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