Page:EB1911 - Volume 28.djvu/742

Rh

The quality of the Médoc red wines (and this applies also to some of the finer growths of the other Bordeaux districts) is radically different from that of wines similar in type grown in other parts of the world. The Gironde red wines have sufficient body and alcohol to ensure stability without being heavy or fiery. At the same time, their acidity is very low and their bouquet characteristically delicate and elegant. It is to this relatively large amount of body and absence of an excess of acid and of tannin that the peculiarly soft effect of the Bordeaux wines on the palate is due. It has been said that chemistry is of little avail in determining the value of a wine, and this is undoubtedly true as regards the bouquet and flavour, but there is no gainsaying the fact that many hundreds of analyses of the wines of the Gironde have shown that they are, as a class, distinctly different in the particulars referred to from wines of the claret type produced, for instance, in Spain, Australia or the Cape. The quality of the wines naturally varies considerably with the vintage; but it is almost invariably the case that the wines of successful vintages will contain practically the same relative proportions of their various constituents, although the absolute amounts present of these constituents may differ widely. It is the author's experience also that where a wine displays some abnormality as regards one or more constituents, that although it may be sound, it is rarely a wine of the highest class. The tables below will give a fair idea of the variations which occur in the same wine as a result of different vintages, and the variations due to differences of “growth” in the same vintage. These figures are selected from among a number published by the author in the Journal of the Institute of Brewing, April 1907.

The annual output of the Gironde during the last few years has been roughly 70 to 100 million gallons. In the decade 1876 to 1886 the average amount was barely 30 million gallons owing to the small yields of the years 1881 to 1885. In the years 1874 and 1875 the yield exceeded 100 million gallons. The output of the classed growths varies considerably according to the vintage, but is on the average, owing to the great care exercised in the vineyards, greater than that of the lower-grade areas. Thus within recent years the output of the Château Lafite was at a minimum in 1903 when only 229 hogsheads (the hogshead of claret = 46 gallons) were produced,

and at a maximum in 1907, when close on 1000 hogsheads were obtained. Similarly, the Château Margaux, which yielded 1120 hogsheads in 1900, produced 280 hogsheads in 1903. The prices of the wines also are subject to great fluctuation, but in fair years will vary, according to class and quality, from 10 to 30 per hogshead for the better growths.

The principal claret vintages of modern times have been those of 1858, 1864, 1869, 1870, 1874, 1875, 1877, 1878, 1888, 1893, 1896, 1899 and 1900, while it was thought probable that many of the wines of 1904 to 1907 inclusive would turn out well. From 1882 to 1886 inclusive, the vintages were almost total failures owing to mildew. In 1887 to 1895 a number of fair wines were produced in each year, and the first really good vintage of the post-mildew-phylloxera period was that of 1888.

Most of the wines grown on a purely gravelly soil are termed “Graves,” but there is a specific district of Graves which lies south

of Bordeaux and west of the river, and extends as far as Langon. The soil is almost a pure sandy gravel with a subsoil of varied nature, but principally alios, gravel, clay or sand. This district produces both red and white wines. The vines, the methods of viticulture and vinification as regards the red wines of the Graves district, are similar to those of the Médoc. The wines are, if anything, slightly fuller in body and more alcoholic than those of the latter region. They possess a characteristic flavour which differentiates them somewhat sharply from the Médoc wines. The Graves contains one vineyard, namely Château Haut-Brion, which ranks in quality together with the three first growths of the Medoc. The remainder of the red Graves are not classified, but among the more important wines may be mentioned the following: in the commune of Pessac, Château La Mission and Château Pape-Clément; in the commune of Villenaye D'Ornon, Château La Ferrade; in Léognan, Château Haut-Bailly, Château Haut-Brion-Larrivet and Château Branon-Licterie; in Martillac, Château Smith-Haut-Lafite.

The district of Sauternes produces the finest white wines of the Gironde, one might say of the whole of France. Whereas the

white wines of the Graves are on the whole fairly dry and light in character, the white wines of Sauternes are full and sweet, with a very fine characteristic bouquet. The district of Sauternes covers the communes of Sauternes, Bommes and a part of Barsac, Preignac, Fargues and St Pierre-de-Mons. The general configuration of the country is markedly different from that of the Médoc, consisting of a series of low hills rising easily from the river. The soil consists chiefly of mixed clay and gravel, or clay and limestone, and the vines chiefly used are the Sauvignon, the Semillon and the Muscatelle. The wines are made entirely from white grapes, and the methods of collecting the latter, and of working them up into wine, are entirely different from those prevalent in the red wine districts. The grapes are allowed to remain on the vines some three to four weeks longer than is the case in the Médoc, and the result is that they shrivel up and become over-ripe, and so contain relatively little water and a very large quantity of sugar. This alone, however, does not account for the peculiar character of the Sauternes, for during the latter period of ripening a specific micro-organism termed Botrytis cinerea develops on the grape, causing a peculiar condition termed pourriture noble (German Edelfäule), which appears to be responsible for the remarkable bouquet observed