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Unit 3 > Bordeaux > Flashcards

Bordeaux Flashcards

1
Q

Pauillac general

A

Grandest AC in Bordeaux—3 1st growths
LB aoc
Gravel
3 first growth

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2
Q

Pauillac top producers

A
  • Lafite, Latour, Mouton
    • Pichon-Longville, Pichon Lalande 2nd growth
    • Lynch-Bage, Potent-Canet (Biodynamic producer)
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3
Q

Pauillac Winemaking

A
  • No penny spared
    * Cutting edge wineries
    * New barrels
    * Oenologistts
    * Vineyard consultants
    • Needs lots of time to mature
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4
Q

Pauillac Geography, climate and soil

A
  • Gravel mound, closest thing to a hill on Haut Medoc
    • Proximity to water makes late ripening and complex Cabernet
    • Top estates have huge holdings
      • 100 ha for Lafite—>lots of wine
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5
Q

Cru Bourgeois

A
  • Not an AC classification
  • Red wine category for Medoc estates not classified
  • Opportunity for unclassified to gain some sort of distinction from generic AC label
  • Number varies every year, checkered past
    • Started in 1932, high stakes
    • Revised in 1978
    • then again in 2003, but so corrupt it was annulled
    • Because of that it s now assessed annually and awarded based on a blind tasting panel
  • Seen as Bordeaux’s best value
    • Many use oak, some new
    • Wines can age
    • CS dominant
    • Viticulture and winemaking often similar to cru classe wines
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6
Q

St Emilion general

A
  • Red wine AC producing more wine than any other Right Bank AC
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7
Q

St Emilion Geography and climate

A
  • Cooler than left bank
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8
Q

St Emilion Soil

A
  • NW corner on Pomerol border is a gravel plateau, Chateau Cheval Blanc and Figeac
    • Clay-limestone plateau around the town, Ausone
    • Clay-limestone south facing slopes leading up to town, Pavie
    • Sandy flatlands below town plateau, Angelus
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9
Q

St Emilion Grapes

A
  • Merlot is 60% of plantings

* Too cold for CS

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10
Q

St Emilion AC system

A
  • Unique in that it is revised every 10 years, last done in 2012
    • From top of pyramid to bottom
      • 1er GC Classe A—4 Chateaux
      • 1er GC Classe—18 (including 4 above)
      • GC Classe—82
      • GC—too many, leads to no distinction, more ha than generic SE AC
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11
Q

St Emilion Style

A
  • All styles from light and fruity to fine wines capable of aging
    • Because of Merlot dominance, wines are softer than Left Bank, mature quicker
    • Garagiste wines have modern style, extraction and new barrique
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12
Q

Bordeaux AC

A
  • 90% red
  • Most important quantitatively
  • Can be from anywhere in the region
  • Includes high quality Pavillon blanc (Margaux dry white) and dry Sauternes
  • Wines designed to be consumed young
  • Wines can have astringent tannin an unripe flavors
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13
Q

Bordeaux Superieur AC

A
  • Step up from generic Bordeaux AC
    • Max yields lower, longer aging requirements
  • Mostly in EDM
  • Mostly Merlot
  • Little or no wood used
  • Not much green harvesting or meticulous farming
  • Intended to be consumed young
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14
Q

Haut Medoc AC

A
  • Red only
  • South of St. Estephe
  • Lower max yields than Medoc
  • Gravel soils
  • Some classified growths
  • Many Cru Bourgeois, great value
  • Deep color, concentration, ripe tannins—age worthy
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15
Q

Medoc AC

A
  • Red only
  • North of St Estephe
  • Predominantly clay soil
  • No properties in 1855 classification
  • Expanded fast in the 90s, hit hard by Bordeaux market crash
  • Merlot mostly, sold in bulk
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16
Q

Cotes de Bordeaux AC

A
  • Hillside vineyards along the Right Bank
  • Merlot dominant
  • Previously 4 separate AC, now banded together because of similar geography and climate
    • Blaye—can be white or red, in the North
    • Cote de Castillon—red only, in the South
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17
Q

Bordeaux Geography and Climate

A
  • Vineyards stretch east of Goronde estuary
    • Along Garonne and Dordogne rivers
    • Rarely at elevation
    • Moderate maritime climate with long growing season
      • Mairtime effect decreases as you move inland
      • Weather unpredictable
      • Frost rarely a problem
    • Landes forest in South protests the area from strong winds and moderates temperature in the summer
    • Humidity is high, can cause rot
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18
Q

Bordeaux Soil

A

3 Main types

* Alluvial on the riverbanks, lowest Acs
* Limestone and clay around St Emilion
* Free draining gravel in best parts of Left Bank
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19
Q

Bordeaux Viticulture

A
  • Dense plantings, low vigor
    • Guy trained, low wire
    • Fungal disease a constant threat, spraying is common
    • harvesting often mechanical but at top Chateaux where densities are high, rows are too narrow to fit a tractor
    • Green harvesting at top chateaux to concentrate sugars
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20
Q

Bordeaux Red Winemaking

A
  • Cabernet maceration very important, pump-overs and post-fermentation maceration
    • Aging in barrique common
    • MLF must happen before en primeur in the spring
    • Assemblage of different lots for desired wine style
    • Micro-ox prevalent especially for early samples
    • Lower AC will cut out oak and heavily filter
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21
Q

Bordeaux Market and Trade

A
  • 50 Appellations—Bordeaux AC largest
    • Last year exports fell by 14 percent to 1.9 million hectoliters, according to press reports. China, Bordeaux’s biggest market, dropped an incredible 33 percent to 436,000 hectoliters.
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22
Q

Cab Franc

A
  • Used mostly on the Right Bank
  • Higher yielding than CS
  • Matures rapidly but can display vegetal aromas
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23
Q

CAbernet Sauvignon

A
  • Accounts for 75% of best Left Bank blends
  • Tannic and full bodied
  • late ripening—susceptible to harvest troubles
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24
Q

Merlot

A
  • Most planted grape, 3x as much as CS
  • Dominates the right bank, where the damper and cooler climate is hard for CS to grow
  • earlier ripening than CS
  • Adds softness and body to CS blends
25
Q

Sauternes Geography and climate

A
  • Mesoclimate perfect for noble root
    * Two rivers, one cooler (Lirou), one warmer (Garonne) run into each other
    * Mist is created at night, burned off by late AM
    • Barsac within appellation, wines can use either AC
      • Generally lighter than Sauternes, more sand and limestone, flatter
      • Closer to the river
26
Q

Sauternes Soil

A
  • Mix of chalk, limestone, gravel and alluvial
27
Q

Sauternes Grapes

A
  • Mostly Semillon—thin skin makes botrytis more likely
    • SB for aromatic support and acidity
    • Muscadelle for aromatics
28
Q

Sauternes Production

A
  • Only sweet wines permitted
    * Dedication to sweet wines is the appellation’s distinction, even in Germany and Alsace where sweet wine is prized it is the exception and not the rule
    • Costly to make
      • Risky waiting until bortrytis emerges
      • Protracted and hand harvesting required
      • Tiny yield restrictions
      • Fermentations and elevage in barrel
29
Q

Sauternes Style

A
  • High alcohol (13% min) and sweetness balanced by acidity
    • Apricot, honey and vanilla
    • Dry whites are produced, must use generic Bordeaux Blanc AC
30
Q

Chateau d’Yquem

A
  • Highest part of Sauternes
31
Q

Pessac-Leognan

A
  • Home to all classified Graves Chateaux, established in 1987
32
Q

Pessac-Leognan Soils

A
  • Particularly well draining gravel

* Whites grown on lighter, sandier soils

33
Q

Pessac-Leognan Grapes

A
  • Similar to Medoc, CS with Merlot and CF

* Sauvignon Blanc and Gris, Semillon, Muscadelle

34
Q

Pessac-Leognan Producers

A
  • Haut Brion
    • La-Mission-Haut Brion, 2nd label
    • Pape Clement
35
Q

Pessac-Leognan style

A
  • Though same grapes, reds much earthier than in the Haut Medoc
36
Q

Graves Geography and climate

A
  • Large region Southeast of Bordeaux
37
Q

Graves soil

A
  • Gravel for reds

* Sand for whites

38
Q

Graves style

A
  • Lighter bodied and earlier maturing than Haut Medoc

* only Bordeaux region famous for whites and reds

39
Q

Pomeral Geogrpahy and climate

A
  • Tiny region, 800 ha under vine
    * Le Pin - 750 cases
    * Lafleur - 1,000 cases
    * Pétrus - 2,500 cases
    • Finest wines made on highest part of plateau
40
Q

Pomeral Viticulture

A
  • Tiny estates, everything done by hand
41
Q

Pomeral Soil

A
  • Gravel with clay in East towards Saint Emilion, where Petrus is
    • Gravel with sand in West towards Libourne
42
Q

Pomeral Grapes

A
  • 80% Merlot—> soft and velvety wines
43
Q

Pomeral Winemaking

A
  • No expense spared
44
Q

Pomeral style

A
  • Soft, velvety, rich and instantly appealing
    • Ready early, helps market appeal
    • Spicy, blackberry richer than Saint Emilion
45
Q

Pomeral market

A
  • Tiny supply, high priced
46
Q

Petrus

A
  • Crasse de Fer soils—iron rich bands of sand
    * Strictly old vines
    * Creates voluptuous and richly fruity wines
    * Consume young or age for decades
    * 80% Merlot
47
Q

Margaux Geogrpahy and climate

A
  • Two main communes, Margaux and Cantenac

* More isolated than in the north

48
Q

Margaux Viticulture

A
  • More parcellated than other communes

* More expensive to farm

49
Q

Margaux Soil

A
  • thin topsoils here—>perfumed and delicate wines
50
Q

Margaux style

A
  • Red
    • Perfumed
    • Delicate
    • Silkier than in the North but still loads of concentration
    • Thin wines produced in bad years
51
Q

Margaux producers

A
  • Most Cru-classe chateaux
    • Palmer, Brane-Cantenac, Rauzans, Prieure-Lichine
    • Lurton family based here
    • Lots of outside money being invested in revival
      • Chanel and Bass brewing
52
Q

St Julien Geography, climate and soil

A

in between Margaux and St Pauillac

* Mounds of gravel, not as deep as Pauillac

53
Q

St Julien Producers

A
  • Highest proportion of total vineyard designated Cru-Classe, 80%
    • Riverside estates — all Leoville
      • Las Cases has the most vineyard land
      • Wines are dense, austere and long lived
    • South Facing estates
      • Ducru-Beaucaillou and Beycheville
      • Around the town of Beycheville
      • More finessed than Leoville, more Margaux
54
Q

St Julien style

A
  • style can be described as a transition from the dark dense wines of the North and the red, finessed wines of Margaux
55
Q

St Estephe Soil

A
  • Gravel with clay sub soils

* More clay than upstream—>Drains slower, cooler—>good in hot years, higher acid

56
Q

St Estephe Grapes

A
  • Effort to soften wines in last 40 years has led to more Merlot plantings
57
Q

St Estephe style

A
  • Structured
    • Hi acid
    • Dark and less perfume
    • Mouth filling
    • Long lived
58
Q

St Estephe producers

A
  • Cos d’Estournel
    * top producer, 2nd growth
    * In the South near Pauillac
    * High proportion of Merlot
    • Montrose
      • On gravel outgropping, similar to Pauillac
    • Best source of Cru Bourgeois here

Unit 3 (7 decks)

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