Discover the Wines of Bordeaux

in southwest friends the marriage of wine and culture is a tradition centuries-old Bordeaux with its harmony of history and terroir has come to exemplify the majesty a fine wine in the world of wine Bordeaux is one of the most recognized and treasured collectors are happy to pay hundreds of dollars a bottle for top wines like Chateau Margaux to get them into their collection but what's often overlooked with all the fame and glory these wines attain is that they really only represent 5% of the total Bordeaux market I'll save us here I'll see where dough produces a wide range of wines to put things into perspective there's as much wine produced in the region of Bordeaux as in many entire new world wine countries the region has over 13,000 growers 9,000 chateaus and 57 different appellations in this episode we're going to travel through Bordeaux and discover all that it has to offer the eighteenth-century city of Bordeaux is a thriving metropolis at the heart of the Bordeaux region built on trade the city is Frances Southwest port with commercial links across the globe the city is an undiscovered pleasure French culture and charm although sometimes overshadowed in terms of tourism the slower pace contributes to the Bordelaise ability to appreciate food and fine wine even today weirdo remains the capital of the wine world the Gatton River the region's main thoroughfare flows in and out with the rising tide making the city built on its shores a natural port by the 17th century merchants of various nationalities began establishing firms on the bank of the god on to act as negocios or agents between the wine producers of Bordeaux in the world marketplace so that today the people at large celebrate the pride order the core reason why people are interested in what we are doing is just because it's timely good to drink so it's it's it's a great wine gives a pleasure you look at it you smell you swallow and you feel better I think when you think about wine European wine the first thing you think about is Bordeaux Bordeaux is the center of the wine world for those prominence as a wine region today can be traced back to one famous document in 1855 Emperor Napoleon the third wanted to showcase the finest lines of the country at the Paris Exposition so we challenge recognize brokers of the day and have them develop a list ranking the chateaus of Bordeaux and this is the list it's known as the official classification of 1855 many of the great names then are great names now that tool Margeaux Lafitte Oh buddy Oh Rothschild here was the origin of the concept of fine wine wine sold by the bottle with a sense of place and history included other classifications followed and expanded throughout Bordeaux Bordeaux is certainly not just expensive wines however those expensive wines are the symbol of Bordeaux and as the French would say the locomotive there what's drive the industry here but we're here to discover and demystify the broad elements of all Bordeaux wine the center of the wine world became such because it produces wines for every lifestyle and every budget even today the styles of Bordeaux wines have and are evolving do as much to the competition from the new world producers as to the differing tastes of an expanding marketplace with thousands of chateaus producing wines each distinct to its dellwo the vast array is perhaps the most dizzying aspect of the industry how do we make sense of it all while the first step is geographic Bordeaux with 100,000 hectares under vine his Frances largest quality wine region located on the southwest coast the main waterway as the she donned estuary with its two tributaries the deltoid and the gout on would serve to divide the region into three distinct zones the left bank on to the do male and the right bank each and every bottle of Bordeaux is made under the appellation d'origine contrôlée or AOC regulations the label indicates geographically where the grapes have been harvested and in the case of a chateau where the wine was made all of which contribute to the concept of what the French call debt law the whole ethos of Bordeaux is based on terroir terroir means not only the ground in which the grapes are grown but also the atmosphere that weather around and drainage it takes into account all kinds of aspects about how that grape was grown the main thing to remember about Bordeaux wines both red and white is that they are a blend and that thereafter they are a blend of really principally three red grape varieties Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot and Cabernet Franc in various combinations depending on where you are in Bordeaux and Semyon and Sauvignon for the white the most readily affordable wines of Bordeaux come from grapes harvested from all areas of the region this is usually the product of a negocio who is involved in the entire winemaking process from the purchase of the grapes to the final blending and aging of the finished wines making a blend is just trying to bring to the consumer the most complex and harmonious wine you can you can make has aspire is a wine maker for the negocio Calvi in business since 1818 in response to increasing competition from new world wines Calv a like others in Bordeaux has been revitalizing itself I don't think we have to copy because the interest people have always had in Bordeaux is because there was a special personality I think we don't have to lose this personality because we will never make the same kind of wines that the new world we're not in Australia were not in Chile we are in Bordeaux and we have to understand what bottle is and try to improve the quality as much as we can the basic grape varieties used for the blending of Bordeaux red wines are Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot with Cabernet Franc and to a lesser extent Malbec and Petit Verdot to round off particular styles Cabernet Sauvignon brings acidity Tanning's so structure a spicyness aging capacity Merlot for example brings fruitiness the floral side the violet rose petal so both seems to be logically a good complement good balance and Cabernet for drinks more or less between both it is spicy but at the same time it brings acidity so it is fresh and brings aging capacity to the winemaker can actually adjust the quantities of these different grapes in different years so if one year the merlot doesn't ripen as well as the Cabernet Sauvignon he'll put more Cabernet Sauvignon and so it's really a winemakers wine what I want is a vintage after vintage to bring to the consumer the best expression the most beautiful wine the next step up in terms of quality is what is known as Bordeaux superior Yvan mo is another large-scale negocio firm shipping over four million cases a year founded in 1897 Yvan Moe owns represents a number of Bordeaux's smaller producers among them château du Clos a generic Bordeaux that has recently been elevated to Bordeaux superior status the main difference of between Bordeaux and Bordeaux superior it's more consistency of quality the three principal differences are that the superior has to have half a degree potential alcohol more it has to have a slightly lower yield and it has to be aged for slightly longer in barrel therefore intimating that it is a slightly more structured wine we not-so-fond the rapes and we we think that the tailor a much more important under grapes to give you an example and to be more precise within that producing Medoc would be very different from the Cabernet you know in Korea just nothing like shuttle you play experience the middle one of the finest qualities on board Oh lies in the balance it cannot be too much something it could not be too much alcohol too much standing too much acidity the art of Bordeaux the mystery of Bordeaux is to be a good balance and these balance best mean harmony with the food this is the Madoc a place the French refer to as the promised land of cabernet sauvignon naive gauche or the left bank is comprised of the Madoc along with graph and Sauternes and it's here that we'll begin our journey through the Appalachians of Bordeaux October the culmination of a year's hard work in the vineyards the harvest traditions remain strong here with many of the same people returning year after year timing the harvest is critical to obtain the optimal balance of sugars and acids in the fruit and ultimately to express the character of the vineyard the soils in the district are quite poor for growing anything other than grapes but the rocky and gravelly soils retains heat and drains easily which makes it ideal for the late ripening Cabernet the Medoc is Cabernet Sauvignon dominant that's the grape and Cabernet Sauvignon is a very small berry and a small berry means a large surface of skin and therefore the wines are quite tannic these wines tend to be more austere they need to longer ageing than on the right bank where it's Merlot dominant in their youth many of the red wines of Bordeaux although approachable can be tight and complex over time these characteristics give way to leather tones tobacco and dried fruit now the vintage of a wine also contributes to its aged ability all wines even wines from extraordinary vintages eventually beak and later decline the finest vintages can be aged for up to a hundred years in the right conditions all the while appreciating in its subtle and complex qualities how far back do the wines go in here Oh 1881 an interesting cellar within the region lies at Chateau Betty in the commune of Khoya these models are a testament to the region's history and each year the Chateau will add four to six thousand bottles for future generations this is quite the collection this is the library this is the memory of Battalion 1982 libcast Asia is the Chateau owner and serves as chairman of the Maddock classified growths organization what a library oh yeah that gives a new definition to library yeah exactly every vintage in Bordeaux is different and this climate this adverse climate sometime has made our consumers to be searching this vintage or the advantage because they want a wine which is going to be to be drunk younger or a little older so this is something that's going to last yeah it's going to last for a century or so and but I'm sure that in 2025 years it's going to be excellent why don't we make an appointment okay I'm gonna get my calendar I'm gonna put that in okay salt absolutely the Madoc offers all sorts of quality wines including mid-level priced warning called khru bourgeois one of these is Chateau de taeyang whose traditional approach is mitigated by some unique factors in its ownership we are five girls owning the Chateau at the moment and we are very fond of this chateau and we really want to go far with this crib or wine to do the best we can for this wonderful Chateau so here we are in the old cellar from the 16th century château itself was built in the 18th century and has been in the Cruz family for over 100 years today even the barrel cellars or shea are classified as historical monuments the tradition is very important especially in the Chateau de young as this Chateau belongs to a very old family the close family my family and so we try to keep this tradition but to modernize slowly this tradition in order to keep the authenticity to the wine crib also our producers have become very sensitive to the success of new world wine the market has changed since five years in the crib aura we know that nowadays many people produce wine in the world and the only secret for us in Bordeaux in the crib aura in the middle is to produce quality wine traveling a little further so we come to the heartland of the Bordeaux region good off good olive is the French word for gravel and the best chateaus here are located on distinctive gravel outcrops called croute unlike most other areas of bordeaux Groff's produces both red and white wines this is chateau la louvière owned by Andre Lyon one of the most influential producers in the region he has been a potent force in the development and promotion of the grave region shapow a moment cp7 on to nevada moon wine can be made well anywhere in the world with sunshine and good soil what differs are the overall characteristics of the sawasdee and we have our own special characteristics which comes from our soil but also from our blends the grav region has a reputation for producing the highest quality dry white wines of Bordeaux white wine production here combines the traditional methods with modern techniques the white wines of the region use both Sauvignon Blanc and Semyon these are the top dry white wines from the region of Bordeaux which these days would all have been fermented in barrel so the character tends to be a citrus character in youth Christmas to them and an aged ability moving east and across the gut on river we find Bordeaux's second geographic zone author Adumim this is one of the largest growing areas in bordeaux and where the negocios harvest most of their grades however it's only the white wines of the region that can be labeled with the appellation mantra do man author denial literally means between two seas but in this case it's between two rivers the door dying and I got on and this is where they meet in between them you'll find the largest mass of vineyards and olive Bordeaux since the 1970s many growers have been planting the red grape varieties in response to the market demand through advances in technology hot rod Mao has increased both the quality and quantity of their years this is a bargain place to shop for white and red wines wines that come around quickly that are very good with food the whole thing about Bordeaux is how well it matches food many of the big wines from the new world that one enjoys drinking are over power food the ancient people thought it was a CEO it is very simple why they called Anto the mayor between two seeds Chateau Bonet in utter denial is another of Andre Lee of tongs properties an estate also serving as his family home he inherited this property in 1956 and has since elevated the chateaus red and white wines to new heights second tendon heaven is a means of on DCD the talk about 50 years ago we decided to transform it and make a dry white wine and this is a dry wine fruity and friendly easy to drink easy to understand now we leave the thriving vineyards of entre du mal and travel north across the river to Bordeaux's third geographic zone the right bank as we've seen on the left in the medaka nomadic the soils are really gravelly and the blends from that side are dominated by Cabernet Sauvignon over here however the soils are more clay and limestone and Merlot thrives in this region and is the predominant varietal in the blends in these areas the wines here have always been more forward and character than there are steer cousins across the river now some may think that this is a newer region but you'd be wrong said oh yeah Santa do st. Emilion a beautiful medieval fortress town with hilly cobbled streets running through ancient limestone buildings has been designated a World Heritage Site with a history stretching back over 800 years st. Emilion was a wine region when much of the Madoc was only swampland you could mistake a good scent Emilio for a Pinot Noir because they they have that sweetness of fruit and they're very accessible at a young age the largest wine estate here is chateau latoque producing Grand Cru and gurrah crew Class A wines the blend consists broadly of Merlot supported by Cabernet Franc with just the touch of Cabernet Sauvignon you received ANOVA's say no I believe that the styles of our wines is our history it's our soils it's our characteristics and our personalities you know personality Bruno says on the director at Chateau Ladakh is completely involved in the winemaking process city rocky home expressible in Ottawa these are wines that are going to express our terroir they have a certain generosity of taste with very fine tannins and further refinement in barrel but this refining is done to enhance the wines quality not to mask or dominate escape or a demeanor the harvest reaps its bounty from the land much as it has for hundreds of years but there's a constant revitalization in Bordeaux wine adapting to the land to the weather and even to the tastes of the marketplace Terre is much more important than just the soil it's the situation it's for prevailing winds coming from the east it's the work that we do throughout the year to till the soil to treat the vines all that comes in the notion of terroir and the French believe that that is more important than the grape variety this is Pomerol a small appellation on the right bank that has never been classified yet produces some of the most expensive wines in the world a small plateau with world-class chateaus making on average a thousand cases a year the clay sand and pebbles soil is so variable that vineyards only a few feet apart produce wines that taste vastly different from one another we're standing on the edge of a most expensive lawn in the world the lawn of the Chateau settle but from the plateau where we are you can see reliever jewels of the Pomerol area there's Lacaze aunt level jean Petrus Lafleur and behind via Chateau satin which is this Chateau here we have Trotter noir lilies clean a looper all surrounding the plateau if you can see it's quite pebbly the lots of smaller really yes the roots within each of the vineyards on this plateau burrow down into the clay based soil deriving distinct characteristics from a variety of mineral elements when people grow mellow outside of France they look to Pomerol as the model in what they would like to what they liked the wines to taste like Pomeroy's wines are known for their very rich almost overtly fruity flavors we always talk about mellow having red fruit characters raspberry cherry those flavors and there's a spiciness that is really known for matter from mellow from Pomerol at a typical Pullman rola statement the yields are kept very low to enhance the quality of the grapes the wine is fermented and cement that each corresponding to a different parcel of the vineyard now why would you keep them separate well here for example this is mellow green and sandy soil mellow on clay soil and the cabin ease and you ferment them separately for what reason because each wine grown on different soil reacts differently so perhaps it would take longer fermentation or it need to be pumped over more often or will be picked later so it's good to keep them apart for as long as possible the right bank has hidden undiscovered gems full of surprises keeping that bordeaux reputation for quality and at the same time affordability people really don't know about the smaller regions in bordeaux the coats the coat - Bly the cote de Bourg code to froth up coat castillo the premier cote de bordeaux we're going to learn more about them because these guys are making very good wines indeed and very inexpensively located in the northern part of the right bank the appellation is collectively known as the cote including cote de Bligh cote de Bourg and cote de castillo generally consist of smaller wineries making unique offerings on an affordable bassist unknown for the most part outside of wine circles these wines may well become much more celebrated in the future Bordeaux as a region is certainly known for producing fine dry wines but the area of Sauternes south of the Grove region is renowned the world over for its sweet white wine a varietal blend of Sauvignon Blanc Samia and muscatel grapes is only the beginning the essential ingredient here is called botrytis or noble rot nature's gift to the area the botrytis breaks down at the grape and helps concentrate both sugar and acidity metritis comes about when the warm tidal waters of the garden meet the cooler sit on River creating a fog that envelops the vineyards in its proximity causing the fungus known as botrytis when conditions are right harvesters work painstakingly through successive pickings to select only individual berries that have been properly affected by the noble rod we spoke to Corrine Roulet from Chateau Latour Blanc about the selection process for these grapes so I will show you a very good example of the different stages of botrytis first you have the real exist with maturity after you have this kind of berry which turn brown and the last stage is this kind of berry which is very dry very concentrated with eyes sugar high acidity and special flowers when the grapes have been harvested they're sorted and scrutinized by the cellar master because the degree of botrytis will determine the quality of the finished wine the grapes are gently pressed resulting in an elegant and voluptuous wine with flavors of honey and exotic fruits good Sauternes will continue to evolve with age for 50 years or more with the fruit and acidity giving way to honey and vanilla character first time I get the try so turn right from the caster's a real treat how long do you leave it in the barrel it's feminine for two or three weeks and after that its aging on the leaves for 16 18 months that's greater look at the color is very nice Karl for many people when they think of Sauternes they think of it only as a dessert wine but when else would you serve this is it's very good by itself as an aperitif and it's very famous on a widow foie gras as well and it goes very well with white meats like chicken or veal and it's very very good with some cheeses like 4 or blue my favorite is my is with odd for excellent this is beautiful yes it is Bordeaux is a region steeped in history quiet stately and seemingly unchanged for centuries but here where tradition is the foundation of their industry progress and revitalization are occurring as they never have before certainly the 1980s probably saw improvements in vinification the 1990s have been improvements in viticulture I think there has been a style change in all the years that I've been drinking Bordeaux and I see it particularly now that the French vintners are aware of the international market they see what their competition is and they're no longer resting on their laurels we have adapted all the time it's an old tradition to change in every single gesture there is a margin of progress Bordeaux has long been recognized as the benchmark many winemakers strive for although its popularity may seem overshadowed by New World wines labeled by varietal the area's rich with tradition and continues to produce an exciting range of products that are sure to satisfy any palate or occasion we hope you've enjoyed this episode if you have comments we'd like to hear from our email address is discover at LCBO calm you you you

Channel: LCBO

Views: 649,195

Rating: 4.8501744 out of 5

Keywords: Bordeaux Wine (Literature Subject), Wine (Industry), Cabernet Sauvignon (Grape Variety), Food (TV Genre), first growth

Id: 86HSubNEEF4

Length: 31min 58sec (1918 seconds)

Published: Fri Dec 05 2014