Bordeaux Style Wine, Bordeaux Wine, Bordeaux wine regions, Best Bordeaux wine

Bordeuax style wine speaks to Bordeaux wine, Bordeaux wine regions and Best Bordeaux wine.

Bordeaux wine which is produced in the Bordeaux region of France is recognized as a Bordeaux. There are between 700 and 900 million bottles of wine produced annually and they range from inexpensive table wines to that which is expensive and prestigious.

Approximately 88% of the wine produced is red wine.

Approximately 12% of the bordeaux style wine wine produced is sweet white wines, dry whites, rose’ and sparkling wines. Owing to the lucrative nature of this business, other areas in France began growing their own wines and labeling them as Bordeaux products.

Varieties:

As profits in the Aquitaine region declined, the vignerons demanded that the government impose a law declaring that only produce from Bordeaux could be labeled with this name. The Institut National des Appellations d'Origine (INAO) was created for this purpose.

The economic problems in the 1970s, in the wake of the 1973 oil crisis marked a difficult period for Bordeaux. A series of scandals coincided with a commercial crisis in Bordeaux. The vintage of 1972 had been overpriced as was 1973 and 1974. When the market crashed the négociants were stuck with overpriced wine that they could not sell.

It took many years before Bordeaux style wine recovered their reputation but is alive and well today.

Varieties:

Wineries all over the world aspire to making wines in a Bordeaux style. In 1988, a group of American vintners formed The Meritage Association to identify wines made in this way. Although most Meritage wines come from California, there are members of the Meritage Association in 18 states and five other countries, including Argentina, Australia, Canada, Israel, and Mexico. In Bordeaux almost all wines are blended wines.

Only a few producers make single-variety wines, though the lack of varietal on labels makes that fact almost redundant.

In Bordeaux style wine most serious wines undergo barrel-ageing (white wines can be an exception). Usually six months of in barrel is required but some (prestigious) châteaux barrel-age for as much as 18–20 months. The amount of new barrels (usually considered the best) can vary from vintage to vintage, just as the duration of barrel-ageing.

Types of Bordeaux

Red Côtes de Bordeaux. Eight appellations are in the hilly outskirts of the region, and produce wines where the blend usually is dominated by Merlot. These wines tend to be intermediate between basic red Bordeaux and the more famous appellations of the left and right bank in both style and quality.

Red Libourne, or "Right Bank" wines. Around the city of Libourne, 10 appellations produce wines dominated by Merlot with very little Cabernet Sauvignon, the two most famous being Saint Emilion and Pomerol.

These wines often have great fruit concentration and softer tannins and are long-lived.

Red Graves and Médoc or "Left Bank" wines. North and south of the city of Bordeaux, which are the classic areas, produce wines dominated by Cabernet Sauvignon, but often with a significant portion of Merlot.

These wines are concentrated, tannic, long-lived and most of them meant to be cellared before drinking

Dry white wines are made throughout the region, from a blend dominated by Sauvignon Blanc and Sémillon, with those from Graves being the most well-known and the only subregion with a classification for dry white wines.

Sweet white wines. In several locations and appellations throughout the region, sweet white wine is made from Sémillon, Savignon Blanc and Muscadelle grapes affected by noble rot.

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