This Bordeaux boutique that sells little-known Gironde specialties

Le Figaro Bordeaux

Rue de la Maison-daurade, a few steps from the very commercial rue Sainte-Catherine, the front of the Comptoir bordelais stands out like a point of light in the gray sky. Behind its windows are kept 8000 to 8500 product references, more than half of which are local. “There aren’t many Bordeaux references that we don’t do”assures Nicolas Boutillier, the manager of this boutique founded around fifteen years ago by brothers Jean and Pierre Baudry. Le Figaro looked at the little-known specialties that it offers for sale.

Bordeaux corks

Inspired by the corks that seal wine bottles, Bouchons de Bordeaux are made up of“a lace crepe filled with almond paste and fine candied Bordeaux grapes (a local grape brandy equivalent to Cognac or Armagnac)”explains Jean Simon, who has been advising clients of Comptoir Bordeaux for five years now. The sweet treat, created by chocolatier pastry chef Jacques Pouquet in 1976, comes in several South-West flavors. It goes perfectly with coffee or a frozen dessert. A specialty often overshadowed by the fame of cannelés, which remains no less tasty.

Bordeaux spritz and Lillet

Founded in 1818 in Tain-l'Hermitage, in the Rhône, the Calvet house moved to Bordeaux in 1876. It has prospered since then and maintains ties in Gironde where it sells a local Spritz*. “Unlike a traditional spritz, this is a crémant de Bordeaux made from an orange liqueur which gives it flavor”describes Jean Simon, salesman at the Bordeaux counter.

The city's essential alcohol, Lillet* rubs shoulders with this unique crémant on the displays. Made since 1872 in Podensac, a village south of Bordeaux, Lillet is a blend of wine and fruit infusion on sale in all the good bars of “Belle Endormie”. White, red or rosé, this alcoholic nectar can be enjoyed dry, with ice cubes or in cocktails. For connoisseurs, it even has a vintage prestige cuvée (2015) from the large reserve of Maison Lillet.

Saint-Émilion macaroons

Difficult to find real macarons from Saint-Émilion, made by Nadia Fermigier, in Bordeaux: the house does not deliver. To sell this product, the recipe of which has been kept secret since 1620, the Comptoir Bordeaux visits the site twice a week. Invented by a community of nuns – the Ursulines – the recipe should not be confused with that of Parisian macarons. “It’s a simple recipe, based on sweet and bitter almonds, which form a very crunchy biscuit”explains Jean Simon. A Gironde sweetness ideal to accompany the coffee following Sunday lunch or tea with friends on a rainy afternoon.

Bordeaux whiskey

Established on the cobblestones of Port de la Lune since 2017, Moon Harbor distills Bordeaux whisky*, aged in rehabilitated barrels of Bordeaux wines. In this cellar, installed in a former bunker built by the Germans in the heart of the current port of Bordeaux, the distillery innovates. “They have a first round and fruity whiskey in the Scottish style, a second version 100% corn in an American bourbon style and a third, the most original, which is smoked with algae from the Arcachon basin”explains Jean Simon. This single malt smoked with algae, aged in ex-Sauternes barrels before being finished for six months in ex-red wine barrels, is called “Dock 3”. Its uniqueness should interest fans of peated whiskeys.

Marie-Hélène Hérouart / Le Figaro

Médoc branches and Sauternes grapes

In the Margaux appellation, between two bottles of great wines, a chocolatier called Mademoiselle de Margaux stands out. In the eponymous village, this artisan produces chocolates in the shape of vine branches. These branches of the Médoc, of which Le Figaro recommends the intense cocoa version, available from 68% dark chocolate to milk chocolate and the classic orange flavor.

At the Comptoir bordelais, chocolate lovers can also be tempted by Sauternes grapes from Guinguet. The delicacy, composed of a dried white grape, macerated in Sauternes and coated in dark chocolate, is typical of the region. It is also often found under the name of golden grapes.

Castle salt and pepper

Less famous than the very famous Guérande salt, château salt is enjoyed with red meat, fish or simply vegetables. Composed of coarse sea salt soaked in Merlot or Cabernet, two grape varieties characteristic of the Bordeaux vineyards, this spice adds to the flavor of a dish. Inherited from similar processes, its counterpart, Bordeaux pepper, is even more unknown.

Cannelés with rum and rum arranged with cannelés

How to leave Bordeaux without tasting a cannelé? At Comptoir Bordeaux, sweetness is sold in all its forms. After purchasing it vacuum-packed to better preserve its crunchiness to enjoy a few days later or to give as a gift, the customer is sometimes tempted by the rum cannelé* from La Toque cuivrée, the Bordeaux equivalent of the rum baba.

And if his allegiance is more to rum than to cannelé, the gourmand can always succumb to rum arranged with cannelé from Mama Samma. Also composed of Marie Galante IGP agricultural rum and homemade brown sugar syrup, this aperitif aims to be a “balance of gluttony” according to the house's website.

*Alcohol abuse is dangerous for your health. Consume in moderation