Côtes de Bordeaux and Entre-Deux-Mers Flashcards
What does “Entre-Deux-Mers translate to?
What land does this consist of?
Which did achieve AOC status?
“Land between the seas”
—the vast swath of land between the Garonne and Dordogne rivers.
-solely for white wines back in 1937—further restricted to dry whites in 1953
—Merlot dominates the region’s vineyards today, destined for Bordeaux and Bordeaux Supérieur AOP wines.
What is the soil of Entre-Deux-Mers?
Weathered limestone overlaid with cool clay and sandy clay soils that rises to 100 meters above sea level—a high elevation for Bordeaux.
How are vines trained in Entre-Deux-Mers?
Vines are typically trained high to avoid frost, with grape bunches hanging one meter off the ground rather than huddling close to the soil.
Côtes de Bordeaux-Saint-Macaire AOP
Style?
Location?
Reserved for dry and sweet (Sec, Moulleux, and Liquoreux) white wines (often with a touch of botrytis) based on Muscadelle, Sauv Blanc, Sauv Gris, Sémillon
Located in the southern portion outside of the Entre-Deux-Mers. NW from Sauternes across the Garonne river. South of Loupiac.
What is Haut-Benauge?
Haut-Benauge? “oh beh-NAWZJ”
A subzone and geographic designation for dry white wines from nine communes (Arbis, Cantois, Escoussans, Gornac, Ladaux, Mourens, Saint-Pierre-de-Bat, Soulignac, Targon) along the border of Côtes de Bordeaux-Saint-Macaire AOP.
–(The Haut-Benauge designation may also be applied to dry or sweet Bordeaux AOP whites from the same area.). These wines are considered a notch above common.
**takes its name from Benauge castle near the village of Arbis.
Premières Côtes de Bordeaux AOP
Style?
Location?
Min RS?
What are red wines of the area released as?
Sémillon is the appellation’s dominant grape. Re-envisioned with the launch of the Côtes de Bordeaux AOP in 2009 as a sweet white wine-only appellation.
—a thin ribbon of hillsides on the right bank of the Garonne
—mandates at least 34 g/l of residual sugar.
**Producers in the region now have the choice of releasing red wines as Côtes de Bordeaux AOP.
What three sweet wine appellations lie within the Premières Côtes AOP?
How do they differ from Premières Côtes AOP?
Cadillac
Loupiac
Sainte-Croix-du-Mont
—Unlike Premières Côtes de Bordeaux wines, which may be machine-harvested and are typically moelleux rather than truly dessert sweet, these appellations require harvesting by hand in successive tries/min sugar levels are slightly higher and yields are lower.
Botrytis is present, but less rigorous selection than Sauternes and Barsac—rarely show the same level of concentration.
Where is Graves de Vayres AOP?
a small zone just west of Libourne framed by the Dordogne River
Where is Sainte-Foy-Bordeaux AOP?
sandwiched between Entre-Deux-Mers AOP and Bergerac
What is Côtes de Bordeaux AOP and what are the four subzones.
Where are they located?
Côtes de Bordeaux: debuted in 2009 to rebrand and unify numerous outlying appellations in Bordeaux under a common banner in the marketplace and to join these regions in Merlot-based red wine production.
- -Cadillac: (spans the Premières Côtes de Bordeaux sector; this red wine subzone is not to be confused with Cadillac sweet wine appellation)
- -Francs: adjacent to the eastern borders of the Saint-Émilion; north of Castillon
- -Castillon: adjacent to the eastern borders of the Saint-Émilion; south of Francs
- -Blaye: is Blaye
- **Castillon and Cadillac are reserved for red wines subject to more stringent viticultural requirements, while vignerons in Blaye and Francs have the option to produce white wines as well.
Sainte Foy may be a fifth?
Where is Bourg and Blaye
Which is bigger?
Located north of the right bank and across the Gironde from the Médoc.
Bourg is the smaller of the two areas
What is one of the windiest winegrowing areas in Bordeaux and also has the highest proportion of Malbec vines in Bordeaux?
Style of this region?
Bourg
—Close proximity to the estuary reduces the impact of frost and hail while creating one of Bordeaux’s windiest winegrowing areas.
—Merlot is the key grape, 2/3 of the vineyards, but with some warm pockets of gravel amidst the clay and a climate moderated by the Gironde, Cab Sauv biggest blending partner, about 20% of the vineyard acreage.
–Also has the highest concentration of Malbec vines anywhere in Bordeaux: the grape has surged in recent years to account for 10% of total plantings.
**established in 1936 for red wines and expanded to include whites in 1941
Who is the star producer of Bourg?
Château Roc de Cambes
—a Saint-Émilion vigneron named François Mitjaville bought the run-down property in 1987 and showed the world the potential of Bourg.
What two sweet wine appellations previously allowed for red wine before the Côtes de Bordeaux debuted in 2009?
Cadillac AOP and Premières Côtes de Bordeaux AOP remain
