Climate/Soil/Viticulture Flashcards
What is the climate of Bordeaux?
Maritime with increasingly hot and humid summers.
Occasional rain at harvest.
What area of Bordeaux has more annual rainfall than any other region of France?
The Medoc.
How does the Atlantic Gulf Stream current affect the climate of Bordeaux?
It brings warm waters from the Caribbean and helps keep the climate in Bordeaux mild.
Where does Bordeaux fall on the Winkler Scale?
Region II
Is there a sizable diurnal temperature shift in Bordeaux?
No.
What is coulure?
Coulure is a viticultural hazard that is the result of metabolic reactions to weather conditions that causes a failure of grapes to develop after flowering.
Triggered by periods of cold, cloudy, rainy weather or very high out-of-season temperatures.
Coulure can also cause irregular bunches of grapes which are less compact than normal.
What is 2-methoxy-3isobutylpyrazine?
Pyrazines.
What ripens earlier, Cabernet Sauvignon or Merlot?
Merlot.
Another name for Malbec in Bordeaux is what?
Pessac Noir.
What are the parents of Cabernet Sauvignon?
Sauvignon Blanc and Cabernet Franc.
Cabernet Franc is a parent of these three grapes.
Cabernet Sauvignon
Merlot
Carmeniere
True or False.
Merlot and Malbec are siblings.
True.
The Tertiary Geological deposits in Bordeaux developed into what soil types? Where is this prevalent in Bordeaux?
Clay and limestone.
Right Bank.
The Quarternary geological deposits in Bordeaux developed into what soil types? Where is this prevalent in Bordeaux?
Alluvial, sandy and gravels. Left Bank (Medoc, Graves, Sauternes).
How did the gravel soils form in Bordeaux?
The gravel was left behind hundreds of thousands of years ago by melted glaciers from the Massif Central and the Pyrenees.
What does gravel do for the vines?
It regulates water supply. Drainage is key for the vines.
What is green harvesting? What does this do for the grapes?
Whole bunches are removed during the summer months.
This reduces vigor, produces smaller berries and yields more concentrated vines.
What are the two sorting machines that are used in Bordeaux?
Optical sorter: Fruit is automatically rejected.
Density sorter: Grapes are run through a suger-water solution. The ones that float to the top are rejected.
What is the vine training method used in Bordeaux?
Double Guyot
What is the latitude of Bordeaux?
44.83 degrees
What is remontage vs pigeage? What is more popular in Bordeaux?
Remontage: Pumping over
Pigeage: Punch down
Remontage is more popular in Bordeaux
What is passerillage?
The practice of leaving grapes on the vine past normal harvest so that they dry up and concentrate their flavors.
What reduces VA in Sauternes?
Sulfur Dioxide
How does the climate of the right bank compare to the left bank?
The right bank is drier than the left bank.
There is a greater temperature swing from summer to winter on the right bank.
Spring and fall frosts are a greater concern on the right bank.
True of False.
Petit Verdot does not exist on the right bank.
True
