A Pioneer’s Invention

Nonconformist and determined to glorify the terroir of Cos d’Estournel, Louis-Gaspard saw every new market, especially India, as an exciting opportunity. The wines of the estate were bottled and sealed with glass stoppers before being shipped to Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay as early as the 1830s, according to written sources, and likely even earlier.

After a long journey, some of the wines of Cos d’Estournel were shipped back to France from India. When the bottles were opened, it was clear the wines had gained in elegance and richness, quite simply improved by sailing from Bordeaux to India and then back again.
Indeed a stunning example of serendipity!

« The movement of the waves improves the wine and rapidly delivers a bouquet that could only otherwise be produced by time. »

– Madame de La Roche, Journal of a Journey through France, 1787, written by the author of Rosalie’s Letters.

As the wines repeatedly crossed the Equator and were exposed to extended travel, temperature changes, salt water, and particularly the rocking motion of the ships, they took on a « superiority […] both in terms of elegance and the development of aromas and persistence, for the wines of Cos d’Estournel shipped back from India in bottles sealed with glass stoppers, » according to the 1843 Congress of French Winemakers.

So Louis-Gaspard d’Estournel decided to sell these Retour des Indes wines, shipping extra bottles alongside those for his clients in India that would then be returned to Bordeaux every year. The great sovereigns and major figures of the time were quick to delight in Retour des Indes, and the wine would be served at the tables of the Queen of England, the Emperor of all the Russias, and Baron de Rothschild. Louis-Gaspard had launched a new trend, and other estates emulated his approach, offering a growing number of wines labeled Retour des Indes.
Even the expression came to be commonly used!

The wine became so fashionable that a new expression became common parlance, and « Retour des Indes » was used to describe an item or event of great quality. An example can be found in Le Monde Illustré from 1863:

« How do you find my outfit, Monsieur?

– Retour de l’Inde, Madame!  »

The growing popularity of steamships—with their reduced travel times and smoother sailing—would eventually seal the fate of Retour des Indes, marking the end of an adventure and the birth of a legend!