Graves |
| Newstime：2009-05-14 08:46:23 Befrom：Original Writer：Richleader |
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Graves is situated on the left bank of Medoc, in the south of the city Bordeaux, which is the nearest appellation to Bordeaux wine region. The area's major gravel soils make its wines have unique style. Graves can be considered as the earliest red wine producing area, as early as 11th century, when Medoc still was marsh, it had found vineyard and wine-making in Graves. With the continued expansion of Bordeaux city, the outskirts of vine area constantly being eroded and transformed into residential and commercial buildings. In addition, Graves has a lot of vineyards, which mainly plant white grape, as the other districts with the high production of red wine, resulting in the fame of Graves lags behind Medoc, Saint-Emilion and Pomerol in recent times. Fortunately, there is a superstar Chateau Haut-Brion situated at Graves. Chateau Haut-Brion is the only estate from outside Médoc to be included in 1855 classification.
The classification of Graves wine was drawn up in 1953 and subsequently revised in 1959. There were 16 estates included in it, but just one was named Grand Cru Classe (within them, it could be devided into famous estates for red wine, white wine and both.) The AOC of Pessac Léognan was detached from the Graves appellation in 1987, as a result of these excellent estates in Pessacand Leognan villages.
Estates: 1 Grands Crus Classés Graves in 1855 classification and 16 estates were classied in 1959.
Soil: Gravels
Major grape varieties: Red: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot;
White: Sémillon, Sauvignon Blanc
Age: Red wine: 6 to 20 years
White wine: 5 to 15 years
Vintages(recommended): Red wine: 2005, 2004, 2003, 2000, 1998, 1995, 1990, 1988, 1985
White wine: 2001, 1998, 1996, 1995, 1990
Character: Red wine: Strong bouquet, with red berry, ripe fruit and cocoa aroma, light body wine, couples with pure and elegant, smooth supple entry, rather than solid structures for well-known.
White wine: Medium-to-full bodied, with good structure, releases ample aroma as orange peel, boxwood, passion fruit after aging.
Chateau Haut-Brion as the flagship of Pessac Léognan, which was followed by its neighbouring, Chateau La Mission Haut Brion. They were originally from the same manor and only a road apart. These two estates integrated with each other after splitting in 1984, What is called separating after long time united, and integrating after long time splitting, but still keep its style. Robert Parker considers Chateau La Mission Haut Brion as one of the most tangible challenger to the first growths in the four 'super-second'. Other famous estates are: Chateau Pape Clement, Domaine de Chevalier, Chateau Smith-Haut Lafitte and so on. For the white wine, several king white of this area could be comparable to Burgundy’s king white, such as Chateau Haut_Brion Blanc, Chateau Laville-Haut Brion and Domaine de Chevalier. However, different grape varieties made the different taste, since Chardonnay for Burgundy, Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon for Bordeaux, which could meet different wine lovers’ need.
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