Red Winemaking in Bordeaux Explained

Bordeaux, one of the oldest winemaking regions in the world and the Spiritual home of some of the world's most noble grapes such as Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon although Bordeaux produces world-class white and sweet wines 90% of its production is its famed red wines Unlike Burgundy where wines were usually be made from one variety of grape in Bordeaux The art of blending is a fundamental aspect of the winemaking process in fact, wine making in Bordeaux has been developed over thousands of years the Red wine making process begins with harvesting. However, knowing exactly when to harvest is never an easy decision How do you know when it's the right time to collect the grapes? Starting journey So in on the right bank you harvest at the end of September beginning of October we start to do analysis of the berries mid-september So we analyse the pH, the acidity, the weight of the berry all this We do it on several weeks on every plot of the vineyard We have four or five analysis Once the acidity is low and the sugar is quite high We also taste the berries because even if they analyse say it's ready to pick after nothing is better than actually to taste and to see if Especially the skin if it's too thick or not for us It's very exciting. But also worrying because we want to harvest in very good condition when it's sunny like today and we always scared about the rain so sometimes you will harvest a bit earlier because After you will have one week of bad weather with lots of rain We try as much as possible not to harvest when weather conditions are not good In Bordeaux harvesting can be done either by hand or by machine However, the top Chateau will almost always hand harvest for their flagship wines. So in terms of how harvest can affect Vintage do you cut by hand, do you use machines? How does the harvest process look here? We do mechanical harvest and hand harvest I would say that generally on all vines because it's more fragile We do it by hand and on younger vine we use mechanical harvest with optical tree both of them are very Collective now, it's more on the age of the plot of vineyard that we make the difference After harvest, grapes must be sorted to remove any unwanted berries. This process is usually done by hand However recent advances in technology have introduced mechanical sorting that is incredibly accurate What a sorting mean? How does that look? It means that you take the berries out of the Ruffle and on mechanical harvest it's done with a machine and today we have a very precise optical Sorting let's take out the berries It's new technology and mechanical harvest is not like 20 years ago today. It gives very good result Once sorted, grapes will be ready to be transferred to vats usually made of stainless steel in Bordeaux grapes will either be crushed to release their juice or placed in the vat as whole berries, we will always be disturbed first So the grapes are harvested they're sorted and then what happens? When they are sorted they go into vats either The berries are crushed Before it goes into the vats or you put the berries and they are full we do both here both techniques Now when the berries are not crushed before they go in you can find some difference into the wine The wine will be more powerful more around because the fermentation two alcoholic fermentation Is done more gently Once in the vats the unfermented grape juice will begin a process of maceration Extracting the colour, flavour and tannins from the grape, skins and pips During maceration alcoholic fermentation occurs, either naturally or through the addition of selected yeasts to the vat Alcoholic fermentation is the process of yeast consuming the grapes natural sugars. There are three natural byproducts of fermentation ethanol or alcohol, carbon dioxide and heat whilst in the vat Winemakers may choose to increase the extraction of colour and tannins by either pumping over the must which is the fermenting juice or cap punching pushing the grape skins down into the liquid Producers may leave fermented juice with the skins for three to four weeks Even after alcoholic fermentation has finished to increase tannins and structure in their wines So someone asked you about tannins, for example Where do they come from? The tannins come from the pips and the skin Okay after alcoholic fermentation The existing juice is removed from the skins and the skins go through a pressing process to release any additional juice After pressing, the wine is transferred to a new vessel, which may be stainless steel tanks However for fine wines it will most commonly be transferred to new French oak barrels known as barrique Whilst the process of malolactic fermentation may have already occurred. It will normally take place once in the new vessel during malolactic fermentation Microorganisms naturally found in grape juice transformed tart malic acid found in green apples into soft lactic acid Which is found in milk this process softens the wine and helps to give it a smoother texture The wine is then left to mature for 18 to 24 months during what is known as elevage While maturing the wine will go through a racking process roughly every three months where it is transferred to different barrels to remove any remaining sediment in the wine and also provide controlled oxygenation This step is critical to the development of flavours and aromas in a red wine In Bordeaux producers commonly used two hundred and twenty five litre French oak barrels for maturation Tiny pores in the would allow for micro oxygenation softening the wine and creating a smoother final product In Bordeaux, the art of blending is critical to the success of winemaking Producers may choose to blend different grape varieties, parcels and styles of vinification Before elevage, whilst others may do it at the end of elevage Known as bench blending producers will identify different attributes of each barrel of wine to decide on what their final blend will be This is an incredibly labour-intensive and intricate process and some wines in Bordeaux may be a blend of over 100 different wines So speaking about the blending process how many samples of the blends do you make before you select the final ones? Depends depends of the year, but generally, it lasts three months and Sometimes it's once a week Sometimes it's twice a week and it's a time for arguing because you have always with commercial against the winemakers so we asked for another blind testing the following days or week and To see how it evolved because there are ideas on the question. We have ours, you know, it's complex and very tense time Once blended the wine will still be cloudy. So a process of fining may be done to remove unwanted particles. Thus clarifying the wine fining agents may be natural proteins which in Bordeaux has Traditionally been egg whites though synthetic products can also be used most commonly in vegan wines the final step of the process is Filtration and bottling with the wines being transferred from tank to bottle and the final cork being added Bottles are then labeled and ready for sale The best red wines of Bordeaux are a masterful blend and no two years are the same So wine makers must react to each vintages specific conditions These basic steps to winemaking in Bordeaux will vary between producers depending on their philosophy and winemaking style winemakers have to make a multitude of decisions along the way to capture the essence of the vintage and their signature in each and every bottle

Channel: Elicité

Views: 221,669

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Keywords: red winemaking, how to make red wine, bordeaux winemaker, bordeaux red wine, red wine information, how is red wine made, bordeaux wine, french wine, elicite, wine video series, wine expert, expert wine education, learn about wine, how is wine made, learn how to make wine, wine101, how red wine is made, maceration, what is cap-punching, how fast is wine made, how long to make wine, wine making steps, wine blending

Id: 3bI6lkIqZ9M

Length: 8min 50sec (530 seconds)

Published: Sun Jul 28 2019