General Facts Flashcards
Term for Bordeaux’s inhabitants
- Bordelais (Men)
- Bordelaises (Women)
City nicknames
“La perle d’Aquitaine” (The Pearl of Aquitaine), and “La Belle Endormie” (Sleeping Beauty) in reference to the old center which had black walls due to pollution
Number of appellations
57
1855 First Growth Chatauex
Château Lafite-Rothschild Château Margaux Château Latour Château Haut-Brion Château Mouton-Rothschild* *In 1855 Mouton-Rothschild was ranked a Second Growth. In 1973, it was elevated to First Growth status.[11]
Term for Bordeaux wine in the UK
Claret
Bordeaux Grape Varietals
- Cabernet Sauvignon
- Merlot
- Cabernet Franc
- Petit verdot
- Malbec
- Carménère
University of Bordeaux
The university was created by the archbishop Pey Berland in 1441 and was abolished in 1793, during the French Revolution, before reappearing in 1808 with Napoleon I. Bordeaux accommodates approximately 70,000 students on one of the largest campuses of Europe (235 ha).
Left Bank Appellations
- Medoc
- Haut-Medoc
- Margaux
- Moulis
- Listrac
- St-Julien
- Pauillac
- St-Estephe
- Graves
- Pessac-Leognan
- Sauternes
- Barsac
Bordeaux Rivers
The Gironde is formed where the Garonne and Dordogne meet.
In an typical vintage of the early 21st century, the vineyards of Bordeaux will produce how much wine?
The amount of wine produced will vary slightly from vintage to vintage; 700 million bottles is typical for an average year. Bordeaux contains over 8,000 properties, known as “chateaux,” distributed across 60 regions known as “appellations.” The quality of the wines varies greatly; only a handful of appellations produce the famous wines that sell for hundreds or thousands of dollars a bottle.
Wines have been produced in Bordeaux for about how long?
The Romans are believed to have introduced viticulture to the Bordeaux region in the first century AD. The Roman historian, Gaius Plinius Secundus, or Pliny the Elder, makes mention of vineyards here in the year 71 AD. The Romans called the area Burdigala; the first vines were probably planted to supply the Romans legions occupying the area with wine.
When is a Bordeaux ready to drink?
Red Bordeaux is a wine that demands long aging to show its best. Wines are usually released for sale a year or two after the vintage date, but even the most modest wines require five or more years of “bottle age” before they are ready to drink. The best wines require a decade or more. Great Bordeaux can last a century. The time that the wine is at its peak varies greatly from vintage to vintage, and from property to property, so before buying an older wine, it’s best to consult a vintage chart, or an online site like cellartracker.com. The wines from the 1945 and 1961 vintages are still drinking wonderfully well; a wine from 1997 may well be past its prime. As a rule of thumb, the better the vintage, the longer it takes the wine to mature, and the longer it will last.
Bordeaux produces many refreshing white wines, especially from the Graves and Entre-Deux-Mers regions, but its most famous white is a sweet dessert wine. What is it?
Suaternes.
Sauternes is made primarily from Semillon grapes, with a little Sauvignon Blanc, and sometimes a bit of Muscadelle. In order to produce Sauternes, the grapes have to be attacked by a fungus called Botrytis,or “noble rot” ; the fungus dries out the grapes, stimulates the production of glycerin, and concentrates the naturally occurring sugars within the shriveled grapes. It also imparts a unique, honey-like flavor. The result is a thick, syrupy, very fragrant wine with a high alcohol content and lots of residual sugar.
The conditions for the proper development of “noble rot” only occur during certain vintages; some years no Sauternes is produced at all. It is very expensive to produce, since the grapes must be picked one at a time over a period of many weeks, and yields are very low. As a result, Sauternes tends to be very expensive, and is often sold in half bottles. The most famous property is Chateau d’Yquem. Sauternes can last virtually forever; bottles over 200 years old have often been opened and found to be not only drinkable, but still delicious.
Which Bordeaux property is known for having a famous artist design a different label for each vintage?
Every year since 1945, Chateau Mouton-Rothschild has commissioned an artist to design a wine label for that year’s vintage. The list of artists who have designed a Mouton label reads like a “Who’s Who” of the art world: Jean Cocteau, Georges Braque, Henry Moore, Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, and Marc Chagall, just to name a few. So if you want to own an original Picasso (1973), Dali (1958), or Miro (1969), just head on down to your local wine merchant. Some of the more unusual people to design a label are director John Huston (1982), and HRH Charles, Prince of Wales (2004).
What is Mouton Cadet?
The 1930 vintage in Bordeaux was so terrible that Philippe de Rothschild, the owner of Chateau Mouton-Rothschild, felt that most of the wine produced was unworthy of bearing the prestigious Mouton-Rothschild name. He created a second label for the inferior wine, and called it “Mouton Cadet,” which means something like “Junior Mouton.” To his surprise, the wine proved very popular. The 1931 and 1932 vintages were also poor, so the experiment was repeated. Demand for the wine became so great that eventually grapes from other properties were purchased to produce it in greater quantities. After World War II the brand was introduced into the United States and Great Britain, and its popularity continued to increase. Originally offered only as a red wine, it now boasts white and rose varieties, and there is even a Mouton Cadet “Reserve,” which purports to be of higher quality than the standard offering. In a typical year, 15 million bottles of Mouton Cadet are sold worldwide. It is a very basic Bordeaux, but its quality and relatively low price have sustained its popularity. Because it’s a blended wine, the quality is consistent from year to year. It’s a good place to start if you are interested in learning about Bordeaux wines. Incidentally, Mouton Cadet no longer contains any wine sourced from Chateau Mouton-Rothschild; in 1994 the estate introduced a new label called “Le Petit Mouton” for its second wine.
