Bordeaux wine

Ingredients

Fruit

• 350 kgripe red grapes: roughly 60 percent Merlot, 30 percent Cabernet Sauvignon, 10 percent Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot or Malbec

Cellar additions

• selected or indigenous yeast, about 20 g per hectolitre
• potassium metabisulphite, 3–5 g per hectolitre at the crush
• malolactic bacteria culture
• 2–6fresh egg whites per barrique, for fining

Equipment

• destemmer-crusher
• a stainless steel or oak fermentation vat
• a basket or pneumatic press
• 225-litre oak barriques, one third to fully new
• racking pump, bottles and corks

Directions

1. Pick when the fruit is ripe in tannin as well as sugar, typically late September for Merlot on the clay of the Right Bank and into October for Cabernet Sauvignon on the Medoc gravel. The two banks are planted the way they are precisely because Cabernet ripens later and needs the warmer stones.
2. Sort on a table, discarding under-ripe, raisined and rotten berries, then destem and crush lightly without breaking the pips, which would release bitter tannin.
3. Fill the vat to about 80 percent, add a small dose of sulphur dioxide and hold it at 8–12C for 3–5 days as a cold soak, drawing colour out before the yeast starts.
4. Warm to 20°C (70°F) and inoculate. Fermentation runs 5–10 days at 26–30°C (80–85°F) and finishes dry, below 2 g of residual sugar per litre.
5. Break up the floating cap of skins two or three times a day, pumping juice over it or punching it down. This is where colour, tannin and structure come from.
6. Macerate on the skins for a further one to three weeks after fermentation, tasting daily, and press off before the tannin turns hard and drying.
7. Run off the free-run wine, then press the skins gently. The press wine is kept apart and only partly blended back.
8. Encourage malolactic fermentation at 18–20°C (65–70°F) over two to four weeks, converting sharp malic acid into soft lactic acid and rounding the wine out.
9. Fill the barriques and age 12–18 months in a cool cellar, racking off the sediment every three months and topping up for evaporation. Fine with lightly whisked egg white if the tannin needs softening.
10. Assemble the final blend in spring, tasting every lot separately, then bottle. Serve at 16–18°C (60–65°F) in a large-bowled glass, decanted an hour ahead when young, with roasts, mushroom dishes or aged hard cheese.

Technique

• Bordeaux is a blend, not a single variety. Merlot dominates the clay of the Right Bank, Cabernet Sauvignon the gravel of the Left Bank, and the spring assemblage is the winemaker’s single biggest decision of the year.
• The 225-litre barrique bordelaise is a Bordeaux invention and its size is deliberate: enough oak surface per litre of wine to season it within about eighteen months.
• Egg-white fining is the classical Bordeaux method, six whites per barrique for a firm wine and two for a soft one; it drops out harsh tannin without stripping the fruit.
• This is not a home project in any honest sense. A domestic version at 50 kg scale in a food-grade vat is possible, but oak barrels below barrique size age wine far too fast.

Substitutions

• At home, oak staves or chips suspended in a stainless or glass vessel imitate barrel ageing crudely; expect the oak flavour without the slow micro-oxygenation through the staves that actually softens tannin.

Variations

• Dry white Bordeaux, made from Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon fermented cool with no skin contact.
• Sauternes, from the same region, made from botrytis-affected Semillon picked in successive passes through the vineyard.
• Cremant de Bordeaux, the sparkling version made by the traditional bottle-fermented method.

History

English rule over Aquitaine built the claret trade; Napoleon III ordered the 1855 classification of châteaux for the Paris Exposition Universelle.

Frequently asked questions

What is Bordeaux wine?

Bordeaux wine is a wine & spirit from France: red blends of cabernet and merlot from the Gironde, aged in oak. English rule over Aquitaine built the claret trade; Napoleon III ordered the 1855 classification of châteaux for the Paris Exposition Universelle.

How long does Bordeaux wine take to make?

Bordeaux wine takes Harvest and vinification, 3–5 weeks of preparation and 12–18 months in oak, then bottle age of cooking. The recipe makes one 225-litre barrique, about 300 bottles. It is rated hard to make.

What can I substitute in Bordeaux wine?

Yes, within limits. At home, oak staves or chips suspended in a stainless or glass vessel imitate barrel ageing crudely; expect the oak flavour without the slow micro-oxygenation through the staves that actually softens tannin.