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1)WSET D3 copy+edit > 2 - Bordeaux > Flashcards

2 - Bordeaux Flashcards

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1
Q

Name the main rivers in the region

A

River Garonne + River Dordogne = Gironde Estuary

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2
Q

What are the seven most planted grapes and give the % of ha planted for each

A
  • Merlot 60%*
  • Cabernet Sauvignon 20%*
  • Cabernet Franc 7%*
  • Other Black grapes (combined) >5%*
  • Semillon 5%*
  • Sauvignon Blanc 5%*
  • Muscadelle >5%*
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3
Q

Outline major historical developments in the region’s history (3)

A

c17/18th - Medoc peninsula drained by Dutch merchants

1855 - formal classification of left bank properties

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4
Q

Outline how the 1855 classification was established (3)

A

Bordeaux chamber of commerce asks merchants to rank estates

Estates of Medoc, Graves + Sauternes placed into bands - 5 for Medoc + Graves, 3 for Sauternes

They did so based on price

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5
Q

Roughly breakdown the distribution of price brackets (2)

A

Inexp - mid-priced = 70%
Prem - super-prem = 30%

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6
Q

Describe the climate of Bordeaux and how it is changing (5)

A
  • Mod maritime
  • Atlantic → cooling influence + rainfall
  • Rainfall ave 950m → but varies
  • Rivers provide a mod influence on temp → frost
  • Climate change has brought hotter, drier summers with low rainfall
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7
Q

Explain why the climate of Bordeaux varies between sub-regions

A
  • Medoc → protected from Atlantic by Landes
  • Graves, Listrac → less protected by Landes → cooler
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8
Q

Describe the weather conditions that characterise the best vintages in Bordeaux (4)

A
  • Gentle heat throughout growing season → ripening
  • Sufficient rainfall → growth + ripening
  • Relatively dry + warm autumn → final ripening
  • No excessive rain during flowering/veraison → fruit set + ripeness
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9
Q

How can excessive rainfall contribute to vintage variation? (4)

A
  • Flowering → fruit set
  • Growing season → disease pressure
  • Veraison → ripeness, disease
  • Harvest → flavours, disease
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10
Q

Explain how climate change has impacted Bordeaux (3)

Example x1

A

Hot summers with insufficient rainfall

Ripening speeds → acidity + alcohol → balance

- E.g. 2003

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11
Q

Outline the main climatic hazards and the impact they have in terms of yield/quality (4)

A
  1. Untimely + excessive rainfall
  2. Hot / dry summers
  3. Frost → yield
  • Best sites in Medoc are protected by mod influence of Gironde
  • 2017 saw 1/3 reduction of 10-yr ave
  • → financial implications
  1. Hail → yield (+ quality via fungal disease)
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12
Q

Describe the soils and how they impact grape growing

  • Gravel (5)
  • Clay (3)
A

Gravel - mainly Medoc/Graves

  • Draining → wet climate → ripening
  • Hotter years → drought-stressed → shallow soils of Pomerol
  • Retains heat → absorbs + gradually releases warmth after a hot day → rip speed
  • Ideal for rip Cabernet Sauvignon
  • Patches near Pomerol

Clay - Right Bank/Libournais

  • Less well-drained, cooler, fertile
  • Ideal for rip Merlot
  • Pockets in Saint Estephe
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13
Q

Describe characteristics of Merlot:

  1. Budding + ripening
  2. Vulnerabilities
  3. Favoured soils
  4. Ideal vintage conditions
  5. Flavour characteristics
  6. Structural characteristics
A
  1. Early bud + mid-rip → frost, autumn rain
  2. Coulure, drought, botrytis → yields, sorting
  3. Clay soils → temp, berry size
  4. cooler vintages, fast sugar acc → warmer years
  5. Med-pronounced strawberry, plum, herbac (cooler years), cooked blackberry(warmer years)
  6. Med tannin + med-high alcohol
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14
Q

Describe characteristics of Cabernet Sauvignon incl the following:

  1. Budding and ripening
  2. Vulnerabilities
  3. Favoured soils
  4. Ideal vintage conditions
  5. Flavour characteristics
  6. Structural characteristics
A
  • Late bud/rip → frost, req warmth, autumn rain
  • fungal diseases → Eutypa/Esca
  • warm + well drained soil → ripening
  • Warmer vintages → tannin rip + balanced acid
  • Violet, black fruit, herbal, herbaceous
  • Med alcohol, high acid + high tannin (small berries)
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15
Q

Describe characteristics of Cabernet Franc incl the following:

  1. Budding and ripening
  2. Vulnerabilities
  3. Flavour characteristics
  4. Structural characteristics
A
  • Early bud → frost
  • Mid rip → autumn rains
  • coulure
  • Red fruit, leafy if picked early or canopy dense
  • High acid, medium tannin
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16
Q

Describe characteristics of Malbec incl the following:

  1. Vulnerabilities
  2. Flavour characteristics
  3. Structural characteristics

When was it largely replaced, with what and why?

A
  • Vigorousness, coulure
  • Violet, plums
  • Med acidity, med(+)-high tannin
  • Mainly replaced by Merlot after 1956 frost - easier to grow
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17
Q

Describe characteristics of Petit Verdot incl the following:

  1. Budding and ripening
  2. Vulnerabilities
  3. Ideal site / vintage conditions
  4. Flavour characteristics
  5. Structural characteristics

How is it used in blends?

Why may plantings increase?

A
  • Early bud, late rip → frost, tricky to rip in cool years, autumn rain
  • Best in warmer areas / vintages
  • Spice notes
  • Deep colour + high tannin

Usually <5% as to add colour + tannin

climate change mean it can be reliably ripened

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18
Q

Describe characteristics of Semillon incl the following:

  1. Ripening
  2. Vulnerabilities
  3. Yield
  4. Flavour characteristics
  5. Structural characteristics

How is it used in blends?

A
  • Mid-rip
  • botrytis
  • High yields
  • Light intensity, apple, lemon, grass (if underripe)
  • affinity with oak
  • vanilla, sweet spice → toast/honey with age
  • Med(+) acid, med alcohol, med body

Blends

  1. Dry whites → softens S.B’s high acid + intense flavour
  2. Sweet → susceptible to botrytis, adds honey, waxy texture
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19
Q

Describe characteristics of Savuignon Blanc incl the following:

  1. Ripening
  2. Vulnerabilities
  3. Yield
  4. Flavour characteristics
  5. Structural characteristics

Increasingly, how is it being used in blends and why?

A
  • Late bud, early rip → frost, autumn rain
  • vigourousness (canopy mngt, soils), botrytis, Esca + Eutypa dieback (if cordon trained)
  • Grass, gooseberry
  • High acid, med alcohol, med body

Dominant/single variety dry wines due to popularity

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20
Q

Describe the characteristics of Muscadelle including:

  1. Vulnerabilities
  2. Flavour characteristics
  3. Which wines it is usually used in
A
  • Vulnerable to botrytis - well-exposed site
  • Flower + grape
  • Used in sweet wines with Semillon and Sav B
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21
Q

What are the typical vineyard densities seen in Bordeaux and why? What are the cost implications?

A

HQ - 10,000 VPH

  • Infertile soils → vigour → canopy density limited
  • Higher costs:
    • more vines purchased
    • trellising
    • specialist tractors
    • more time for training, ploughing, spraying
    • BUT best use of £££ land

Lower Q Bordeaux AOC → 3000-4000 VPH

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22
Q

How are vines trained, pruned and trellised? (2)

A

1. Head trained, RCP

  • Left Bank - Double Guyot
  • Right Bank - Single Guyot

2. Cordon trained, spur pruned

  • Rare but used by prestigious estates –> reduces yield, bunch aeration
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23
Q

What role does canopy management have to play in improving yields and quality? (3)

A

Fungal disease pressure - damp climate

  1. Summer leaf removal → aeration → mildews + botrytis
  2. Sunlight interception → rip
  3. Reduces need for sprays → rainfall make difficult for tractors to enter vineyards, washes off sprays
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24
Q

Why may removing leaves be risky? How can this risk be mitigated?

A

Increases vulnerability to sunburn and heat - e.g. 2003 → raisins

Remove leaves later in season after hottest months have passed

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25
Q

Describe how Eutypa dieback and Esca affect the vine and how growers mitigate the problem (3)

A

Eutypa - rots the wood, reduces yield and kills the vine

Esca - tiger stripes, yield and death

Soft pruning

  • when pruning make small cuts
  • allow extra wood at the cut site
  • allowing it to dry out + max opportunity for sap to flow around plant
26
Q

Is green harvesting popular or unpopular and why?

A

Increasingly unpopular → removing bunches to correct yield can cause unbalanced growth, better to prune so the vine has fewer buds in winter

27
Q

What is the typical yield in Bordeaux? How has this changed? What has the impact been on the wine?

A

50hl/ha

Yields fell over past 20 years

Better concentration

super concentrated Right Bank movement → jammy and lack terroir

28
Q

Describe harvesting in terms of timing, size of teams and hand/machine harvest

A

Timing

  • Previously → teams hired for short period → grapes picked at varying rip
  • Now → teams hired for longer period + used when grapes are ready/conditions dry

Size

Larger estates have teams of over 100 people

Machine vs Hand

  • Machines used for quick harvesting (to avoid rain and disease)
  • remoteness of vineyards (N Medoc)
  • expense of workers
  • high vol, inexp

HQ → hand-harvest due to quality control

29
Q

Describe the options taken by winemakers during the initial stage of grape processing including how grapes are sorted and whether or not grapes are separated by plot

A
  • No Sorting for inexp wines
  • HQ wines, sorting during harvest, conveyor belt, optical sorting → £ (no need for this during best vintages)
  • Plot by plot winemaking for Q producers → extra care at harvesting + larger number of smaller vessels → £
30
Q

Describe the winemaking of red wines including:

    • Vessels
    • Cap management
    • Fermentation temp
    • Extraction
    • Pressing
    • Press and free-run juice
    • Malo
    • Maturation (including oxygenation)
    • Blending
A
  1. Vessels: Closed vats; wood, SS, concrete + temp control
  2. Cap Mngt: Pump overs
  3. Ferment Temp: mid for early, warmer for HQ
  4. Extraction: 1 week post-mac →early, 1 month HQ
  5. Press vs free run: aged separately, blended later
  6. Malo: in wood if used for maturation (integration)

Maturation

  • Inexp: SS, concrete, large vats → 6mnths, oak chips
  • HQ: mix of ages med+ toast barriques from diff coopers→ new oak use declining → 18-24mnths
  • Oxygenation: racking every 3mnths/micro-oxygenation

Blending

  • EP: wine blended over winter for presentation to merchants in spring
  • Wait until post-maturation to blend → better able to assess evolution
  • Consultant hired to assist process
31
Q

Describe the winemaking for rosé wines (3)

A
  • Younger vines
  • Merlot, Cab S
  • Clairet - deep, Saignee/short maceration
  • Pale - via DP
32
Q

Describe white winemaking including:

  1. Pressing
  2. Fermentation temp and vessel
  3. Malo
  4. Maturation
A
  1. Pressing: Direct/skin contact → freshness/aromatics, phenolics → healthy grapes only
  2. Ferment: inexp in SS @ cool temp, HQ in barriques
  3. Malo: blocked to retain acid + freshness

Maturation

  1. Inexp: few months in SS
  2. Mid: 6-12 months on fine lees in SS → weight, complexity
  3. Premium: barriques with % new oak
33
Q

Name the two individuals who helped promote innovation in white Bordeaux winemaking and outline the changes they advocated (3)

A

Denis Dubourdieu and André Lurton

1. Sav B

2. Skin-contact → aromatics

3. Less new oak

34
Q

Describe the vineyard management needed to produce sweet wine including:

    • Yields
    • Management of diseased fruit
    • Harvesting
A
  • Low Y concentrate sugar
  • Diseased fruit removed
  • hand pickers make 10-12 passes
  • Harvest from Sept - Nov
35
Q

The extent of botrytis in a vineyard depends on what? (4)

A
  • Climatic conditions humid, misty mornings + warm, sunny, dry afternoons
  • Proximity of vineyard to mist formation → cold Ciron + warm Garonne meet
  • Risk tolerance to lose crop if conditions do not develop
  • Willingness to pay harvesters for multiple passes to select botrytised fruit
36
Q

Does sweet Bordeaux wine need to be made from Botrytised fruit?

A

No - levels of Bot to late harvest vary vintage to vintage

37
Q

Describe the winemaking for sweet wines including:

  • Fermentation
  • Maturation
A

Similar to dry whites

Ferment:

  • SS, concrete, barrels
  • length of time varies
  • HQ →barrel fermented

Maturation:

  • Less prestigious: unoaked, released 1 yr after harvest
  • HQ in barrels for 18-36 months, up to 100% for new oak for d’Yquem
38
Q

To what extent do appellations dictate permitted varieties/blends?

A
  • Most lists permitted varieties with no specific requirements for min/max % of grapes
  • latest changes allow experimental varieties within Bordeaux + Bordeaux Superier

Arinarnoa, Castets, Marselan and Touriga Nacional for reds, and Alvarinho and Liliorila which are max 5% of blend

39
Q

Describe the wines of Bordeaux/Bordeaux Superieur AOC including structure, flavour, quality and price.

How much wine is produced in these appellations?

What are the max yields in these appellations?

A

Red + White

  • Merlot-based → red + S.B-based → white
  • Med intensity
  • High acid, med alcohol med body
  • Acceptable - good
  • Inexpensive - mid-priced

Production

  • 50%

Yields

  • Bordeaux - 60’s
  • Superier - 50’s
40
Q

Describe the situation, plantings, yield and earliest sale date of Medoc and Haut Medoc AOC

A

Medoc

  • LB, N Bordeaux
  • 50/50 Cab/Merlot
  • Red only
  • 55hL/ha
  • Sale no earlier than June following harvest
  • Range of prices and qualities

Haut Medoc

  • Closer to Bordeaux, famous communes
  • Warm, gravelly soil
  • 50% Cab, 44% Merlot
  • Range of prices and qualities
41
Q

Describe the situation, soil, plantings, max yield, flavour, structure and quality of wines from Saint-Estephe, Pauillac, Saint-Julien, and Margaux

A
  • adjacent to estuary
  • gravelly → Cab
  • max 57
  • Pronounced blackcurrant, green bell pepper (vintage), red plum, vanilla, cedar
  • high tannin, high alcohol, med(+) body
  • VG - outstanding
  • Prem - super-prem
42
Q

Describe the situation, soil, and plantings of Saint-Estephe.

Describe the ratings of the producers in the sub-region.

A
  • Closest to Atlantic → temp → tannin + acid
  • Clay (water retention in dry years) with some gravel (ripeness)
  • 40% Merlot (highest % of the four communes) → helps soften
    • No 1st but many 2nd and Cru Bour
43
Q

Describe the situation, soil, plantings and style of wine of Pauillac.

Describe the ratings of the producers in the sub-region.

A
  • close to estuary
  • gravel
  • 62% Cab
  • high tannin + acid, concentrated with ageing potential
  • 3/5 1st growth with 85% of production rated cru classé
44
Q

Describe the soil, plantings and style of wine of Saint-Julien.

Describe the ratings of the producers in the sub-region.

A

gravel + Cab

45
Q

Describe the soil, plantings and style of wine of Margaux.

Describe the ratings of the producers in the sub-region.

A
  • stoney + gravelly → warmth + drainage
  • Less Cab, more Merlot
  • perfumed, silky tannin
  • One 1st, high % of CC
46
Q

Describe the situation, soil, yield, release date, quality and price of the wines from Listrac-Medoc and Moulis.

A
  • further from river → less moderation
  • less gravel
  • 57 max
  • Good-VG
  • Mid-priced-premium
47
Q

Describe the yields, types of wine, quality and price levels of wines from Graves and Graves Superieures

A

Graves

  • 50’s
  • mostly red
  • Acceptable - good
  • Inexp - mid-priced

Graves Superieures

Late-harvest/botrytised, 40 hl/ha (higher than Sauternes)

48
Q

Describe the situation, soils, estates, yields and wines of Pessac-Leognan

A
  • sub-region within Graves, moderated by Garonne
  • Gravel
  • One 1st growth, all CC within Graves
  • Wines: HQ, barrel-aged whites and HQ reds
  • Whites: pronounced, highish acid, VG-outstanding, Prem-SP
  • Reds: similar style and quality to Medoc communes
49
Q

What wines are produced in Entre-deux-Mers AOC?

What is the max yield, typical quality and price level?

A
  • large
  • Only makes whites
  • 60’s yield
  • → Light intensity, acceptable - good, inexp - mid-priced
50
Q

Briefly describe the right bank in terms of soils, estates and grapes (3)

A
  • Cool clay
  • Merlot, Cab F, Cab S
  • very Small estates
51
Q

What is the difference in rules between Saint-Emilion AOC and Saint-Emilion Grand Cru AOC? Which grapes are planted? What is the quality level? Describe the flavour and structure of a top wine.

A
  • SE → min 6 months
  • SE GC → lowe yield min 20mnths
  • Merlot 60%, Cab F
  • Quality: varies within SE’s own classification system
  • Pronounced plum, vanilla, clove highish acid, highish tannin, high alc, full body, ageable
52
Q

What are the S-E satellites and what rules do they follow?

A
  • further away from Dordogne.
  • Montagne Saint-Émilion AOC
  • Lussac-Saint-Émilion AOC
  • same rules as S-E AOC
53
Q

Describe the estates, grapes, yield, classification system, style, quality and price of Pomerol AOC.

How does Lalande-de-Pomerol compare?

A
  • small estate→ price
  • Merlot (80%), CF
  • 40’s Y
  • No Classification System
  • Style: same as top S-E
  • VG-outstanding
  • prem-SP

Lalande-de-Pomerol - same but with slightly higher yield

54
Q

What are the yields for Cotes de Bordeaux AOCs?

A

50’s

(Blaye, Cadillac, Castilllon, Francs)

55
Q

Describe the situation, plantings, style and price of Cotes de Bourg AOC

A
  • Gironde, underneath Blaye
  • Grapes: Merlot, Malbec
  • Style and price: similar to Medoc
56
Q

Describe the plantings max yield, production size, style, quality and price of wines of Sauternes and Barsac AOC

A
  • 80% Semillon, SB, tiny Muscadelle
  • 25 max Y
  • Pronounced citrus peel, honey, mango, vanilla
  • Med-med(+) acid, sweet, full-body
  • VG-oustanding
  • Mid-priced - SP
57
Q

How have Sauternes producers responded to a lack of demand for their wines?

A

Producing dry wines

58
Q

Which appellations produce sweet wine?

A
  • Sauternes
  • Barsac
  • Sainte-Croix-du-Mont AOC + Loupiac AOC - good, inexpensive
  • Premières Côtes de Bordeaux AOC - good, inexp
59
Q

Briefly outline the four official classification systems used in Bordeaux

A

1855 - 61 estates in Medoc, red + sweet 1st-5th growth, estate-bottled

Graves - 1959, P-L, red + white, no ranking, based on pricing, fame and quality

S-E - 1955, within S-E Grand Cru, revised every decade, 3 tiers

Crus Bourgeois - 1932, awarded annually to individual wines, 3 tiers

60
Q

Describe the S-E classification including tiers and controversy.

A

Tiers: Premier Grand Cru A, Premier Grand Cru B and Grand Cru Classé

Controversy: lawsuits have damaged reputation, use of term ‘Cru’ criticised as misleading

61
Q

Describe the Crus Bourgeois du Médoc revisions

A

since 2018

Cru Bourgeois, Cru Bourgeois Supérieur and Cru Bourgeois Exceptionnel for 5 years

1)WSET D3 copy+edit (66 decks)

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