Saint-Estèphe AOC
Wine region | |
Type | AOC |
---|---|
Year established | 1936 |
Country | France |
Size of planted vineyards | 1 230 ha[1] |
Grapes produced | Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Carménère, Merlot, Malbec, and Petit Verdot |
Saint-Estèphe is an
Historical background
Vines were already being cultivated on the land around Saint-Estèphe in Roman times.[2]
In the Middle Ages the wine business expanded, thanks to English buyers who regularly came to the port of Bordeaux for their wine. The draining of marshland, which began in the 17th century, made larger areas of land available for cultivation.[3]
Location
Geographical area
This designation can only be used to denote wines produced in a clearly defined area, corresponding to the commune (or municipality) of Saint-Estèphe.[1]
Geology and orography
The sol de grave (a soil type containing a mixture of gravels, clay and sand), shared by all AOC wines from the Médoc, contains a slightly higher proportion of clay in this particular area.
Climate
The Saint-Estèphe vineyards enjoy the same weather conditions as the Bordeaux-Mérignac meteorological station.
The local climate is, however, affected by the nearby River Garonne. It has the effect of making it more temperate.
Vineyards
Grape varieties grown
The varieties allowed for this appellation are
The AOC regulations do not stipulate the exact proportions to be combined, for example, use 60% or more of the latter variety.
Methods of cultivation
The density of planting required is at least 7,000 vines per hectare. The rows should be positioned no more than 1.5 metres apart and the distance between any two vines within a row should not be less than 0.8 metres.
For vines planted less than 1.4 metres apart, the height of the foliage must be at least 0.6 times the distance between rows, while for vines planted between 1.4 and 1.5 metres apart, the height should be increased to at least 0.7 times the distance between rows. This rule is designed to ensure the growth of sufficient foliage for the grapes to ripen well.[4]
Harvesting
By law the yield per plot is restricted to 9,500 kg per hectare, which is the equivalent of 14 bunches per vine for Petit Verdot grapes and 12 bunches per vine for other varieties. This quantity should (only) give a yield per hectare of 57 hectolitres (per hectare) once the process of wine-making has been completed.
The harvesting method is not stipulated in the AOC regulations.[4] In fact many estates now use harvesting machines, although some prestigious estates, such as the châteaux of Lilian Ladouys[6] and Meyney,[7] still harvest by hand. This practice is defended on the basis that it is possible to sort at the same time as harvesting, not to mention the further round of sorting that takes place when the harvest is loaded onto a sorting table in the wine shed.
Wine-making
On arrival in the chai, the grapes are destemmed and crushed before being transferred to non-oxidizing
Once the wine has been drained off, the grape residue is
At this stage the quality of each tank is assessed individually before small amounts from each batch are combined in test conditions. This sample blend then serves as a yardstick for the blends about to be created, each estate preserving the distinctive character of its own wines while reflecting the overall style of that particular vintage. This process, which is carried out by the wine-maker and an oenologist, is crucial to the result.
Once the wines have been blended on a large scale, they are matured in tanks (in the case of smoother vintages) or in barrels (in the case of more robust vintages). Maturing a wine means storing it for long periods in cellars where the temperature is controlled and where it remains undisturbed apart from rackings that take place every three months.[6] Maturing a wine that is stored in barrels can take between six and eighteen months.[6]
Wine
Analytical criteria
The minimum alcohol content is set at 11% by volume. When it is decided that a wine needs enriching, the alcohol content should not exceed 13.5%[4] by volume. When the harvest is of such exceptional quality that it does not need enriching at all, there is no upper limit to the naturally occurring alcohol content allowed.
In the case of batches of wine produced for the commercial market, the process of alcoholic fermentation must be halted (less than two grams per litre of fermentable sugar) and malolactic fermentation carried out. (less than 0.30 grams per litre of malic acid). The volatile acidity of the wine must not exceed 13.26 milliequivalents (i.e. 0.79 expressed as grams per litre of acetic acid or 0.65 g/L of H2SO4) in the first year of aging (up to 31 July). After that the limit is set at 16.33 mEq. (i.e. 0.98 expressed as grams per litre of acetic acid or 0.80 g/L of H2SO4).[4]
Tasting
Considerable variations in
Matching food and wine
Saint-Estèphe
Thanks to its powerful structure, Saint-Estèphe is a match for red meats such as roast rib of beef[9] or agneau de Pauillac à la cuisson de sept heures[10] (local Pauillac lamb cooked for seven hours according to a traditional recipe) or, once it has aged, for a truffle sauce or for furred game meats cooked in a marinade or when aged, with game.[1]
Production
The Saint-Estèphe vineyards cover 1,230 hectares (3,000 acres), and in 2008 they produced 54,200 hectolitres of wine.[1] This volume of wine represents on average 8.7 million bottles per year.[2]
The wine is produced by 136 different producers: 80 of them are members of cooperatives and 56 are private estates.[2]
Classified Saint-Estèphe estates
In the Bordeaux Wine Official Classification of 1855, there are no First Growths in Saint-Estèphe, but two Second Growths. The classified estates of Saint-Estèphe are:
- Second Growths
- Third Growths
- Fourth Growths
- Fifth Growths
Saint-Estèphe also has the distinction of having produced a large number of other wines (
References
- ^ a b c d e f Le Guide Hachette des Vins 2010, page 381.
- ^ a b c Page of AOC Saint-Estèphe on the website medoc-bordeaux.com, accessed 30 January 2010.
- ^ Histoire du Médoc on the website medoc-bordeaux.com, accessed 30 January 2010.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Datasheet for AOC Saint-Estèphe on the website legifrance.gouv.fr, accessed on 15 January 2010.
- ^ Château Cos d'Estournel Archived 11 February 2010 at the Wayback Machine on the website estournel.com, accessed 31 January 2010.
- ^ a b c d e f g Section vin Archived 7 November 2009 at the Wayback Machine on the website chateaulilianladouys.com, accessed 31 January 2010.
- ^ a b c d Section présentation, le vin on the website meyney.fr, accessed 31 January 2010.
- ISBN 2-01-236461-6, page 179.
- ^ Guide hachette des vins 2010, page 382
- ^ Château Phélan Ségur on the website phelansegur.com