History of Bordeaux wine soldiers. However, it is only in 71 AD that Pliny the Elder recorded the first real evidence of vineyards in Bordeaux. The area's location along the Gironde estuary provided an ideal trade route with the British Isles. Wine historian, Roger Dion, has theorized that the first vine cuttings that the Romans brought to Bordeaux originated in the Rioja region of Spain. The early budding of the Bordeaux wine industry suffered a number of disruptions following the fall of Rome. The area was occupied by Vandals in AD 408, Goths in 406, and Visigoths in 414. The area was also subjected
Bordeaux wine regions Bordeaux and includes the four famous communes of St-Estephe, Pauillac, St. Julien and Margaux. It is about 60 km north to south, and about 10 km wide, with around 10,600 hectares under vines and a production of about 50 million litres per year. All the wine made here is red. The northern or down-stream part was formerly known as the "Bas-Médoc" (lower Médoc), but is now simply (but confusingly) labeled as "Médoc". This region is some 34 km long, by 10 km wide, stretching from the mouth of the Gironde to St-Estèphe, and includes some 5800 hectares of vines, producing