A trip to any good wine shop tells the story: Bottles from Chili, Australia, South Africa and other far-flung locales now take up entire walls. Not that long ago, they would have been given a shelf or two at best. The same is true in restaurants, where wine lists as thick as phone books offer varietals and blends from around the globe, many of them of excellent quality. The emergence of so many new terroirs (wine is now made in all 50 American states!) is shaking up the wine world. Small vineyards are especially concerned—how can they stand out among so many competitors, many of whom are enormous with advertising budgets to match?
    It’s a question that is being asked everywhere, even in prestigious Bordeaux, where the classification of winegrowing properties is anything but simple. With 618,000 cultivated acres, 15,000 properties and 57 appellations, even the experts admit they sometimes get confused. The famous grands crus, which account for just 1 percent of Bordeaux properties, don’t have anything to worry about.
    But what will happen to the small producers hailing from the lesser-known appellations?
    “We have to simplify the classifications—that’s our priority,” says Christophe Château, director of the Union des Côtes de Bordeaux. The organization was founded in 1985, when several wines from the côteaux, or hillsides, of the Gironde department decided to band together to assert a common identity. The result was a grouping of five appellations—Côtes de Bourg, Premières Côtes de Bordeaux et Cadillac, Côtes de Castillon, Côtes de Francs and Côtes de Blaye—spanning 80,000 acres and nearly 1,400 properties.
    What do these geographically diverse vineyards have in common? First, a certain concept of quality. They own the middle ground between the very good and the ordinary. They also share a general location: They all run along the hills of the right bank that slope down toward the Gironde, the Dordogne and the Garonne. Another common trait is the dominance of the Merlot grape, which makes the wines fruity and full-bodied. Finally, these family-owned and managed properties are all about the same size—between 35 and 45 acres.
    The Union des Côtes de Bordeaux basically existed in name only until the mid-1990s, when wine consumption in France began to decline—a trend that extended even to the grands crus. Despite their good reputation and rising sales, Côtes winemakers were worried: More than 90 percent of their output was sold in France, compared with about 70 percent for Bordeaux wines as a whole. In the face of a shrinking domestic market, salvation would have to come from foreign markets.
    So the Union des Côtes shifted into high gear, looking for ways to become better known abroad in spite of limited financial resources. Tactics have ranged from the conventional to the iconoclastic. “Of course we hold tastings in retail stores and have booths at major trade shows,” says Château. “We have also created a new logo and are launching a new Web site (bordeaux-cotes.com), which should be up and running by October 2007.”
    On the more creative side, they have lobbied for a new common appellation—Côtes de Bordeaux—in the hope of increasing consumer recognition. Château is reasonably optimistic: “In France, getting an AOC requires a lot of patience. It’s taken three years of work, but we should get the green light by the end of 2007.” While these efforts were under way, one of the group’s five founding members, Côtes de Bourg, withdrew. The new appellation will thus consist of four communes: Cadillac, Blaye, Castillon and Francs. Soon wine lovers from Germany to Japan will be able to identify Côtes de Bordeaux simply by looking at the label.
    Another initiative involves inviting young chefs to visit the vineyards where these wines are made. The groundwork was laid in 2003 with the help of Bordeaux chef Jean-Pierre Xiradakis, who was involved in the Jean-Louis Palladin Foundation, named for one of French gastronomy’s most brilliant ambassadors in the U.S. Throughout his career, Palladin was known for seeking out the best ingredients, encouraging local producers and mentoring young talents. The foundation honors his memory by carrying on this work, helping young chefs discover quality products in the U.S. and abroad.
    Les Côtes joined in this effort by sponsoring a program that brings a young American chef to Bordeaux each year during the wine harvest. Along with discovering Côtes wines, they meet the people behind southwestern delicacies, from Arcachon oysters to boeuf de Bazas. Once these young chefs return home, they remember the charms of Les Côtes. “Thanks to this program,” notes Château, “our wines are now served at several top U.S. restaurants including New York’s Bernardin and Santa Ana’s Ambrosia.”
    Heartened by this initial success, the Union des Côtes de Bordeaux is now inviting two American chefs instead of one. It’s also setting its sights on the rest of Europe. Earlier this year, the first guest chef arrived from Riga, and there are plans to pick others from Athens, Moscow and Bristol later in 2007.
    Xiradakis, proprietor of Bordeaux’s landmark restaurant La Tupina, sees a clear affinity between his tasty, authentic dishes and the delicious, straightforward Côtes de Bordeaux. “Some Côtes wines even rival the grands crus classés without the prohibitive prices,” he says. “That’s important, because if a wine’s affordable, you will really relax and enjoy it. You never feel that way with expensive, rare vintages —you tremble when you sip them, afraid of losing a single drop!”
    There’s not much trembling going on at Xiradakis’s Bar Cave, the tiny wine bar he opened in 2000 just down the street from his restaurant. With tables spilling out onto the sidewalk and murals painted by the chef himself, it’s a warm, casual place serving charcuterie, homemade fries, regional cuisine … and wines from all the Côtes de Bordeaux.