Wine
Regions of the world : Bordeaux- Graves, Pomerol, Saint-Emilion,
Sauteres
Graves
(grahv) : This region lies to the south of Bordeaux
and to the west of Garonne. Graves in French means gravel
and the wines are earthier and livelier than in Medoc.
The biggie here is Chateau Haut Brion, which you will
remember from above is one of the top five growths according
to the 1855 classification. The white wines from Graves
can be quite deadly too and unlike most whites benefit
from long agings - ten years or so. Chateau Haut Brion
makes a good white. Another big white name is Domaine
de Chevalier. Haut Brion and many other fancy Chateaux
are located in a separate new appellation called Pessac-Leognan.
Map of Bordeaux
Chateau
Petrus
Pomerol
(
poh-muh-rol
) : The smallest of the districts, it was never
classified. It produces glamorous red wines from the
Merlot grape and is home to the block-buster Chateau
Petrus -one of the most expensive wines in the world-only
4000 cases are produced every year. Don't ever pass
up a chance to sip this if someone offers it to you.
Saint
Emilion ( san-teh-meel-yoh )
: Saint Emilion is a picturesque little town
located 48 miles east of Bordeaux. Though it lacks the
fame of Medoc and Graves or the glamour of Pomerol,
it holds its own in terms of the wine that it produces.
Its wines (with their pre-dominance of the Merlot and
Cabernet Franc grapes) are softer than those of Medoc.
The big names from Saint Emilion are Ausone and Cheval
Blanc. They are rated at par with the top five from
Medoc / Graves, Chateau Petrus from Pomerol and Chateau
d'Yquem from Sauternes.
Sauternes
(
soh-tehrn )
: Along with its neighbouring village of Barsac,
Sauternes makes some of the greatest sweet white wines
in the world. Sweet wine is made from grapes affected
by the fungus called botrytis cinerea (noble rot). The
ideal conditions for this fungus are damp misty mornings
and warm sunny afternoons. This is exactly what happens
in Sauternes in late autumn and early winter. The fungus
pierces the skin of the grape, allowing the juices to
evaporate and the grape to shrivel, increasing both
the sugar content and the flavour. As only the ripest
grapes can be picked harvesting is a slow and a time
consuming process.
This
is why good Sauternes is very expensive. The best of
these is so prestigious that they had to create a separate
classification for just this one wine-grand premier
cru. This is the famous Chateau d'Yquem. If you get
to taste this once in your lifetime, you will be lucky
indeed. At the next level are the premier crus, which
are eleven wines in all. If you get to buy these they
will definitely blow a hole in your pocket. Bringing
up the rear is the deuxieme cru, which comprise twelve
wines, which are also damn good.
Chateau
d'Yquem
We
first became aware of CDY while flipping through
a Businessweek. The lucky sod who'd written the
piece described the sweet wines with such passion
that we were entranced with the story of Lur Saluces
family and their wine. CDY is now a part of the
LVMH group still turning out some of the finest
wines in the world. If you have the moolah then
hop across to Indigo in Mumbai and order a bottle.
Indigo promises to serve it by the glass shortly.
We're all waiting with bated breath.
Apart
from these districts the others are Canon-Fronsac and
Fronsac, Entre-Deux-Mers, Lalande de Pomerol all of
which produce very good, inexpensive (in comparison
to those above) wines.
