price to the Gironde Red Cross. In doing so, we continue supporting the négociants and châteaux that form the backbone of Bordeaux's wine economy while also helping provide immediate relief to the people rebuilding their lives.
The fires are now fully contained, but the need has not disappeared. Recovery will take months, if not years, and relief efforts continue today. Whether you choose to donate directly, purchase a bottle, or simply keep the people of the Gironde in your thoughts, thank you. Every gesture helps.
92 Points, James Suckling
Really floral and pretty with currants, cherries and some violets and stones. Medium-bodied with a creamy texture. Attractive tannins and stony undertones. A large percentage of merlot with the cabernet, making it fresh and firm. Sophisticated. Better after 2024.(CC)