Mastering the Medoc and Graves: Tasting the White Wines

A total of 10 wines were tasted at the Steven Spurrier Mastering the Medoc and Graves course which was held at Decanter HQ on October 8th, 2010.  I covered the tasting of the reds in a prior post and will cover the whites in this one.  The whites tasted at the course were Vieux Chateau Gaubert, Graves 2008 and Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte Blnc, Graves 2007. 

Vieux Chateau Gaubert is a 6-hectrare estate with a dry, pebbly topsoil layered on a clay-gravel subsoil.  The wine is an equal blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon which was fermented in 225 liter oak casks and then aged on its lees with batonnage for 9 months.  According to Steven Spurrier, the tartness of the Sauvignon Blanc coupled wih the roundness of the Semilon generally results in a well-balanced wine.  The wine was lemony-yellow in color and showd medium legs.  The nose was very attractive with lemon-lime citrus and white fruit aromas.  The wine was very crisp on the palate with a metallic minerality and flavors of lemon, lime, and gooseberry.  According to Stephen, this wine could be drunk now or cellared for 3 to 4 years and would pair well with oysters, fish, chicken, or cheese.

The 2007 Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte Blanc is a blend of 90% Sauvignon Blanc, 5% Sauvignon Gris and 5% Semillon sourced from  38-year-old vines and fermented in barriques.  2007 was a good vintage for Bordeaux whites, not so much for reds.  This wine had a rich, lemon-yellow color and richer legs than did the Gaubrt.  On the nose aromas of yellow fruits along with a richness and spiciness.  On the palate a masive richness, hint of sweetness, acidity, a stony mineraity and a pleasant weightiness.

All in all the course and tasting was a great experience: it allowed to me the opportunity to meet and break bread with Steven Spurrier and to take advantage of his expertise in a learning environment; it provided a basis for a deeper exploration into the Medoc and Graves; and it led to what one should expect to cover in a course with the word "Mastering" in the title.

A Framework for Wine-Region "Mastering" Courses using Steven Spurrier's Decanter Medoc-Graves Class as a Case Study

On October 18th, 2010, I attended a course titled Mastering the Medoc and Graves.  The class was held at Decanter's London HQ and was led by noted Bordeaux expert, and Decanter Contributing Editor, Steven Spurrier.  In my October 13th review of the course, I commented thusly: "There was something missing though, and after giving it some thought, I arrived at the conclusion that it was context.  While the course is titled: Mastering the Medoc and Graves, we were not provided an overarching framework at the beginning of the class; and how tasting these specific wines would allow us to attain those objectives." I will, in this post, propose a framework that can be applied uniformly to all mastering courses and, in a series of supporting posts, provide the relevant contextual input to the framework.

In my opinion, mastering a wine region intimates a comprehensive understanding of the elements that contribute to the making of fine wine in that region (theory), the construct of a "strawman" of the characteristics of fine wine from that region (application), and the ability to taste through a sample of the wines  to identify the characteristics included in the strawman (practice). If these criteria are applied to the Medoc and Graves course, we should have been identifying the characteristics of fine wine in these regions and then tasting the wines to see how/if they reflected those characteristics.  The first contextual element would thus have been met: an objective and a set of related tasks.

The elements that contribute to wine quality are location, climate, vintage, aspect, soil, grape variety, viticulture, vinification, and the winemaker.  Of the foregoing, all but the winemaker could be considered at a regional level.  That is, these elements could have been discussed as it relates to the Medoc and Graves and, in my view, are essential contributors to a mastery of the regions.  They were either mentioned anectdotally or in passing in the class.  I have filled that gap with a series of supporting posts on the Medoc, Graves, Medoc and Graves vintages, and viniviticulture in the regions.  This constitutes the first step in truly mastering the Medoc and Graves.

The next step is building a strawman of the characteristics of the wine.  Steven did provide a starting point in that he saw wines of the Medoc tending to austerity.  He also described Margaux wines as "charming and elegant," Pauillac as "sterner and tougher," and St. Estephe wines as "a little more rustic." To the Margaux description I would add aromatic and excellent ageing potential.  St. Julien wines exhibit power and concentration along with elegance and require ageing to demonstrate their true potential.  Pauillac wines are powerful, complex, and tannic. St. Estephe wines are balanced and elegant with a structure that lends to ageing.  With the charaacteristics of the regions in hand, the second step towards mastery of the region has been taken.

The final step is tasting the wines and one of two approaches can be taken: (i) taste the wines blind in order to attempt to identify the region of origin based on the identified characteristics; or (ii) tasting the wines non-blind to determine if they match up with the defined regional characteristics.  Upon successful completion of this step, masterey of the region is within grasp.

In retrospect, we utilized a modified version of the latter approach in our tasting of the wines from the Medoc and Graves.  I will discuss the wines and the tasting in future posts.

Viniviticulture in the Medoc and Graves

Grape growing and winemaking in Bordeaux is classical in the sense that most of the core viniviticultural processess predominant in the world today can trace their roots back to Bordeaux.  On the left bank vines are planted at high densities to induce stress and are trained low to take advantage of heat reflected from the gravelly terrain.  The better chateaus have a higher percentage of old vines and implement rigorous replanting regimes in order to optimize vineyard potential.  Yields are closely managed through actions such as pruning and green harvesting.  For the most part, grapes are machine harvested with hand-harvesting reserved for the finest wines.

Once in the winery, grapes are subjected to scrutiny at a sorting table where unsatisfactory fruit and unwanted objects are removed.  Both black and white grapes are crushed to break the skins and stems are removed from the white grapes; black grapes may or may not be de-stemmed.  White grapes are pressed to remove the skins and are then shunted to the fermentation tanks for the initiation of that process.  Black grapes are allowed to macerate for between 15 and 21 days -- including fermentation and post-fermentation -- in order to extract tannins, color, and flavors from the skins.  White wines will ferment for 12 - 15 days between 10 degrees and 20 degrees Celsius while red wines ferment between 8 and 10 days at 28 to 30 degrees Celsius.  Fermentation is carried out in temperature-controlled, stainless-steel tanks or epoxy-lined concrete vats. The choice of yeast to ignite the fermentation process is the winemaker's decision but many winemakers opt for cultured yeasts in order to reduce uncertainty.  During and after fermentation the must is kept in contact with the skins through a pumping-over process (Punching down of the cap is also utilized but pumping-over is more prevalent.).

Post the red-wine fermentation process, the free-run juice is bled-off into storage vats while the remaining engorged skins are pressed to extract the remaining juice.  This pressed juice is stored separately from the free-run juice.  Red wines undergo malolactic fermentation wherein the hard malic acid is converted into softer lactic acid.  This process is optional for white wines which may, instead, go directly from fermentation to racking.  Both red and white wines are racked to vats or oak barrels for cellar ageing.  Sulfur is added at this time to stabilize the wine and combat oxidation.  The oak barrels are 225 liter in volume and can range from neutral to 100% new oak.  The best wines will be placed in 100% new oak barrels and will be resident therein for 24 months.

In many cases, plots and varietals have been vinified and stored separately and blending these separate wines into the final product prior to bottling is one of the critical tasks of the winemaking team.  Based on the results to date, it is a task that they are especially well-equipped to handle.

Medoc and Graves vintages

A vintage begins when the grower determines that an ideal balance between sugar and acidity has been attained; a condition which will vary between varietals and from plot to plot.  Vintage is especially important in a region like Bordeaux as the quality of wine produced may vary widely from year to year as the region is particularly susceptible to rainfall at harvest time.

Weather is the most important variable in vintage quality and can make its presence felt in a number of ways.  Winter freezes can damage grafts and cause vine death while spring frosts can damage buds.  Excessive temperatures can lead to early ripening and a sugar-acid imbalance which can, in turn, reduce the ageing potential of the wine (see, for example, the 2003 vintage in Bordeaux).  Drought conditions can force the vine to use sugars for its own internal processes thus leaving smaller amounts of sugar for storage in the grapes.  Excessive rains close to harvest can lead to a dilution of the sugars and flavors in the grapes and the damp conditions can promote rot.

I consulted a number of sources to determine their perspectives on left-bank vintages between 1995 and 2005.  Robert Parker provides a separate numerical rating for the Medoc and Graves while Jancis Robinson, Decanter, and Berry Bros & Rudd provide qualitative descriptions of the vintages and, within that content, make any necessary distinction between the right and left banks.  All reviewers consider the 2000 and 2005 left-bank wines to have been superior. Parker rates the 2008, 2003,1998 and 1996 as outstanding, with all others in the decade being Above Average to Excellent.  Jancis Robinson relegates the 2003 and 1997s to "drink-now" status (you may remember the tiff between Robinson and Parker as to the merits of the 2003 vintage).  She sees 1996 as a "tough, slow-maturing vintage ... for keeping not drinking ..."

The most important barometers of the perception of vintage quality are the price at which the wine is initially offered to the market place as well as its performance over time in secondary markets.

The Graves sub-region of Bordeaux

On October 8th, 2010, I attended a class titled Mastering the Medoc and Graves which was held at Decanter HQ in London and led by Decanter Contributing Editor, and noted Bordeaux maven, Steven Spurrier.  I detailed the Medoc sub-region in a prior post and will cover Graves in this post.

The name Graves is derived from the dominant characteristic -- gravel -- of the soil in the region.  The soil is comprised of gravel, sand, and clay carried out by the Garonne over thousands of years. What is considered the Graves sub-region begins at the gates of the town of Bordeaux and extends for 50 miles along the left side of the Garonne River.

Nestled within the confines of the Graves sub-region are the noted AOCs of Pessac-Leognan (dry red and white wines), Sauternes (sweet whites), and Barsac (sweet whites).  The Graves AOC is the only Bordeaux region that is legally permitted to produce dry reds and whites as well as sweet white wines.  The sweet whites are produced under the Bordeaux Superieur AOC.  Graves covers 3400 hectares and is planted to Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc for red wines and Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc, and Muscadelle for whites.

Graves has a one-level classification scheme which was originally implemented in 1953 for reds and then revised in 1959 to include dry white wines.  There are 16 Graves Classified Growths, all located in the Pessac-Leognan commune.  The most notable of these classified growths is Chateau Haut-Brion, the only non-Medoc wine to have been included in the 1855 Medoc classification scheme.

The red wines from Graves are distinctively garnet-red in color and are more robust than wines emanating from Medoc.  These medium- to full-bodied wines are characterized by red fruits, blackcurrant, and cinnamon.  The whites, which are barrel-fermented and aged on their lees, are flowery with notes of passion fruit and apricots.

Pessac-Leognan, in the far north of the Graves sub-region, was a part of Graves until it gained its own AOC designation in 1987 in recognition of its distinctive soils.  The 1350 hectares of Pessac-Leognana encompasses the most respected producers in the Graves sub-region to include the aforementioned Haut-Brion but also such notables as Chateau Pape Clement, Chateau Haut-Bailly, and Chateau Bouscaut, among others.

The red wines of Pessac-Leognan -- made from Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, and Cabernet Franc -- exhibit a powerful bouquet along with red fruits and cocoa.  These wines can age 20 years and beyond and gain in complexity after 7 years, adding spice and other tertiary flavors.  The whites are medium- to full-bodied and will age up to 15 years in cellar.  These Semillon-Sauvignon blends will exhibit orange peel, boxwood, and passion fruit.  The crisper whites will have Sauvignon as the dominant grape in the blend while the fuller bodied whites will be Semillon-dominant.