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78 Cards in this Set

  • Front
  • Back
Total number of grapes permitted for Bordeaux ACs (red and white)
14
Bordeaux red grapes
Merlot
Cabernet Sauvignon
Cabernet Franc
Malbec
Petit Verdot
Bordeaux white grapes
Semillon
Sauvignon Blanc
Muscadelle
Merlot
- Medium yields
- Medium body
- Medium tannin
- Matures early than Cab Sauv
- Most widely planted red in Bordeaux
- Over 60% of blend in St Emilion and Pomerol
- Adds softness and body to Cab Sauv blends
Cabernet Sauvignon
- Moderate yields
- Tannic and full bodied
- Characteristic blackcurrant aroma
- 3/4 of finest left bank Bordeaux blends
- Gives colour and structure to blends
Malbec
- Usage decreasing
- Used for early drinking reds
- Can suffer from coulure
Petit Verdot
- When fully ripe gives deep, tannic wines with ageing potential
- Late ripening
- Adds tannin
- Adds colour
- Adds spicy notes to blend
Semillon
- Widely planted
- Used in dry and sweet wines
- Thin skins make susceptible to botrytis
Sauvignon Blanc
- Blended with semillon
- Increasingly single varietal dry wines
- Distinctive grass and elderflower characteristic
Muscadelle
- Grapey muscat flavour
- Minor constituant in sweet wines
Courtier
Broker
Submits samples to Negociant (like agent)
Obtains best price
arranges the deal
Negociant roles
Buys blends sells generic bulk or bottle
Buys individual chat. wine sells bulk or bottle
Buys individual chat. wine to release and sell at different maturity levels
Buying before harvest
Sur Souche (a gamble)
6 ways to buy Bordeaux
Sur souche (before harvest)
En Primeur March after vintage
Hectolitre e.g. road tanker
Tonneau (900l) = 100 cases
Barrel/barrique (225l) = 25 cases
12 bottle case
Barrique size/ amount of wine
225l
25 cases
En Primeur
Small quantities released March after harvest
Released in tranches (rises each tranche)
Price includes all costs up to bottling
Wine kept at Chat.
release to buyer after approx 2 yr
Most common pruning system in Bordeaux
Double guyot
Bordeaux AC figures
Largest appellation in Bordeaux
Bordeaux is France's largest producer of AC wine
Covers whole Bordeaux region
Bordeaux AC wines
Covers whole region
RED - med body, blackberry + cedar, some unripeness and astringent tannins
WHITE - Light and plain, can have SB herbaciousness
Varietal eg Merlot or SB becoming more common
Bordeaux AC exceptions
Pavillon blanc from Margaux (100% SB since 1920s)
Dry whites from Sauternes e.g. Y d'Yquem
Haut Medoc AC grapes
red only for AC Cabernet dominates
Haut-Medoc sub regions
St Estephe
Pauillac - Latour, Lafite, Mouton
St Julien
Margaux - Chat. Margaux
Listrac - no classed growths
Moulis - no classed growths
Only 1st growth outside Haut-Medoc?
Château Haut-Brion
Pessac-Leognan (Graves)
Listrac AC and Moulis AC
Haut-Medoc sub regions
red only AC
No classed growths
Cabernet dominated blends
good value
Haut-Medoc sub regions
red only AC
No classed growths
Cabernet dominated blends
good value
Listrac AC
Moulis AC
To the west between Margaux and St Julien (away from river banks)
Graves AC
Red and white
Lighter body and quicker maturation than Haut-Medoc
classed growths in Pessac-Leognan AC commune subregon
Graves soils
Red on gravel
White on sand
Sauternes AC
Sweet only AC
High alcohol
High sweetness
Balanced acidity
apricot, botrytis, honey and vanilla
Entre-deux-mers AC
white only
Blends or varietal SB Semillon
Right bank regions
St-Emilion
Pomerol
Fronsac
Canon-Fronsac
Cotes de Bourg
Cotes de Bordeaux
St Emilion villages that can add their name before St-Emillion on the label
Lussac
Montagne
Puisseguin
Saint-Georges
Lussac
Montagne
Puisseguin
Saint-Georges
St Emilion villages that can add their name before St-Emillion on the label
Pomerol
Richer wines than St Emilion
Average 1% higher abv than Medoc
No formal classification
Spicy, blackberry flavour
Petrus and Le Pin (clay soils)
Petrus owner and major Pomerol negociant
JP Moueix
Pomerol's finest geography
Highest part of plateau
gravel and clay layers
iron rich clay subsoil (close to surface in Petrus)
Soils in Pomerol's west
sandier
lighter wines made
Pomerol classification
none
Not a long enough history of selling single properties to build one, fast changing e.g. micro chateaux
Fronsac AC
Right bank hillsides
Merlot dominates
full bodied
tannic
North of Libourne
Canon-Fronsac
Right bank hillsides
Merlot dominates
full bodied
tannic
North of Libourne, within Fronsac
North of Libourne
Hillside merlot
Fronsac AC
Canon-Fronsac AC
Cotes de Bourg AC
RED and WHITE
soft early drinking
Across river from Margaux commune (south of cotes de Bordeaux)
RED and WHITE
soft early drinking
Across river from Margaux commune
Cotes de Bourg AC
Cotes de Bordeaux AC
Right bank hillsides since 2007
North of Cotes de Bourg
formerly Blaye/Castillon etc
Merlot dominated
Right bank hillsides since 2007
North of Cotes de Bourg
formerly Blaye/Castillon etc
Merlot dominated
Cotes de Bordeaux AC
Total number of 1855 Cru Classes
61 Cru Classes in the Medoc
1st growths
Haut-Brion (Pessac Leognan)
Latour (Pauillac)
Lafite (Pauillac)
Mouton-Rothschild (Pauillac)
Margaux (Margaux)
Number of each 1855 growth
5 x 1st growth
14 x 2nd growth
14 x 3rd growth
10 x 4th growth
18 x 5th growth
Number of 2nd growths
14
Number of 2rd growths
14
Number of 3rd growths
14
1855 Sweet wine classification
d'Yquem = Premier Cru Superieur
11 x 1st growth
14 x 2nd growth
d'Yquem classification
Premier Cru Superieur
Total number of Sauternes Cru Classe
26
Years of Cru Borgeois classifications
1932
1978
2003 (annulled)
2007 onwards is current
2007 onward Cru Bourgeois terms
Designation of quality
Right to use determined by visit and tasting
Annually awarded by independent body
Open to any property in the medoc
Label Cru Bourgeois
Term of quality not a classification
Graves classification
1959
Red and white lists
Cru Classe only rank (i.e. no 1st, 2nd etc)
Haut-Brion included also part of 1855
Bordeaux classifications
1855 (Medoc & Sauternes)
Cru Bourgeois
Graves
Saint-Emilion
Saint-Emilion classification years
1955
1996 - still stands
2006 (annulled)
St-Emilion classification levels
Grand Cru Classe
Premier Grand Cru Classe A
Premier Grand Cru Classe B
St-Emilion classification
Reclassified every 10 yrs
1996 classification still stands
Reviewed in 2010-2011
St Emilion classification judging
Wines will be assessed on taste, their terroir, where they sit in the market, and their existing reputation.
Bordeaux rivers
Gironde estuary
Dordogne river
Garonne river
Harvesting
Majority by machine
Sweet wine handpicked
Cos d'Estournel all hand picked
Red wine method to concentrate sugars
Green harvest
Fermentation and maceration
Up to 3 weeks
Fruit selection
at harvest and again in winery
fermentation vessels
Oak, concrete or stainless steel
winemaking
stalks can be added to fermentation vat to add tannins
Chaptalisation
Once routine
Better Chateaux use reverse osmosis in light years
Avoid must enrichment in best years
Oak ageing
Varies dramatically by property in use of new oak
MLF
Used to occur in Spring
Now forced in barrel for en-primeur tastings
blending
different batches assembled AFTER ageing to create desired style
Varieties and parcels ferment seperately
White vinification
Oak or stainless steel
Temp controlled 15 - 20C
Long, cool ferment to retain varietal flavours
Ageing can occur in oak
Sweet vinification
Semillon dominates blend (up to 100%)
Several harvest dates
hand picking
low yields
high costs
Top Sauternes ferment and age in oak
Top Sauternes winemaking
Ferment and age in oak
Passerillage
Dried/raisined on the vine concentrating sugars

in dryer years a factor in sweet wines
Dried/raisined on the vine concentrating sugars

in dryer years a factor in sweet wines
Passerillage