Ep. 940 Map 2 Bordeaux | Jumbo Shrimp Maps

Welcome to the Italian wine podcast. This episode is brought to you by Vinitally International Academy, announcing the twenty fourth of our Italian wine Ambassador courses to be held in London, Austria, and Hong Kong, from the twenty seventh to the twenty ninth of July. Are you up for the challenge of this demanding course? Do you want to be the next Italian wine Ambassador? Learn more and apply now at viniti international dot com. Welcome to jumbo shrimp wine study maps. We have specially created this free content for all our listeners who are studying for wine exams. This has been a journey of development since Stevie Kim discovered Rosie Baker's hand drawn maps on Instagram through two years of work by our in house editorial and graphics team, and now the maps are available to purchase in beta form while they undergo the final briefing and editing by our expert advisory board. It's a three layered project because we know everyone learns differently. We now offer the complete box set of thirty nine maps, this series of podcasts with the maps narrated by our crack team of wine educators. And finally, the study guide book, which will be published later this year. Our map project is in no way a substitute for the material set out by other educational organizations. But we hope all the wine students out there will find our map project, a new, exciting and useful tool for learning. For more information and to buy the maps, please visit our website at mama jumbo shrimp dot com. Maps about Bordeaux. Before we take a really close look at the differences between the left and right bank, Apolacians of Bordeaux, it's a good idea to get a broad picture of the area. Bordeaux is a region in the southwest of France close to the Atlantic Ocean. It's the largest Appalachian by volume and value. And ninety percent of the wines here are red, most of which are blends. We also find incredibly prestigious long lived sweet wines from the Appalachian of Sotun. There are lots of things going on in Bordeaux, so lots of potential for questions about wine making, about blending, because of things like the weather influence. It's a moderate maritime climate, which is highly variable. You can get lots of different levels of rainfall and humidity both throughout the year and between different years. There are warm ocean currents that extend the growing season into October, but there are occasional spring frost, and misty autumn conditions can lead to noble rot, this positive fungus, that botrytis cinerear that is really beneficial for sweet worms, However, because of this moisture, there is the potential for rot. Given all of these variables and also huge vintage variation, there is a lot of focus on blending of varietals here. This is also a little bit dependent on the soils, which we will dive into in more detail in the specific areas, but needless to say these soils help or hinder ripening in certain grape varieties. Which means there's a real focus on which grapes can come from which area and the blending of grapes so that you can protect against this vintage variation. Speaking of blending in grape varieties, let's look at those varieties. So really in Bordeaux, there is a lot of focus on the red wines, and therefore the black grape varieties. Merlo is the most widely planted here, particularly important in the wines of the right bank. Cabernet sauvignon is the second most widely planted and is most associated with the left bank, although they are blended in both. We'll get into that in more detail in the next episode. Are you enjoying this podcast? Don't forget to visit our YouTube channel, mama jumbo shrimp for fascinating videos covering Stevie Kim and her travels across Italy and beyond, meeting winemakers, eating local food, and taking in the scenery. Now, back to the show. In addition to Merlo and Cabernet sauvignon, we also have Cabernet franc. This is also widely used in the right bank area of Santemilium. Then we have a little bit of petiva dough. This is normally used to add spice to wines and is very difficult to grow because it needs a lot of heat. Now there are also white wines of bordeaux, both dry and sweet. Here, the focus really on sauvignon blanc and semillon blends. Sauvignon blanc being aromatic, and naturally high in acidity, giving perfume and acidic structure to the blends. The other white grape here is semion, which adds body and richness to the blends and is also very susceptible to noble rot, which is ideal for the production of sweet, but prioritized wines, specifically in sotern and Mombasiak. Speaking of grapes here, Bordeaux is a great example of why we shouldn't consider machine harvesting as a negative thing. This is one of the things we really need to consider is the reasons behind it, not whether or not it is quote good or bad. Pordeaux is very flat. Therefore, it's easy and fast and efficient to machine harvest the grapes, specifically when you don't need the stems for tannic structure. There is also a considerable amount of money in this region. Therefore, technology is easy to come by, so you can optically sort your grapes as they come into the winery. This means that you can machine harvest but still be incredibly selective with your grapes as they come in. Just reinforcing the fact that machine harvest wines can be very premium and lead to great selection of grapes. Wine making techniques here are often connected to Tannic profile and ageability. So we have lots of use of oak to add complexity, spice, and flavor, particularly new oak, to add very intense clove, cinnamon, nutmeg, toast, and smoke, and also used for extended aging of wines just softening and integrating tannin acid and flavor. As if Bordeaux didn't have enough complexity and the things we need to talk about, there are also varying classifications here depending on which area you are looking at. Don't worry. We'll tackle each of those in the next couple of episodes as we think about the right bank and left bank separately and really focus on the blends in those areas. So join me in the next episode as we take a deep dive into the left bank wines of Bordeaux, So wines, broadly focused on cabinet, sovignon dominated blends. Thanks for listening to this episode of Italian wine podcast brought to you by Vineetli Academy. Home of the gold standard of Italian wine education. Do you want to be the next ambassador? Apply online at benetri international dot com for courses in London, Austria, and Hong Kong, the twenty seventh to the twenty ninth of July. Remember to subscribe and like Italian wine podcast and catch us on SoundLab, Spotify, and wherever you get your pods. You can also find our entire back catalog of episodes at Italian wine podcast dot com. Hi, guys. I'm Joy Livingston, and I am the producer of the Italian wine podcast. Thank you for listening. We are the only wine podcast that has been doing a daily show since the pandemic began. This is a labor of love, and we are committed to bringing you free content every day. Of course, this takes time and effort not to mention the cost of equipment, production, and editing. We would be grateful for your donations, suggestions, requests, and ideas. For more information on how to get in touch, go to Italian wine podcast dot com.