Following the marriage of Eleanor of Aquitaine to King Henry II of England, the wine-producing region of Bordeaux in southwestern France came under English rule, initiating a lucrative and centuries-long trade relationship. Bordeaux's position on the Garonne River allowed wine to be shipped down to the port, from where it was transported in barrels across the English Channel to the growing urban markets of England. This trade, facilitated by the relative ease of sea transport in barrels, made Bordeaux a global center of winemaking and established a taste for French wine among the English nobility that would persist for centuries.

The Bordeaux wine trade became a defining feature of English cultural and economic life, frequently celebrated in the poetry and literature of the period. Geoffrey Chaucer, in his Canterbury Tales, mentions wine from the 'Gascon' region, reflecting its familiarity and status. The trade also created a class of merchants whose wealth and lifestyle were satirized in the poetry of the time, embedding the transport of wine into the very fabric of English social commentary and literary tradition.