L'élaboration du vin de Bordeaux

The region of bordeaux is situated on the West cost of France, next to the Atlantic Ocean. From the point of view of wine, this region enlarges upon on the department of Gironde on 10725 km². The name of those wines comes from the main city, the capital of this region which is bordeaux. However the vine plantations do not come into the city, but you can begin to find them after few kilometres out of the city. The region of bordeaux enlarges upon on about 80 kilometres around the capital, on the biggest estuary of Europe. It is surrounded by three rivers: the Gironde, the Garonne and the Dordogne. So the climate, due to the ocean and the rivers is temperate, with a short and mild winter, a quite warm summer, a long autumn, and a high level of moisture. That makes a favourable environment for the vine. This region is the most important one for the wine of quality in France, even in the world. Actually it is composed of 7000 castles, so about 115.200 hectares of vine which 80% of AOC (Appellation d'Origine Controlée). About 6 millions of hectolitres of red wines are produced each year by those castles, which corresponds to 800 millions of bottles. 1.8 millions of hectolitres are exported, mostly in Germany. First we will see how wines of bordeaux are classified. Then we will talk about the implantation of the vine. Finally we will deal with the wine making. The two last parts will be done on the example of the "Châteaux Margaux".