Study Bordeaux
Bordeaux, learned the way I learned it: a question at a time, from the ground up. There are 4 ways in here, from the cards to the examination.
The flash cards · 854
5 levels, named for the ladder of 1855
Every card is a question from my own notes, with its answer hidden until you turn it. There are 854 of them. The levels climb from Cinquième Cru, what everyone at the table is expected to know, to Premier Cru, where the examiner finds out who did the reading.
A round is 20 questions, drawn from the ones you know least. Score 85% or better and the next level opens. Your record stays in your browser.
The map drill · 40
The 6th level: point at it instead of saying it
The 5 levels ask you to say it. This one asks you to point at it. A name comes up, an appellation or a river, and you find it on the map of the Gironde, zooming in as far as you need. There are 40 names, and the map tells you whether you were right.
Bordeaux is stacked, and the drill knows it: asked for Haut-Médoc, a click inside Pauillac is correct, because that ground really is Haut-Médoc. What it will not accept is a guess in the wrong half of the department.
The Quick Guides · 15
Bordeaux wines explained in quick study guides
These study guides are designed to be a quick reference on the topics people most commonly ask about Bordeaux wines. Each one tackles a single question, answered in plain language in the very first line and then explained in more detail, with sources attached so you can dig deeper. Think of it as the clear, straightforward answer I would give you across a table.
Above the ladder · 20
Premier Cru Supérieur, the examination
In 1855 the brokers gave 1 wine, and 1 only, a rank above the Firsts. This is that level. 20 questions, every one of them answered somewhere in the Château Case Files and none of them anywhere else. It is open book: the cases are the book. Read them properly and you will pass. Skim them and you will not.
Compiled by Antonio “Guto” Assumpção, Master of Bordeaux, Wine Scholar Guild.