In recent years, the Place de Bordeaux—Bordeaux’s historical merchant network of buying local wines and selling them throughout the world—has been evolving. In a nutshell, it’s gone global. Major players such as Joanne, Duclot, and CVBG have been traveling internationally, looking to secure allocations of big names that could be of interest to collectors throughout the fine wine world. Italy and California have been areas of particular focus, with icons such as Ornellaia, Masseto, Opus One, Promontory, Dalla Valle, and Vérité being early proponents of the system.

It’s a win-win. Bordeaux merchants get to broaden their portfolios and global reach. And small producers can establish a presence in far-flung markets that would have otherwise been too expensive and difficult to break into, monitor, and maintain.

Speaking with several Napa wineries recently, the ability to sell their wines on the Place has been a game-changer.

“We have selected around 16 negociants that will sell our wine starting this September,” said Napa-based winemaker Luc Morlet of Morlet Family Vineyards. “It’s a great way to help grow our international presence, which is necessary.”

While spring is the big Bordeaux en primeur sales period, September has become the month for La Place de Bordeaux to feature bottled wines from beyond Bordeaux, with select negociants offering new releases from their growing lists of international suppliers. This year sees releases of wines from Argentina, Australia, Austria, Chile, China, France, Hungary, Italy, Spain, South Africa, and the USA. The only wines I didn’t taste and review for this article were the Italian wines since our Italian reviewer, Susan Hulme MW, has already or will soon be covering these.

Happy Place de Bordeaux wine hunting!