Burgundy Copied & Amended Flashcards
What are the 9 named villages in the Côte de Nuits?
Marsannay
Fixin
Gevery-Chambertain
Morey-St. Denis
Chambolle-Musigny
Vougeot
Vosne-Romanée
Flagey-Echézaux
Nuits-Saint-Georges
The Cote de Nuits is renowned for Pint Noir but it has one Chardonnay Grand Cru, what is it called?
Musigny
Which is the only Grand Cru red wine in Cote de Beaune?
Which 4 appellations in the Cote de Beaune only produce red wine?
Corton
Volnay / Pommard / Blagny / Côte de Beaune Villages
10 Named Beaujolais Crus:
St. Amour
Julienas
Chenas
Fleurie
Moulin-a-Vent
Chiroubles
Regnié
Morgon
Cote-de-Brouilly
Brouilly
Chardonnay?
Chardonnay 50% (excluding Beaujolais)
- Most planted white grape variety on the planet
- Takes on characteristics of local soil and climate > very steely and green apple notes in Chablis, extremely buttery with ripe yellow fruit aromas in Pouilly Fuissé.
- Early ripening (frost) and prone to fan leaf.
- Hardy, easy to grow & versatile.
- Can produce interesting wines at high yields
Whole bunch fermentation is commonly used in Burgundy for Pinot Noir - explain reasons for it and against it
- Whole bunch fermentation
- Whole bunch fermentation was traditionally practised in Burgundy
- Then in the 80s destemming was in vogue
- Now many are going back to whole bunch
- Reasons for:
- Introduces perfume, freshness and fine tannins
- Helps to aerate the must
- Reasons against:
- Unripe stems can introduce green astringent tannins to the wine
When may Beaujolais Nouveau be released?
What must it NOT contain?
- 3rd Thursday in November following harvest (THANKSGIVING!)
- No Cru wine allowed.
What are the largest / smallest Grand Crus in the Cote de Nuits?
What are the largest / smallest Grand Crus in the Cote de Beaune?
Cote de Nuits:
Largest: Clos de Vougeot
Smallest: La Romanée
Cote de Beaune:
Largest: Corton
Smallest: Criots-Batard-Montrachet
Which of the following is an example of a designated Chablis Grand Cru?
a) Montrachet
b) Musigny
c) Romaneé
d) Les Clos
d) Les Clos
Wines listed as Macon AOP can be:
Red or White
Made from Chardonnay or Gamay, and sometimes Pinot Noir
What are the pruning/training methods used in Burgundy?
- Pruning/training method
- is predominantly ‘Cordon de Royat’
- but the old cordon wood harbours diseases
- Cane pruning is coming back into favour
- ‘Guyot’ cane pruning is the preferred cane replacement method
- Also ‘Poussard-Guyot’ which requires less cuts and hence lowers risk of trunk diseases like Esca
7 e.g.s of Cote de Beaune Villages
Aloxe-Corton
Beaune
Pommard
Volnay
Meursault
Puligny-Montrachet
Chassagne-Montrachet
6 Grands Crus of Cote de Beaune
Corton
Corton-Charlemagne
Charlemagne
Montrachet
Batard-Montrachet
Chevalier-Montrachet
100% Chardonnay wines may be made in Beaujolais.
True or False?
True
What is a typical aging regimen for the best Pinot Noirs in the Cote de Nuits?
12-20 months in barrel with a proportion in new oak, with >50% new oak for Grand Cru. Typically in 228 litre barrels but some use of larger formats; 500-600 litres
Which cap management technique is frequently used for Pinot Noir in Burgundy?
Punch Down
Chablis AOC - what are the soils, styles of wine and topography for this AOC like?
-
AOC Chablis:
- Area expanded enormously in the last 30 years (controversial).
- Mainly Kimmeridgian soils and mixed aspects (mainly northerly)
- Lean, austere green apple, lemon fruit & mineral flavours with high acidity
- Tend to have medium intensity of flavour compared to light intensity with Petit Chablis
- Normally flatter areas or gentle slopes
How many Grands Crus are there in Burgundy?
How many Premiers Crus?
-33 Grands Crus in the Cote d’Or plus another 7 in Chablis
640 Premiers Crus
Examples of Cote de Nuits Grands Crus
Chambertin
Bonnes-Mares
Musigny
La Tâche
La Romaneé
How many AOPs in total are there in Beaujolais?
11
- Beaujolais (inc. “Nouveau”, “Villages” and “Superieur”.
- The 10 Named Crus.
Define a Domaine:
Grower/Producers that own the vineyards they are producing wine from, completing the entire process from growing to bottling at the Domaine itself.
Define a Négociant:
Wine merchants who buy grapes and/or finished wines for blending and bottling under their own bottles.
In Chablis what are the two key soil types?
Chablis:
- Kimmeridgian soil: chalk+clay+oyster fossils) – Grand Cru and mostly Premier Cru
- Portlandian clay – heavier calcareous clay – mostly Chablis and Petit Chablis AOC
Define and give an example of:
A Clos
A Côte
A Monopole
Clos: A plot or vineyard traditionally surrounded by stone walls, e.g. Clos Vougeot
Côte: Refers to a hillside or slope e.g. Côte de Nuits
Monopole: A parcel or vineyard with single ownership e.g. Clos de Tart owned by Mommessin
What is Bourgogne Hautes Cotes de Nuits? What impact does their location have on wine style?
‘Hautes’ translates as ‘high’. Located to the West and higher altitude than Cotes de Nuits. Altitude + greater exposure to winds = wine with less body.
Key risks in Burgundy vineyards?
Harvest is normally when?
Trellising?
- Key risks: spring frost, summer hails (esp. Chablis) and autumn -> red spider mite, fan leaf virus (Chardonnay) & grey rot (Pinot Noir)
- Harvest: September
- Dense planting (up to 12,000vines/ha)
- Guyot trellis on low wires
Harvest timing?
- Harvest decisions
- Critical because of marginal climate
- Early harvest is better for acidity but risks unripe fruit
- Majority is still picked by hand
What is the most planted grape in Burgundy overall?
Chardonnay
Red winemaking in Burgundy? Explain the process and its variations.
RED WINEMAKING
- Pinot Noir is a delicate grape and wine
- Maintaining primary fruit is key
- Not overwhelming with oak flavours
- Generally the fruit is sorted – except for the very cheapest wine
- Whole bunch fermentation
- Whole bunch fermentation was traditionally practised in Burgundy
- Then in the 80s destemming was in vogue
- Now many are going back to whole bunch
- Reasons for:
- Introduces perfume, freshness and fine tannins
- Helps to aerate the must
- Reasons against:
- Unripe stems can introduce green astringent tannins to the wine
- Cold soaking (below 15 degrees, for 4 days min. and maybe sulphured to stop oxidation and prevent the primary ferment kicking off
- Pinot Noir is low in anthocyanins
- So cold soaking is carried out to extract colour
- Fermentation
- Small open topped fermenters are the norm
- Two key practices
- Pumping over – remontage
- Punching down – pigeage
- The key aims of these are:
- Avoid formation of reductive sulphur flavours through lack of aeration
- Avoid production of acetic acid
- Assist colour, tannin and flavour extraction from the skins
- Regulate temperature in the must
- Post fermentation maceration
- Can last 2-3 weeks for more concentrated and structured styles
- The length of time depends on ripeness of the fruit and style of wine to be made
- Pressing
- By pneumatic or basket press
- Free run is normally kept separate from pressings
- Racked into oak barrels
- Maturation
- Less expensive – less than one year
- Premium to super premium – 12 to 20 months
- Portion of new oak varies but generally higher in Premier Cru and Grand Cru
- Many varying opinions on new oak and oak maturation
- MLF
- Is normally spontaneous in Spring
- Filtration
- Less expensive wines are fined and lightly filtered
- Many higher level wines may not be
What soily type are the Beaujolais crus grown on?
Granite
Key export % and markets for Chablis
- Markets:
- 2/3 exported
- # 1 UK which buys a quarter of all Chablis production
- Other markets are USA, Japan, Sweden and Canada
Chablis Premier Cru AOC? Describe the soils, aspects, and how the wines look?
-
AOC Chablis Premier Cru
- 40 named vineyards have Premier Cru status
- South or south east facing slopes
- Mainly Kimmeridgian soil (chalk, clay and oyster soils)
- The AOC has expanded a lot as well – and now includes areas of Portlandian clay
- Some larger Premier Cru vineyards have:
- Individual ‘lieu-dit’ – specific name plot (on a centralised land register)
- They are within the ‘climat’ (a climat is a fixed vineyard within the AOC legislation – i.e. such as the Premier Cru vineyard)
- A wine can be bottled under:
- its ‘lieu-dit’ – Chablis 1er Cru Troesmes (the smaller parcel within the climat)
- Or larger climat – Chablis 1er Cru Beauroy
- The order of this system is:
- ‘lieu-dit’ is the specified parcel of land
- ‘lieux-dits’ is simply plural for ‘lieu-dit’
- ‘climat’ is the vineyard parcel designated in AOC law
- Note: in Burgundy – Climat and lieu-dit are sometimes interchangeable and it isn’t mandatory to put ‘lieu-dit’ name on the label
- Riper fruit flavours, heavier body, creamier texture with good integration and minerality
- Generally won’t achieve the ripeness of Grand Cru
- Examples are:
- Fourchaume
- Montmains
Pinot Noir
Pinot Noir
- Buds early and ripens early
- Yields must be reduced in order to produce top quality
- thin skins
- Delicate variety susceptible to many issues
- Millerandage (hen and chicken)
- Downy and powdery mildew
- grey rot
- Botrytis bunch rot
- Fan leaf and leaf roll viruses
- Main issue in Burgundy is getting sufficient ripeness
- Dijon clones are regarded as the best for quality Pinot Noir
- Pinot Noir typically has: strawberry, raspberry, red cherry and at higher quality levels some degree of smoke, clove from Oak maturation. With bottle age they develop earth, game, mushroom notes
the two key soil types of Chablis?
-
Soils:
- Two key soil types:
- Kimmeridgian soil:
- chalk+clay+oyster fossils with
- best vineyards around town of Chablis & facing south
- Portlandian soil:
- hard limestone and clay
- normally makes lesser wines (Petit Chablis)
- Kimmeridgian soil:
- Two key soil types:
What is the vine density per hectare in Burgundy?
8000-10000 vines per hectare
What percentage of Burgundy (excluding Beaujolais) is exported?
And what are the main export markets?
Approximately 50%
of Exports -50% other EU countries, then USA, UK and Japan
Which town is Burgundy’s wine capital?
Beaune
Which two Beaujolais Crus are considered the most structured?
Moulin-a-Vent and Morgon
What is the breakdown of the business units in Burgundy?
- Several thousand growers in different villages and vineyards – sell grapes or unfinished wines to Negociants
- Domaines: own vineyards and make wine from them, sell under own label
- Negociants: typically large businesses, buy grapes or wine, finish them and sell under their own label
- Micro-negociants: smaller businesses buy grapes from very good to top quality vineyards, make the wines and sell under their own names
- Cooperatives:
- less important in Cote d’Or
- predominant role in Chablis (La Chablisienne – 25%)
- Maconnais (Cave de Lugny)
- Lesser extent in Cote Chalonnaise
What are the 3 main weather risks in Burgundy?
- Spring frosts
- Early Summer rain disrupts flowering. Late Summer rain affects harvest Plus wet conditions promote Grey Rot esp P. Noir
- Localised Summer Hail
what are some of the generic red winemaking techniques used in Burgundy?
- Reds
- Cold soaking (widely used (Côte d’Or)
- <15 degrees, 3-7 days, sulphured to stop ferment, for colour extraction and aromatics
- Punching down (pigeage) / pumping over (remontage) in open top fermenters (Côte d’Or / Côte Chalonnaise)
- Partial inclusion of stems during fermentation to add tannins and aid drainage by some producers
- Long fermentations at high temperature (30-32°°C) to extract more colour from light coloured PN
- Barrel ageing: 16-18months with only a portion in new oak
Burgundy has classifcation from regional AOCs to the Grand Cru level - provide details on each level of this classification system
Burgundy
- Grand Crus (x33 in Cote d’Or / 1% of overall production)
Each has its own AOC; vineyard name attached to plot of land & registered in nearest town hall Sites of the greatest quality potential
All white GC in Côtes de Beaune except Musigny GC in Cotes de Nuit
All red GC are in Côtes de Nuit except Corton GC in Cotes de Beaune
7 Chablis Grand Crus
Must be made:
a. From permitted varieties
b. >3y.o. vines
c. regulated patch of land
d.
Not allowed to blend 2 GC
- Premier Crus (x640 in all Burgundy / 10% of overall production)
Don’t have own AC; normally individually named vineyard e.g. Puligny-Montrachet 1er Cru Les Folatieres
Possibility to only state village + 1er cru if a. chosen by labeller (not compulsory) b. Wine blended from 2 1er cru vineyards c. declassified GC or 2xGC from same village
- Village or Communal AOCs (under 37% of overall production)
Villages/Commune:
- 44 Villages, Village name stated; Mersault AOC, Gevrey-Chambertin AOC
- possibility to add vineyard (even if not 1er Cru) in small lettering after Commune
- can be declassified wine from a top vineyard if vintage is unkind
Communal
- Higher yields permitted and possibility to blend wines from different villages
-
Cote de Beaune Villages
- Used by communes in Côtes de Beaune (excl. Aloxe-Corton, Beaune, Pommard & Volnay) for red wines only
-
Cotes de Nuits Villages
- Used by small communes in southern Côtes de Nuits
- Mainly Red wine but white wines are allowed
- Chablis AC in Chablis; Côte Chalonnaise:
- Maconnais: Pouilly Fuissé, St-Véran, Viré Clessé, etc
- Regional ACs (52% of overall production)
- Often grapes grown in lesser vineyards or declassified wines (too high yields or by choice)
- Examples are:
- Bourgogne AOC
- Bourgogne Hautes Cotes de Beaune AOC