June 21, 2007
May 11, 2007
Loire
The Loire Valley is famous for its white wines. None of them use Chardonnay as a main grape variety. Chenin Blanc or Sauvignon are widely used. About 75% of the production is made of white wine. Although Loire is a land of white wine, some red wines are very interesting. They are fruity and pleasant: The Loire Valley is probably the most beautiful wine region in France and in the world.
Provence
Provence is one of the most beautiful region in France. Eventually the region is also one of the most popular and attracts many visitors and dwellers. Provence calls to mind sun, lavender, olive tree and rosé wine.
Provence vineyard is very old. The Roman were the first to grow vines there not far way from Marseille port. Caesar wrote about it in his memories. Provence is very well known for its rosé wine. The region produces almost half of the rosé french production. However red and white wines from provence are improving and some of them can compete with the best in France
May 10, 2007
Burgundy
Rhône
The Rhône wine region is first divided into north and south. The north produces syrah based reds and pure viognier whites. The south produces Châteauneuf-du-Pape and other blends from several varieties.
Languedoc
Languedoc wine (often labeled Vin de Pays d'Oc) is produced in southern France. While "Languedoc" can refer to a specific historic region of France and Northern Catalonia, usage since the 20th century (especially in the context of wine) has primarily referred to the northern part of the Languedoc-Roussillon région of France, an area which spans the Mediterranean coastline from the French border with Spain to the region of Provence. The area has around 700,000 acres under vines and is the single biggest wine-producing region in the world, being responsible for more than a third of France's total wine production. As recently as 2001, the region produced more wine than the entire United States.
Bordeaux
The Bordeaux region of France is the second largest wine-growing area in the world with 284,320 acres under vine. Only the Languedoc wine region with 617,750 acres 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.
May 08, 2007
Burgundy
Burgundy wine
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Red Burgundy wines are usually made with the Pinot noir grape, and white Burgundy wines are usually made with Chardonnay grapes, as dictated by the AOC.
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[edit] Geography
The wine region starts just south of Dijon at Marsannay-la-Côte and runs southward to just short of the city of Lyon. The area of Chablis stands on its own to the northwest of Dijon, about as close to Paris as it is to the heart of Burgundy. The main wine regions in Burgundy proper (those that are entitled to the AOC Bourgogne designation) are the Côte de Nuits, Côte de Beaune (collectively known as the Côte d'Or or "golden slope") and further south the Côte Chalonnaise. The Route des Grands Crus (which loosely translates as the "road of great vineyards") traverses the Burgundy wine region.
The area is made up tiny villages surrounded by flat and sloped vineyards. The sloped vineyards have the most exposure to sunshine and the greatest drainage. The best wines (Grand Cru) from this region are usually grown from the middle part of the slopes while the "Premier Cru" come from a little less favourably exposed slopes. The relatively ordinary "Village" wines are produced from the flat territory nearer the villages.
Beaujolais, Chablis[1], and Mâcon are also viticulturally part of Burgundy.
[edit] Climate
Burgundy experiences a continental climate characterized by very cold winters and hot summers. The weather is very unpredictable with rains, hail, and frost all possible around harvest time. Because of this climate, there is a lot of variation between vintages from Burgundy.
[edit] Wine characteristics and classification
Burgundy is in some ways the most terroir-oriented region in France; immense attention is paid to the area of origin, and in which of the region's 400 types of soil a wine's grapes are grown. As opposed to Bordeaux, where classifications are producer-driven and awarded to individual chateaux, Burgundy classifications are geographically-focused. A specific vineyard or region will bear a given classification, regardless of the wine's producer. This focus is reflected on the wine's labels where appellations are most prominent and producer's names often appear at the bottom in much smaller text.
Burgundy classifications, in descending order of quality, are: grand crus, premier crus, Commune or village, and finally generic Bourgogne.
- Grand Cru refers to wines produced from the small number of the best vineyard sites in the Cote d'Or. Grand Cru wines make up 2% of the production at 35 hectoliters/hectare. These wines need to be aged a minimum of 5-7 years and the best examples can be kept for more than 15 years. Very few Chardonnays or Pinot Noirs in the world can be aged and continue to improve as well as these wines. Grand Cru wines will only list the name of the vineyard as the appellation - such as Corton or Montrachet - on the wine label.
- Premier Cru wines are produced from specific vineyard sites that are still considered to be of high quality, but not as well regarded as the Grand Cru sites. Premier Cru wines make up 12% of production at 45 hectoliters/hectare. These wines need to be aged 3-5 years, and again the best wines can keep for much longer. Premier Cru wines will usually list both the name of the village of origin - together with the status of the vineyard - eg "Volnay 1er Cru" as the appellation, and then the name of the individual vineyard (eg "Les Caillerets") on the wine label.
- Village wines can be a blend of wines from supposedly lesser vineyard sites within the boundaries of an individual village, or from one individual but non-classified vineyard. Wines from each different village are considered to have their own specific qualities and characteristics. Village wines make up 36% of production at 50 hectoliters/hectare. These wines can be consumed 2-4 years after the release date, although again some examples will keep for longer. Village wines will show the village name on the wine label, eg "Pommard", and sometimes - if applicable - the name of the single vineyard where it was sourced. Several villages in Burgundy have appended the names of their Grand Cru vineyards to the original village name - hence "Puligny-Montrachet" and "Aloxe-Corton".
- The AOC Bourgogne classification refers to wines that can be sourced or blended from anywhere in the Burgundy region. These wines make up the rest of production at 55 hectoliters/hectare. These wines can be consumed up to 3 years after the vintage date. Appellations between generic "Bourgogne" and individual Village wines are also found, such as "Macon-Villages" or "Cote de Beaune-Villages", where the wines can come from a wide but defined area which will include several individual villages.
Other Burgundy AOCs that are not as often seen are Bourgogne Passetoutgrains (which can contain up to two thirds Gamay (the grape of Beaujolais) in addition to Pinot noir), Bourgogne Aligoté (which is primarily made with the Aligoté grape), and Bourgogne Grand Ordinaire. The latter is the lowest AOC, and Grand is intended to refer to the size of the area eligible to produce it, not its quality. There are certain regions that are allowed to put other grapes in miscellaneous AOCs, but for the most part these rules hold. These regulations are even confusing to the majority of French adults, according to research (Franson). Chablis wines are labelled using a similar hierarchy of Grand Cru, Premier Cru and Village wines, whereas wines from Beaujolais are treated differently again.
[edit] Production
Burgundy vineyards make up some 60,000 acres of production. Generally, the small wine growers sell their grapes to larger producers called negociants who blend and bottle the wine. The roughly 115 negociants who produce the majority of the wine only control around 8% of the acreage. Individual growers have around 67% of the acreage, but produce only around 25% of the wine. Some small wineries produce only 100-200 cases/year while many producers make a few thousand cases/year. Grower/producer made wines can be identified by the terms Mis en bouteille au domaine, Mis au domaine, or Mis en bouteille à la propriété. The largest producer is Maison Louis Latour in Beaune with 350,000 cases/year. The negociants may use the term Mis en bouteille dans nos caves (bottled in our cellars), but are not entitled to use the estate bottled designation of the grower/producers.[citation needed]
[edit] Grape Varieties
For the white grapes, Chardonnay (Bourgogne blanc) is the most common. A secondary grape is Aligoté which is lower cost and higher in acidity; this is a very aggressive grape and is grown in small quanties. Aligoté from Burgundy is the wine traditionally used for the Kir drink, where it is mixed with blackcurrant liqueur.
Chablis, Macon wines and the Cote d'Or whites are all produced from 100% Chardonnay grapes. For the red grapes, all production in the Cote d'Or is focused on the Pinot noir grape while the Gamay grape is grown in Beaujolais. In the Cote de Nuits region, 90% of the production is red grapes.
[edit] History
From about the year 900 up to the French Revolution, the vineyards of Burgundy were owned by the Church. After the revolution, the vineyards were broken up and sold to the workers who had tended them. The Napoleonic inheritance laws resulted in the continued subdivision of the most precious vineyard holdings, so that some growers hold only a row or two of vines. This led to the emergence of négociants who aggregate the produce of many growers to produce a single wine. It has also led to a profusion of increasingly small family-owned wineries, exemplified by the dozen plus "Gros" family domaines.
Burgundy wine has experienced much change over the past seventy-five years. Economic depression during the 1930s was followed by the devastation caused by World War II. After the War, “the vignerons returned home to their unkempt vineyards. The soils and vines had suffered and were sorely in need of nurturing. The growers began to fertilize, bringing their vineyards back to health. Those who could afford it added potassium, a silver-white metallic chemical element that contributes to vigorous growth. By the mid-1950s, the soils were balanced, yields were reasonably low and the vineyards produced some of the most stunning wines this century.
“Understandably, the farmers had no inclination to fix what wasn't broken. So for the next 30 years, they followed the advice of renowned viticultural experts, who advised them to keep spraying their vineyards with chemical fertilizers, including potassium. While a certain amount of potassium is natural in the soil and good for healthy growth, too much is bad because it leads to low acidity levels, which adversely affect the quality of the wine. “As the concentration of chemicals in the soil increased, so did the yields. In the past 30 years, yields have risen by two-thirds in the appellations contrôlées vineyards of the Côte d'Or, from 29 hectoliters per hectare (yearly average from 1951 to 1960) to almost 48 hectoliters per hectare (1982-91), according to a study by the Institut National des Appellations d'Origine. And with higher yields came wines of less flavor and concentration. “The Burgundians pushed their vineyards. They fertilized them, sprayed them and replanted them with high-yield clones to increase crop levels. Like overfishing that can leave a lake practically sterile, overworking the soil sapped it of its natural balance. Soils that had contributed to Burgundy's reputation for a millennium became depleted by overdependence on chemicals and other modern techniques in just 30 years” [1]. “The period between 1985 and 1995 was a turning point in Burgundy. During this time many Burgundian domaines renewed efforts in the vineyards and gradually set a new course in winemaking. All this led to deeper, more complex wines” [2]. Today, the Burgundy wine industry is reaping the rewards of those impressive efforts.[edit] Expensive reputation
Burgundy is home to some of the most expensive wines in the world, including those of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti, Domaine Leroy, Henri Jayer, Emmanuel Rouget, Domaine Dugat-Py, Domaine Leflaive and Domaine Armand Rousseau. However, some top vintage first growth Bordeaux wines and a few iconic wines from the New World are more expensive than some grand cru class Burgundy.
The British wine critic Jancis Robinson emphasizes that "price is an extremely unreliable guide" and that "What a wine sells for often has more to do with advertising hype and marketing decisions than the quality contained in the bottle" (Robinson). While Grand Crus often command steep prices, village level wines from top producers can be found at quite reasonable prices.
It has been pointed out that "There are no shortcuts to understanding the region of Burgundy.... If you want to become a Burgundy expert, be prepared to memorize 1,000 names, take a course in French pronunciation and expect to get lost in a maze of appellations (officially delineated wine zones). In addition, get ready to part with a good chunk of change—Burgundy wines are expensive. It is like buying designer wine, you pay for the name. And the smaller the appellation within burgundy, the rarer the wine and the higher the cost"[2].
[edit] Notes
- ^ Walton, Stuart (2005). Cook's Encyclopedia of Wine. Anness Publishing Limited 2002, 2005, pgs.122, 123. ISBN 0-7607-4220-0.
- ^ Appellations of Burgundy
[edit] See also
May 07, 2007
French Wine Regions
My first review deals with French wines, as we could expect to. Indeed, I would like to introduce the main wine regions of France. As you can see in this map, France is really rich of wine diversity. Every region has a specialty thanks to a different weather, grasp, land…
