Bordeaux Wines

Dont really hv a thing for bordeaux wines bcos they are quite heavy. Anyway, just beginning to learn more abt the wines. Over 700 million bottles of Bordeaux wine are produced every year. Most Bordeaux wine is red, but sweet white wines have also contributed to the region's reputation, and dry white, rosé and sparkling wines (Crémant de Bordeaux) are also produced. Bordeaux wine is made in 9,000 wineries usually called châteaux from the grapes of 13,000 grape growers. There are 57 appellations of Bordeaux wine.

The history of wine production seems to have begun sometime after 48 AD, during the Roman occupation of St. Émilion, when the Romans established vineyards to cultivate wine for the soldiers.However, it is only in 71 AD that Pliny recorded the first real evidence of vineyards in Bordeaux. France's first extensive vineyards were established by Rome in around 122 BC in today's Languedoc, the better part of two hundred years earlier.

The economic problems in 1970s, in the wake of the 1973 oil crisis marked a difficult period for Bordeaux. The 1980s was a period of recovery, and a new era in two respects. First, wine critics (rather than just official classifications) started to have an influence on demand and prices. US wine critic Robert M. Parker, Jr.'s review of the 1982 Bordeaux vintage has generally been considered to have started this trend, and Parker has remained the most influential Bordeaux critic ever since.[citation needed] Second, the preferred style of high-quality red Bordeaux has gradually changed: the wines are more concentrated in flavour, have a heavier influence of new oak, are more approachable already when young, and are slightly higher in alcohol. It has been claimed that this is the style of wine that Parker prefers and gives high scores to (and they are therefore sometimes called "Parkerized"), while the Pomerol-based winemaking consultant Michel Rolland writes the recipe for how to make these wines.

Bordeaux used to have a significant production of white wines, with Entre-deux-Mers, a primarily white wine area. Unlike the style of dry white Bordeaux favoured today, with almost 100% Sauvignon Blanc and a heavy influence of new oak, the traditional Entre-deux-Mers whites had a high proportion of Semillion and were either made in old oak barrels or in steel tanks. Starting in the 1960s and 1970s, these vineyards were converted to red wine production (of Bordeaux AOC and Bordeaux Superieur AOC), and the production of white wine has decreased ever since. Today production of white wine has shrunk to about one tenth of Bordeaux's total production.

The Bordeaux region of France is the second largest wine-growing area in the world with 284,320 acres (1,151 km2) under vine. Only the Languedoc wine region with 617,750 acres (2,500 km2) under vine is larger.Located halfway between the North pole and the equator, there is more vineyard land planted in Bordeaux than in all of Germany and ten times the amount planted in New Zealand.

The major reason for the success of winemaking in the Bordeaux region is the excellent environment for growing vines. The geological foundation of the region is limestone, leading to a soil structure that is heavy in calcium. The Gironde estuary dominates the regions along with its tributaries, the Garonne and the Dordogne rivers, and together irrigate the land and provide a maritime climate for the region.

These rivers define the main geographical subdivisions of the region:

• "The right bank", situated on the right bank of Dordogne, in the northern parts of the region, around the city of Libourne.
• Entre-deux-mers, French for "between two waters", the area between the rivers Dordogne and Garonne, in the centre of the region.
• "The left bank", situated on the left bank of Garonne, in the west and south of the region, around the city of Bordeaux itself. The left bank is further subdivided into: Graves, the area upstream of the city Bordeaux. Médoc, the area downstream of the city Bordeaux, situated on a peninsula between Gironde and the Atlantic.

In Bordeaux the concept of terroir plays a pivotal role in wine production with the top estates aiming to make terroir driven wines that reflect the place they are from, often from grapes collected from a single vineyard. The soil of Bordeaux is composed of gravel, sandy stone, and clay. The region's best vineyards are located on the well drained gravel soils that are frequently found near the Gironde river. An old adage in Bordeaux is the best estates can "see the river" from their vineyard and majority of land that face riverside are occupied by classified estates.

Red Bordeaux, which is traditionally known as claret in the United Kingdom, is generally made from a blend of grapes. Permitted grapes are Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Malbec, and Carmenere. Today Malbec and Carmenere are rarely used, with Château Clerc Milon, a fifth growth Bordeaux, being one of the few to still retain Carmenere vines.

As a very broad generalization, Cabernet Sauvignon dominates the blend in red wines produced in the Médoc and the rest of the left bank of the Gironde estuary. Merlot and to a lesser extent Cabernet Franc tend to predominate in Saint Emilion, Pomerol and the other right bank appellations.

White Bordeaux is predominantly, and exclusively in the case of the sweet Sauternes, made from Sémillon, Sauvignon Blanc and Muscadelle. As with the reds, white Bordeaux wines are usually blends, most commonly of Sémillon and a smaller proportion of Sauvignon Blanc. Other permitted grape varieties are Ugni Blanc, Colombard, Merlot Blanc, Ondenc and Mauzac.

In the late 1960s Sémillon was the most planted grape in Bordeaux. Since then it has been in constant decline although it still is the most common of Bordeaux's white grapes. Sauvignon Blanc's popularity on the other hand has been rising, overtaking Ugni Blanc as the second most planted white Bordeaux grape in the late 1980s and now being grown in an area more than half the size of that of the lower yielding Sémillon.

For wine styles, the Bordeaux wine region is divided into subregions including Saint-Émilion, Pomerol, Médoc, and Graves. The 57 Bordeaux appellations and the wine styles they represent are usually categorized into six main families, four red based on the subregions and two white based on sweetness.

• Red Bordeaux and Bordeaux Supérieur. These are the "basic" red Bordeaux wines which are allowed to be produced all over the region, and represent the cheapeast Bordeaux wines. Some are sold by wine merchants under commercial brand names rather than as classical "Châteaux" wines. These wines tend to be fruity, with a rather marginal influence of oak in comparison to "classical" Bordeaux, and produced in a style meant to be drunk young. On about half of the region's surface, this is the only appellation that may be used. Some producers in those location do however produce Bordeaux Superieur in a style more similar to the other red families.
• Red Côtes de Bordeaux. Eight appellations are located in the hilly outskirts of the region, and produce wines where the blend usually is dominated by Merlot. These wines tend to be intermediate between basic red Bordeaux and the more famous appellations of the left and right bank in both style and quality. However, since none of Bordeaux's stellar names are situated in Côtes de Bordeaux, prices tend to be moderate. There is no official classification in Côtes de Bordeaux.
• Red Libourne, or "Right Bank" wines. Around the city of Libourne, 10 appellations produce wines dominated by Merlot with very little Cabernet Sauvignon, the two most famous being Saint Emilion and Pomerol. These wines often have great fruit concentration, softer tannins and are long-lived. Saint-Emilion has an official classification.
• Red Graves and Médoc or "Left Bank" wines. North and south of the city Bordeaux, the most classical parts of Bordeaux is situated, and produce wines dominated by Cabernet Sauvignon, but often with a significant portion of Merlot. These wines are concentrated, tannic, long-lived and most of them meant to be cellared before drinking. The five First Growths are situated here. There are official classifications for both Médoc and Graves.
• Dry white wines. Dry white wines are made throughout the region, from a blend dominated by Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon, with those from Graves being the most well-known and the only subregion with a classification for dry white wines. The better versions tend to have a significant oak influence.
• Sweet white wines. In several locations and appellations throughout the region, sweet white wine is made from Semillon, Savignon Blanc and Muscadelle grapes affected by noble rot. The best-known of these appellations is Sauternes, which also have an official classification, and where some of the world's most famous sweet wines are produced. There are also appellations neighbouring Sauternes, on both sides of the Garonne river, where similar wines are made.

The vast majority of Bordeaux wine is red, with red wine production out numbering white wine production six to one.

There are four different classifications of Bordeaux, covering different parts of the region:

• The Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855, covering (with one exception) red wines of Médoc, and sweet wines of Sauternes-Barsac.
• The 1955 Official Classification of St.-Émilion, which is updated approximately once every ten years, and last in 2006.
• The 1959 Official Classification of Graves, initially classified in 1953 and revised in 1959.
• The Cru Bourgeois Classification, which began as an unofficial classification, but came to enjoy official status and was last updated in 2003. However, after various legal turns, the classification was annulled in 2007.As of 2007, plans exist to revive it as an unofficial classification.
• The 1855 classification system was made at the request of Emperor Napoleon III for the Exposition Universelle de Paris. This came to be known as the Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855, which ranked the wines into five categories according to price. The first growth red wines (four from Médoc and one, Château Haut-Brion, from Graves), are among the most expensive wines in the world.

The first growths are:

• Château Lafite-Rothschild, in the appellation Pauillac
• Château Margaux, in the appellation Margaux
• Château Latour, in the appellation Pauillac
• Château Haut-Brion, in the appellation Péssac-Legonan
• Château Mouton Rothschild, in the appellation Pauillac, promoted from second to first growth in 1973.

At the same time, the sweet white wines of Sauternes and Barsac were classified into three categories, with only Château d'Yquem being classified as a superior first growth.

In 1955, St. Émilion AOC were classified into three categories, the highest being Premier Grand Cru Classé A with two members:Château Ausone; Château Cheval Blanc.

There is no official classification applied to Pomerol. However some Pomerol wines, notably Château Pétrus and Château Le Pin, are often considered as being equivalent to the first growths of the 1855 classification, and often sell for even higher prices.