Bordeaux Flashcards
Bordeaux climate
moderate maritime
Bordeaux pine forest is called…
landes
main climatic influences in Bordeaux
- Atlantic Ocean
- Landes pine forest
atlantic ocean influences
- cools the area down
- atlantic storms
main hazards in Bordeaux
- excessive rain
- frost
- hail
pine forest location
left bank (mostly south Medoc and Graves)
pine forest influence
protects from Atlantic Storm when is not present climate has more maritime influence and is cooler
when excessive rain is important re vintage variation and negative results
- flowering (poor fruit set)
- throughout growing season (diseases)
- veraison (unripe fruit, fungal)
- harvest (dilute flavours)
climate change in Bordeaux
hot dry summers with insufficient rainfall (low acidity, high alcohol)
maritime influence is less present in which bank?
right
best years in Bordeaux climatic specs
- gente heat (growing season)
- sufficient rainfall (growth/ripening)
- dry/warm early autumns (end ripening)
worst years affected by frost in Bordeaux
1956 1991 2017
best vineyard location in the Medoc
close to Gironde estuary moderating influences and frost protection
how a vintage variation mainly affects the price
yields ex 2017 less 33% of total producton
left bank soils
gravel and stones
small pocktes of clay (especially St-Estephe)
gravel is not high (highest 32m in Margaux) and mixed with clay and sand
top estates vines are planted in gravel mounds called…
croupes
how the soils of Left Bank Bordeaux originated
gravel and stones carried by floodwaters from Pyrenees and Massif Central
gravel soil characteristics
- drains well (vine roots dry fast so rain is less of a problem, but can put vines in drought stress especially where soils are shallow)
- heat retention (stones/pebbles retain heat releasing it through the day)
soils in Bordeaux right bank and grapes
- more clay in the Libournais area (Merlot)
- limestone plateau (Cabernet Franc)
- gravel
2 and 3 mostly borders Pomerol
grape varieties planting %
70% merlot
20% cab sauv
10% cab franc
small plantings of all the other varietals
merlot budding/ripening cycle
early budding mid ripening (can pick before early autumn rains)
merlot hazards/diseases
- spring frost
- coulure
- drought
- botrytis bunch rot (sorting necessary)
they all reduce yields
coulure
poor or imperfect pollinations leads to reduced yields
coulure is caused by..
poor flowering conditions and/or imbalance of nutrients
two types of spring frost
- advection (cold air dispaces warmer air, rare)
- radiation (dry night, rapid cooling of the air around vines thanks to radiation from ground to air with no cloud cover or water vapuor concentration)
botrytis bunch rot problems
- yield reduction
- lowers quality
- in red wines creates off flavour in fermentation
what botrytis bunch rot needs to form
- wet and damp condition
- loves sugar
merlot grape profile in bordeaux blends
mid/high-intensity fruit (red and herbaceous in cool vint, black in hot ones)
medium tannins
mid/high acidity
high alcohol
why Merlot is so widely planted?
- high yields in clay soils
- can ripen fully even in cooler vintages (mid ripening)
main feature of clay soils and effects
high water holding capacity
- help in hotter vintages
- bigger grapes (ex Merlot, especially combined w/ fertile soils)
modern problem of Merlot
warmer climate creates wines not balanced with too much alcohol and not much acidity
early budding vs late budding in case of spring frost
early budding in spring so cold air can became frost late is pretty temperature is higher so frost is more diffiult to form
cabernet sauvignon budding/ripening cycle
late budding late ripening
late ripening grapes needs and they are vulnerable to what?
- warmer soils
- autumn rains
cabernet sauvignon hazard and diseases
- early autumn rains (late ripening)
- powdery mildew
- eutypa
- esca
cabernet sauvignon characteristics in bordeaux blend
blackcurrant, leaf, menthol, herbaceous medium alcohol high acidity high tannins
cab sauv skin
thick
why cabernet sauvignon is blended in Bordeaux?
in cooler season struggle to ripen fully with unripe tannins and little fruit (late ripening)
esca
fungal shows on leaves with light coloured areas the eventually will turn brown
grapes shrivel and drop, if severe vine will die
remedy for esca
keep vineyard clear of old wood, disinfect pruning wounds and avoid permanent wood based pruning systems
eutypa/dead arm
fungus introduced via grafting (trunk disease) sping shoots will be short and stunned, short internodes and yellow leaves a portion of the arm will die
powdery mildew/oidium
fungal disease, produces spores that carried by the wind affects the whole vineyard attacks the leaves with white powdery cover and splits grapes exposing the seeds, those grapes will then not ripen also causes taint flavours
what cabernet franc gives to the blend?
red fruits high acidity medium tannins
why Malbec was replaced in Bordeaux?
hard frost in 1956 grafting Malbec gave reduced yields
petit verdot budding/ripening cycle
early budding (spring frost) late ripening (later than cab sauv, gets loads of autumn rains)
what petit verdot adds to Bordeaux blends?
deep colour high tannins spicy notes
why is petit verdot valuable now?
with warmer climates ripens perfectly every year
semillon ripening
mid-ripening
semillon main features
carries high yields affinity with oak ageing potential highly susceptible to botrytis
semillon character
low intensity apple, lemon, grassy flavour medium body, alcohol medium/m+ acidity
what gives semillon to dry Bordeaux whites in the blend?
low to mid intensity aromas nd body medium acidity
what semillon gives to Bordeaux sweet wines in the blend?
honey, dried fruit of lemon and peach waxy texture botrytis notes toast, honey in ageing
name two sweet chateaux in Bordeaux with high proportion of semillon in the blend
Climens
d’Yquem
sauvignon blanc in bordeaux blend (both dry and sweet)
grassy, gooseberry high acidity
muscadelle contribution in blends
mostly in sweet wines flowery, grapey notes
muscadelle is prone to…
botrytis bunch rot
vines per hectare and spacing in top quality Bordeaux production
10.000 vines per hectare one metre apart one metre between rows aka close planting
which soils in Bordeaux can sustain close plantings?
infertile soils equals in moderate vigour
close plantings advantages
best use of expensive land
close planting cost
more plants, trellis tractors training, plouhing, spraying professional workers/consultants
basic Bordeaux AOC planting density
3/4.000 vines per hectare
most common training sytem in bordeaux
- head training, replacement cane pruned (left bank two canes aka double guyot, right bank single cane aka single guyot)
- cordon training, spur pruned
cordon training with spur pruning advantages
winemakers might prefer it for lower yields and better bunches aeration
main canopy management techniques used in Bordeaux
- leaf removal
- soft pruning
- insecticides
- bunch thin
why leaf removal is used in bordeaux?
- improve aeration
- prevent rot (downy/powdery mildew and botrytis bunch rot)
- ultraviolet light exposure
- a preventive measure astractors cannot access the vineyard to spray after heavy rain
what is soft pruning? and against what is used?
making small cuts leaving extra wood to dry so the sap can flow around the plant mostly used against vine trunk diseases like eutypa and esca
insecticides are used in Bordeaux mainly against what?
flavescence doree
why eccessive leaf removal is a problem in bordeaux?
leaves protects from sunburn and excessive heat
advantages and disadvantages of bunch-thinning
adv
- correct vines with high yields
- improve flavour concentration
disadv
- unbalance the vine
- you can prune short in winter to get same effect and helps vine balance
flavescence doree
group of diseses carried by sap-feeding insect or by nuseries infected materials leaves turn yellow giving poor ripening and reduced yields
current yields in Bordeaux
50 hectolitres per hectare (drastically decreased and even more in the right bank for super concentrated wines even if is goind down in fashion)
main cost hand harvesting in bordeaux and why
workers are hired for longer periods for tries passages and rain problems during picking mostly from other EU countries so also travel cost (hard to find locally as most times vineyards like nortern Medoc are far from living centers)
advantages of machine picking
- less workers are required
- collect quickly if fungal diseases are high
mostly for inexpensive wine
sorting in high level estate
- picking and tries passages
- moving/vibrating belt
- optical reader
- no sorting in best vintages (uniformly high quality of fruit)
plot by plot winemaking
many estates are starting to vinify individual plots smaller vessels are adding to the overall costs
fermentation vessels in red bordeaux
wood
stainless steel
concrete
main fermentation techniques in red bordeaux
- closed vats with pump over
- cultured yeasts
- temperature control
temperature and maceration early drinking vs ageing wine
- mid-temperature, 5-7 days maceration (early drinking)
- mid to warm temperature, 14-30 days maceration) maceration
can be reduced in poor vintages
presses type in red bordeaux
- pneumatic
- vertical/hydraulic
how a pneumatic press works?
pneumatiuc bag expands (compressed air or cold water) pressing the grapes against the cylinder
main problem of the pneumatic press
dissolving oxygen in the atmosphere might destroy some grapes constituents
advantages of a vertical/hydraulic press
- gentle extraction
- skins bed funcion as a filter for fine juice
press wine in bordeaux
goes into barrique then in final blend depending how much structure and tannins are needed
how big is a barrique?
225lt
why many top estates inoculate MLF in red wines?
- for the en primeur tasting in the following spring
- better integration with the wood