BACK TO TOP
All planting statistics are courtesy of the CIVB.
Château Lafite
There are two schools of thought regarding assemblage in Bordeaux. One side prefers to create the final blend early in the year after harvest, in time for the April en primeur tasting. (A chief criticism lobbed at the annual tasting is that scores are awarded to barrel selections, not complete wines.) The opposing perspective would prefer to blend just before bottling, in order to isolate and observe the maturation of separate components for as long as possible. Bottling typically occurs in April, preceded by fining and/or filtration. Some winemakers prefer one or the other; some bottle without either. Bordeaux, a creature of habit, is finished with a cork, although the closure is not mandated by AOC law.
Pomerol.
St-Emilion Classification completed in 1955 & legally enacted in 1958. The harvest completed in 1958 or bottled in 1958?
Hey Marlon! This is a technique used after significant rainfall near harvest. They are notd ealcoholizing the wines but removing excess water, which in turn, is concentrating the must.
I read this under the 'wine making practices of bordeaux' section and i need help understanding it. When water content is too high, some well-funded estates choose to concentrate must through other means, like vacuum distillation or reverse osmosis. (When employed in California, such technologies reduce alcohol content; in Bordeaux, the intent is usually the opposite.) My question is Why would the bordelaise use these dealcoholizing methods in winemaking if the intent is to do the opposite?
Hey Sandeep! The "buttonière" is a specific geological formation in Pomerol as opposed to the name of the soil. The buttonhole contains thick blue clay. This stretch of thick blue clay extends out of the buttonhole and into the vineyards of Cheval Blanc. The section of the vineyards with blue clay is where the house's oldest Cabernet Franc vines live. All in all, the buttonhole is not the soil type but the formation in Pomerol. Cheval Blanc would be much more familiar with the specific soil type of blue clay as they do not lie in the buttonhole.
Can some one give a sitation for the button hole soil name? I just asked Nicolas Coporandy at Cheval Blanc about this soil and he said hes never heard this term.
Thanks! Updated.
I think there may be a mixup in geography of St-Emilion satellites... it says Puisseguin is the northernmost but it's actually Lussac.
A small note on the rosé section which says only red grapes are authorized: The Bordeaux AOP encépagement now allows a percentage of white grapes to be included as accessory varieties in rosé wines.
Thanks, Ivan. I've clarified above.
cliquage is MACRO-oxygenation. Needs a correction!