who drained the marshes of medoc in bordeaux france planting small vineyards
History of Bordeaux wine In the seventeenth century, Dutch traders began to drain the marshland around the Médoc and encouraged the planting of vineyards. The Dutch would also open new distribution channels to the Bourgeosis which helped usher in a second era of prosperity.[13] At the turn of the 18th century, the War of the Spanish Succession broke out which made navigation along the French coast line and the English channel very risky. Additionally, the tensions between English and French governments halted all "official" trade between Bordeaux and the London market. Despite the government sanction, bottles of prized Bordeaux wines began showing up in large quantities at auction houses in London, Bristol, and Plymouth as the captured bounty of privateers. Wine historian, Hugh Johnson, speculates that this was an arranged affair between the Bordeaux chateaux, the privateers and the London auction houses to get around the war time politics of the period.[14]