Burgundy Flashcards
Why is Chardonnay particularly well suited to being grown in Chablis?
- It can successfully ripen to produce high quality wines in the cool continental climate that typifies Chablis.
- It ripens early and summers can be short in Chablis.
- Chardonnay suits the soils - limestone and clay and fossilized seashells called Kimmeridgian
- The styles of wines range from unoaked, dry, high acidity and light body to richer, medium body with green apple and citrus fruit character on warmer sites
Its northerly location means spring frosts are a huge risk in Chablis. What options do they have and what are their effects?
- Smudge pots - smoky, air pollution, requires staff in vineyard
- Sprinklers (“aspersion”) - most popular, but installation and maintenance expensive; need good ROI; therefore 1er/Grand Cru or well-funded companies
- Prune late to delay bud burst, reducing chance of damage to new buds from early spring frosts
Which rootstock is widely used in Chablis due to its tolerance of limestone soils with a high pH?
Rootstock 41B (has vinifera and belandieri parents)
Apart from rootstock 41B, which other rootstock is popular in Chablis and why?
- 420A (riparia x berlandieri)
- low vigour
- tolerance to high pH soils
Why is double Guyot replacement cane training widely practised in Chablis?
- Insurance against frost.
- Double Guyot has two canes and if one cane fails, the other may survive, reducing the impact on yield.
Chablis’ top 5 export markets
- UK
- US
- Japan
- Sweden
- Canada
Why can ripening Pinot Noir prove difficult in Côte d’Or, Côte Chalonnaise and Mâconnais despite its continental climate?
- It is a northerly location with significant weather variation from one vintage to the next
- The summers are relatively short
- Extreme weather events are becoming the norm
- esp hail storms during the summer/early autumn
- drought can shrivel berries/ shut down vines (Irrigation forbidden, so if low clay, low water)
- Extended rain during growing & prior to vintage, can slow ripening and create fungal disease
3 things wine producers may do to alleviate the effect of hail in Burgundy
- Install anti-hail netting (permitted since June 2018)
- Seed thunderclouds with silver iodide to induce precipitation some distance from the vineyards.
- Hail damage can allow grey rot to form. Carefully hand-sort on sorting tables to remove damaged or diseased fruit.
Describe why the soil on Burgundian slopes can often cause problems with grape growing.
- Erosion is an issue with soil moving down the slope
- Soils at the top of the slope tend to be thinner than the soils at the bottom of the slope. Can be nutrient deficient, too shallow for water retention/ root growth.
- In Burgundy the soils are often clay and limestone. Deeper soils at the bottom of the slope can cause issues with drainage and high soil fertility = vigorous foliage
What is the name of the variant method of replacement cane pruning in Burgundy and why is it often used?
- Poussard-Guyot
- This system maintains the same sap route from one year to the next with pruning wounds only on the upper part of the cordon.
- Reduces the number of pruning wounds and cuts down the incidence of Esca and other trunk diseases.
viticulture of Pinot Noir in Burgundy
- buds early (spring frosts) ripens early (good cool regions)
- unlike Chardonnay must limit yields for high quality
- delicate; millerandage, downy/powdery mildew, botrytis bunch rot, fan and leaf roll viruses
- in warm climates can ripen too fast (lose aroma intensity) and berries can shrivel/ suffer from sunburn
- in Burgundy concerns whether ripen sufficiently to achieve desired tannins, colour and flavour
- many producers propogate own vines via mass selection (see sep card on clones)
what are the Dijon clone families?
- clones of Chardonnay and Pinot Noir developed at the University of Dijon
- they vary in terms of yield, disease tolerance, speed of ripening and fruit characteristics
- producers may decide to plant vineyard with one clone for uniform fruit profile or a mix with greater diversity (good or bad) and potentially more disease resistance
flavour profile of Pinot Noir in Burgundy
- medium ruby
- pronounced red fruits (strawberry, rasps, cherries)
- village wines and above have light oak derived flavours (smoke, cloves)
- low to medium tannins - Grand Cru medium(+)
- medium alcohol, high acidity
- can develop earth, game and mushroom notes with time in bottle
basic difference in soils between Cote de Nuits and Cotes de Beaune
- all Burgundian soils are mixtures of limestones and clay in varying proportions
- Cote de Nuits more dominated by limestone - best Pinot Noir grown here
- Cote de Beaune more clay, soils deeper - best Chardonnay grown here (but frankly Chardonnay will grow anywhere, whereas Pinot Noir will not….)
Pinot Noir loses quality at high yields (unlike Chardonnay). What methods might be employed in Burgundy to reduce yields?
- Use lower yielding rootstock/clones when replanting
- Plant at higher density. Only poss for established producers as Burgundy old, developed region.
- Choice of training, trellising and pruning has an impact on vine vigour - eg Cordon Royat reduces no of shoots
- De-budding late spring so remaining the buds develop fully to support the ripening of all bunches.
- Green harvesting - removing bunches later in the season that won’t ripen in time for harvest allows the remaining bunches to ripen fully.
