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Carmarthen and Bordeaux - The French Connection

"If I had to make a list of my all-time favourite ten wines, they would all be French" Mathew Jukes

Wine drinking in this country has never been so popular and today there is a variety of wines to choose from with almost the entire world offering up options. However some of the earliest records of wine being imported to Wales indicate a strong link with France and in particular Bordeaux which remains today a fine wine producing region. Bordeaux has a long history in wine culture, it was known in Roman times and the combination of the local climate, the soil and the grape varieties have served to sustain the tradition of fine wine making over the centuries.

When, in AD 1152, Eleanor of Aquitaine married Henry of Anjou, who later became Henry 11, the alliance brought with it a rich dowry: Bordeaux and part of the Loire Valley, another renowned wine growing region with many vineyards. For three centuries these regions prospered as a result of this country's appetite for their wine.

In the 13th century there were ships sailing up the Towy with such names as "Le Nicholas de Kemerdyn" and "Le Julian de Kemerdyn" bringing wine to the garrison of Carmarthen castle from foreign ports including Bordeaux.

However it was in the early part of the 14th century that Carmarthen was recognized as a major port particularly for export purposes and a key outlet for wool traders especially.

Import trade centered on the French ports such as Bordeaux and La Rochelle. As well as considerable quantities of salt being sent over ships were laden with the wines of Gascony and Bordeaux. Doubtless much, if not all of this wine found its way to the gentry of the time who consumed huge amounts each year with some households reportedly drinking up to 55 bottles a day on average!

In the 16th century more formal and accurate records were kept, wine being recorded in "Tuns" the definition of which is "A large cask that holds 252 old wine gallons or 216 imperial gallons" and a typical log book entry would read :-

              29/6/1564 - The ship Le Marie et John de Carmarthen The cargo included 5 tuns of wine and 11 tons of salt.

The vessels that traded from the port of Carmarthen circa 1566, were apparently only six in number, one of which appeared in the records regularly and was described as follows:-

              "A shyppe called the Nyghtyngell of 50 tons burthen and owned by Richard Lewis Hopkyn and David Ieuan.  carried a crew of ten and two boys and traded mainly with France and Bristol"

The Nyghtyngell operated regularly between Carmarthen and France trading wool and hides of the Towy Valley for wine and iron.

Generally at the time with the increasing amount of trade activity interrupted only much later by the Napoleonic wars there was not an inconsiderable volume of illicit trading that went on locally. This sometimes went on under the "easy" eyes of the Customs officials and was accordingly constituted a fair proportion of the total maritime transactions conducted. In short, the actual volume that was conducted in and around the ports and creeks of Carmarthen during the period under review far exceeded that which was actually recorded for in the record books!

The picture above is of a 3 masted schooner typical of the age circa 1880 which operated in and around the French coast and would have been seen sailing up the Towy regularly.