Graves/Pessac-Léognan Flashcards
What was the first identifiable vineyard estate in Graves?
Château Pape-Clément remains the first, a papal gift awarded to Bordeaux in 1305
What is the soil in Graves?
What is it known as?
—Boulbenes: mixture of sand, gravel, and light clay
—Similar to the Médoc but becomes sandier toward the south.
**Graves is dominated by gravel soil, deposited by the shifting course of the Garonne over many millennia. This is clearest in the northern sector, where croupes of gravel nearest the city of Bordeaux resemble those of the Médoc. In the south, there is a larger proportion of sand and limestone.
Name a style difference between Medoc AOC and Graves AOC?
Graves AOC can have both red and white wines.
What is the only major region of Bordeaux to produce top examples of all three main styles of Bordeaux: dry red, dry white, and sweet?
Graves
What are the two regional AOP’s in Graves?
Graves and Graves Supérieur
Name two appellations in Graves other than Sauternes and Barsac for sweet wine.
Graves Supérieures AOP
Cérons AOP
Graves Supérieur AOP style?
Only sweet white production, with most appellation wines finishing around 40-50 g/l of RS (min 34 g/l and min must weight of 221 g/l)
When was the Graves Classification made and when was is revised and finalized?
How many châteaux were included?
1953 and 1959. 15 châteaux were included: 7 received classé status for red wines only, two for whites, and six for both colors of wineylllllllllllllllllyf6t5rd
List the classification of Graves from 1959
13 red and 9 white
Red
* Château Bouscaut (Cadaujac) * Château Carbonnieux (Leognan) * Domaine de Chevalier (Leognan) * Château de Fieuzal (Leognan) * Château Haut-Bailly (Leognan) * Château Haut-Brion (Pessac) * Château Latour-Martillac (Martillac) * Château Malartic-Lagravière (Leognan) * Château La Mission Haut-Brion (Talence) * Château Olivier (Leognan) * Château Pape-Clément (Pessac) * Château Smith-Haut-Lafitte (Martillac) * Château La Tour-Haut-Brion (Talence)
White
* Château Bouscaut * Château Carbonnieux * Domaine de Chevalier * Château Couhins (Villenave d'Ornon) * Château Couhins-Lurton (Villenave d'Ornon) * Château Latour-Martillac * Château Malartic-Lagravière * Château Laville-Haut-Brion (Talence) * Château Olivier
Of the original Grave classification, which château split into two estates in 1968 and which two château disappeared in the 2000s?
Château Couhins split into two estates in 1968
- -Château La Tour Haut-Brion (classified for red wine) produced its final vintage in 2005 (2007, Domaine Clarence Dillon (owner of Haut-Brion) announced that beginning with the 2006 vintage, the grapes from the La Tour Haut-Brion vineyards would be blended into La Chapelle de La Mission Haut-Brion, the second wine of La Mission Haut-Brion)
- -Château Laville Haut-Brion (classified for white wine) produced its final vintage in 2008 (In March 2010 it was announced that wine would cease to be bottled under the name Château Laville Haut-Brion, and beginning with the 2009 vintage, the wine be labelled Château La Mission Haut-Brion Blanc)
Who formed Pessac-Léognan AOC?
- -André Lurton, arrived in Graves from the Entre-Deux-Mers in 1965 and took control of the majority of the Chateau Couhins property in 1968.
- -mid-1970s he was president of the Syndicat de Hautes Graves and pressing for the creation of a new AOC to differentiate the Northern Graves from the south.
- -A more distinctive appellation, coupled with a new wave of vineyard investment and château restoration in the 1980s, could finally stem the tide and save the region from the threat of obliteration.
- -In 1987 the INAO created Pessac-Léognan AOC by decree, aligning the wines of ten communes (all suburbs of Bordeaux) under the new banner.
What percentage of Pessac-Léognan is red?
80% with Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot of almost equal importance in the vineyards.
What is the most planted grape under Château Haut-Brion?
Merlot
What separates Graves from the sea?
The Landes Forest
