On Bordeaux

France's outstanding reputation for fine wines—whether red, white, or sparkling—doesn't come out of thin air. Rather, it stems from hundreds of years of tradition that have created the gold standard by which all other wines around the world are measured.

This was actually a French band, found in 1976 in Bordeaux by guitarist Philippe Cauvin, bassist Dany Marcombe and drummer Didier Lamarque.They were named after the birthplace of Coste Apetra and Jukka Tolonen, two great Scandinavian musicians the trio met during their vacation.After series of concerts, in 1979 a tragedy almost struck Uppsala after a car accident, where Lamarque was severely injured and Marcombe lost use of his legs.Two years later Uppsala were back and in the fall of 1983 the trio recorded its self-titled debut at the Carat Studio in Bordeaux, distributed the following year by the Madrigal label.