Bordeaux - Winemaking - Sweet wine: Grape growing & winemaking
3 important questions on Bordeaux - Winemaking - Sweet wine: Grape growing & winemaking
The production process for Sweet wines in Bordeaux is complex and expensive. What factors in grape growing and winemaking are of impact?
- Yields must be kept low to ensure very high sugar, by:
- pruning to low number of buds
- removal of not really healthy fruit
- Max 25 hl/ha, but more common 10 hl/ha > expensive!
- Harvesters must be well trained to see difference noble/grey rot
- Several rounds/days for picking (10-12 possible Sept-Nov)
The Level of botrytis in final wines depend of
- whether the conditions to spread the botrytis are correct (year by year variation)
- Position of estates (location of the vineyards for mist)
- willingness to wait for best time for harvest, taking a risk
- willingness to pass in tries, several times, to harvest and select fruit.
Quality in sweet winemaking vary in Bordeaux, how is this impacted?
- Pressing - fermentation like white wine
- Fermentation in stainless steel, concrete, or barriques.
- Top quality wines barrel fermented (Cht. D'Yquem even 100% new oak)
- Barrel ageing top wines: 18-36 months in high proportion new oak barrels
- costly
- Less prestigious wines > unoaked and released a year after harvest
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