Everything you need to know about Bordeaux, Part 4 of 5

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The text excerpts from NJ Wines' extensive wine dictionary are presented here. The text excerpts will be changed one to four times a month. You can read about exciting wines, appellations, wine districts, wine regions, etc. by clicking above on the "Wine glossary and wine facts".

 

Pauillac, a French appellation that belongs to the wine district of Médoc, which in turn belongs to the wine region of Bordeaux. The appellation consists of 1,214 hectares. Of the 61 classified chateaux (1855 Classification) belong 18 to the appellation, of those 18 belong 3 (Château Lafite Rothschild, Château Latour and Château Mouton Rothschild) to Premiers Crus, 2 (Château Pichon Longueville Baron and Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande ) to Deuxièmes Crus, 1 (Château Duhart-Milon) to Quatrières Crus and 12 (Château d'Armailhac, Château Batailley, Château Clerc Milon, Château Croizet-Bages, Château Grand-Puy Ducasse, Château Grand-Puy-Lacoste, Château Haut-Bages-Libéral, Château Haut-Batailley, Château Lynch-Bages, Château Lynch-Moussas, Château Pontet-Canet and Chateau Pedesclaux) to Cinquièmes Crus. The average yield is 44 hl/ha. Pauillac is the most famous appellation in Bordeaux. A well-made Pauillac-wine should be an austere and complex wine with taste of black currants, cedar and licorice. In addition to the above, the wine should have a good aging potential.

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Pauillac grapes, Cabernet Sauvignon stands for 62%, Merlot 10 to 30%, Cabernet Franc 5 to 20%, Petit Verdot up to 5%, and Malbec up to 3% of cultivated grapes in the appellation.

 

Pauillac soils, sandy gravel on top of the hardpan (also known as ouklip) and in some cases on top of the marl. The hardpan lies quite deep, which is good with consideration taken to that it is so hard that the roots can not penetrate it.

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Pauillac the best chateaux, Château Lafite Rothschild, Château Latour, Château Lynch-Bages, Château Pichon Longueville Baron, Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande, Château Mouton Rothschild and Château Pontet-Canet.

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Saint Estèphe, a French appellation that belongs to the wine district of Médoc, which in turn belongs to the wine region of Bordeaux. Of the 61 classified chateaux (see 1855 Classification) belong 5 to the appellation. Of those 5, 2 are classified as Deuxièmes Crus (Château Cos d'Estournel and Château Montrose), 1 as Troisièmes Crus (Château Calon-Ségur), 1 as Quatrièmes Crus (Château Lafon-Rochet) and 1 as Cinquièmes Crus (Château Cos Labory). The appellation has 1,255 ha. The average yield is 44 hl/ha. Saint Estèphe’s wines are considered to be the most tannin-rich and to have the slowest development in Haut-Médoc. The best vineyards in the appellation are on gravel. Regardless of what was written before, during the very dry and hot years, the vineyards planted on clay give much better vintages than those planted on gravel. This is because the dense clay keeps water longer in its pores during the dry and hot years than the high porous gravel.

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Saint Estèphe grapes, most Cabernet Sauvignon (51%) and Merlot, but there are small amounts of Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot.

 

Saint Estèphe soils, sandy gravel on top of hardpan and in some cases on top of clay or rocky clay or marl or limestone. The hardpan lies quite deep, which is good taking into account that it is so hard that the roots can not penetrate it.

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Saint Estèphe the best chateaux, Château Cos d'Estournel and Château Montrose.

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Saint Julien, a French appellation that belongs to the wine district of Médoc, which in turn belongs to the wine region of Bordeaux. The appellation consists of 910 hectares. Of the 61 classified chateaux (see 1855 Classification) belong 11 to the appellation. Of those 11 belong 5 (Chateau Ducru-Beaucaillou, Château Gruaud-Larose, Château Léoville-Barton, Château Léoville-Las-Cases and Château Léoville-Poyferré) to Deuxièmes Crus, 2 (Château Lagrange and Château Langoa-Barton) to Troisièmes Crus and 4 (Château Beychevelle, Château Branaire-Ducru, Château Saint-Pierre and Château Talbot) to Quatrièmes Crus. There are only 20 chateaux in Saint Julien and of them 11 belong to the classified chateaux i.e. 55% of the chateaux in Saint Julien are classified. This fact is impressive. The average yield is 45 hl/ha. Saint Julien is the most underestimated appellation in the wine district of Médoc.

 

Saint Julien grapes, Cabernet Sauvignon accounts for 63%, Merlot 20-25% and Cabernet Franc with Petit Verdot 10-15% of cultivated grapes in the appellation.

 

Saint Julien soils, gravel mixed with clay.

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Saint Julien the best chateaux, Château Branaire-Ducru, Chateau Ducru-Beaucaillou, Château Léoville-Las-Cases and Château Léoville-Poyferré.