Malbec Renaissance in Bordeaux as a Result of Climate Change?

Picture: Christian G.E. Schiller at Chateau Latour in Bordeaux. At the time of the 1855 Classification, the Latour Grand Cru was mainly made of Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon

Though Malbec was historically a major planting in Bordeaux, providing color and fruit to the blend, in the 20th century, it started to lose ground to Merlot and Cabernet Franc due, in part, to its sensitivities to so many different vine ailments (coulure, downy mildew, frost). The severe 1956 frost wiped out a significant portion of Malbec vines in Bordeaux.

One can, however, observe a comeback of Malbec in Bordeaux. Some experts predict that if Bordeaux becomes hotter due to climate change, Malbec would have a chance to ripen more consistently and you may start to see much more Malbec in Bordeaux blends in years to come.

Weinrallye #52 Klimawandel - Climate Change

This posting is being published as part of the Weinrallye, a monthly blog event in Germany. Participating wine bloggers - mainly in Germany - are all releasing postings today under the heading "climate change". Weinrallye is the brainchild of Thomas Lippert, a winemaker and wine blogger based in Heidelberg, Germany. The first wine rally took place in 2007. Thomas Lippert is the author of the wine blog Winzerblog.

This month's wine rally is organized by Torsten Goffin, who runs the food and wine blog “Glasklare Gefuehle”.

Malbec in France

Overall, Malbec is at a low in France currently, but may stage a come-back. Over recent decades, the popularity of Malbec has been steadily declining with only 6,000 hectares remaining. Its stronghold remains Cahors where AOC regulations stipulate that Malbec must compose at least 70% of the blend.

Outside of Cahors, Malbec is still found in small amounts as a permitted variety in the AOCs of Bergerac, Buzet, Côtes de Duras, Côtes du Marmandais and Bordeaux.

Malbec in Cahors

Cahors wines have a long history. The wine industry was developed by the Romans, who planted vines in Cahors even before they got to Bordeaux. The “black wine” of Cahors reached its heyday in the Middle Ages, when they were on the table at the marriage of Eleanor of Aquitaine with Henry II of England in 1152. But Bordelais winemakers saw the Cahors wines as a competitor to their own wines and introduced taxes and levies that hindered Cahors’ export out of Bordeaux, and, in turn, its reputation. In addition, in the late-19th century, phylloxera nearly destroyed the wine business in Cahors. The vines recovered eventually. Things looked pretty bleak until 1971, when Cahors achieved AOC status.

The dominant grape variety in AOC Cahors wines is Malbec, which must make up a minimum of 70% of the wine, with Merlot and Tannat making up the rest. Cahors wines are notoriously tannic when young, benefiting greatly from aging.

Malbec in Bordeaux

Malbec is one of the six permitted red grape varieties - Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Malbec and Carmenere - in the Bordeaux region, but in contrast to Cahor only rarely used in Bordeaux blends today. 

Chateau Haut Bailly in Pessac Leognan is one of the producers that has reportedly all 6 red grape varieties growing in its vineyards. Château Cheval Blanc uses a tiny amount of Malbec in its blend as do Chateau L’Enclos and Chateau Gruaud Larose. Examples of famous châteaux that use Carmenere are the Fifth Growth Château Clerc Milon and the Second Growth Château Brane Cantenac. Only the regions of the Côtes-de-Bourg, Blaye and Entre-Deux-Mers have any significant plantings in Bordeaux.

However if you go back to the year 1855 when the famous Left Bank Classification of 1855 was established, all chateaux had Malbec in their vineyards. At that time, Malbec was the most planted grape in Bordeaux, probably up to 60%. First Growth Château Lafite’s vineyards, for example, were dominated by Malbec and First Growth Château Latour was mostly Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon. In Saint Emilion, on the right bank, Malbec was known as Noir de Pressac and very popular.

Malbec in Bourg and Blaye

Nowadays the Bordeaux appellation with the highest percentage of Malbec under vine is the Côtes de Bourg.

Malbec at Château Bel-Air la Royère

The leader of the Bourg and Blaye Malbec gang is Chateau Bel-Air la Royere in the AOC Blaye. Chateau Bel-Air la Royere is owned by Xavier Loriaud and his wife Corinne Chevrier-Loriaud. Xavier and Corinne bought the run-down estate in the 1990s, when Xavier was working as a wine consultant, mainly with Medoc chateaux. In the beginning, they sold the wine in bulk but started to bottle it in 1995. In the meantime, Xavier has moved on and become a politician, while his wife Corinne has taken over the management of Chateau Bel-Air la Royere. She is assisted by winemaker Christian Veyry.

25% of the 23 hectares of vineyard area is accounted for by Malbec, with the Malbec plantings dating from 1947, 1949, 1953 and also some from the 2000s. Merlot accounts for 65% and Cabernet Sauvignon for the remaining 10%.

In addition to their Bel-Air La Royère, which is 25% Malbec, Chateau Bel-Air La Royère also produces the only single variety Malbec in Bordeaux – Malbec Fig. 10. I do not know if this done every year, but the he 2006 Malbec Fig. 10 is currently sold in Germany for Euro 20 retail.

schiller-wine: Related Postings

World Malbec Day - Malbec from its Birthplace: Cahors in France

A Glass of Bordeaux – What Else? – With Wine Journalist Panos Kakaviatos

Meeting Virginia and Bordeaux Wine Expert and Wine Blogger Allan Liska, USA

Bordeaux Wines and their Classifications: The Basics

In the Wine Capital of the World: the City of Bordeaux, France

Wine event: Wines served at the Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December 2009 - Zero carbon footprint?

Climate Change and Wine: Video Blog - CNN's Jim Bitterman on Climate Change and Wine from Paris

Climate Change and Wine: France

Emerging Wine Country Poland --- The Early Days of a Climate Change Gainer?

Picture: Chateau Lomnica in Silesia, Poland

I visited Poland in the summer with my wife, including Krakow and Wrozlaw. We stayed for a couple of days at the charming Schloss Lomnitz in Silesia. But unfortunately, we did not find and taste any Polish wines, though there is a rapidly growing wine industry. But it is still in the early days, although, 3 years ago, when EU accession was negotiated, Poland asked that 100.000 hectares of to land be approved for wine growing. If one day all this land is planted with grape vines, this would exceed Germany’s current wine growing area.

A bit of history. Present-day Poland traces its origins back to the year 966, when Mieszko I accepted Christianity from the South. What followed was a tumultuous history. Between 1795 and 1918, Poland even disappeared from Europe's maps, only to re-emerge once more at the end of World War I. After World War II, Poland was shifted to the West. It lost a large part of its territory to Ukraine in the East and gained territory in the West that had been under German influence for several centuries.

Throughout history, Poland has never been an important producer of wine. But the Polish aristocracy always had a taste for good wine and the European producers always had an eye on the Polish market. In terms of production, the small vineyards around Zielona Gora and in Podolia were the exception, the former been developed during the period when this region belonged to Germany.

With regard to consumption, the Polish market was always an important element for the European and in particular, the French chateaus. Although the aristocracy liked French wine, it drank much more wine from neighboring Hungary than from France.

The situation today in Poland in terms of consumption is not encouraging. As in many other Eastern European countries, beer and vodka are the preferred beverages of the Polish people. During the Socialist period, the only available wine was bulk wine from other countries in the socialist block, mainly sparkling wine from the Ukraine and still wine from Bulgaria. Better quality wine only started to appear in the market after 1989. And change is evident, with the growing middle class showing some interest in wine. However, as I have seen in other East European countries, consumers tend to turn to imported wine first, before developing an interest for locally produced wine. This is very clear in Serbia now.

At the same time, things are improving in terms of production, although starting from a very low level. Polish wine is one of those that are in Stuart Pigott's words "Wein weit weg" -- "wine far away", where the wine industry used to be dormant or non existent, but is now (re-) emerging due to global warming and or political reforms. In Poland, an additional factor was the EU accession a few years ago. Currently, however, the areas were wine is grown do not add up to more than 500 hectares, although, as noted above, the target is much higher.

Poland lies at the northern limit for wine growing. But in Poland and elsewhere in this situation, this line is moving upwards, as I have recently also observed in the UK. Wine growing is now viable in a large part of Poland, although vineyards are still concentrated in the South. The main problem that the climate is cool is still there, but slowly loosing its relevance. The ripening season still remains short, although it is expanding.

There are about 500 winemakers now. Most are boutique wineries with less than 1 hectare of land. Most of the plantings took place in the last 20 years, after the fall of the iron curtain. Wine makers are experimenting with a wide array of grape varieties. Red grapes include Dornfelder, Zweigelt, Pinot Noir, and even Cabernet Sauvignon, while among white varieties we have Pinot Blanc, Riesling, Müller-Thurgau, Sauvignon Blanc and Grüner Veltliner. But the wine growers are also experimenting with grapes not well known in the international market.

Apart from the difficult, though improving, climate, the wine industry still suffers from lack of expertise and experience. In Belgrade, when I was there earlier this year, I could find local wines anywhere and some of them were pretty good. In Poland, the situation was different. It appears that there are only few, if any wine makers that can produce wine that would meet the requirements of the international market and could be exported. Often, local wines that are sold on the market suffer from a variety of problems, including unripeness of the grapes at harvest, and/or excessive chaptalisation, excessive sulphuring, and oxidation in the cellar during fermentation.

In other northern parts of Europe and the World ,however, winemakers have experienced quite similar problems with frosts and ripeness, and have learned how to solve them. I have recently visited Long Island in New York State, US and I was impressed by the boom in the wine industry there. It also seems to me that Poland could be a place were wine makers could have a comparative advantage in producing ice wine. They could learn, for example, from the wine makers in Canada. In my view it is likely that in the not too distant future we will see Polish wine not only sold locally, but also exported, just as Slovenian, Bulgarian or Hungarian wine is.

Prime Minister Putin said some time ago, that global warming is good for Russia. Global warming is also good for Poland's wine industry.

I have benefited a lot from from reading Wojcieck Bonkowski's wine blog and I would like to express my gratitude to him. Also, in my communications with him, it turned out that he does no see the future for Poland wine makers as bright as I have described it in the last paragraph.

Climate Change - French Men and Women Pose Naked in Vineyard

In Burgundy, one of the best if not the best wine region of France, 713 hardy French men and women stripped down in vineyards and posed nude to send a message about climate change.

Read more about it here and here. The latter link also includes a video.

Climate Change and Wine in France

France's culture de la vigne is as much a product of history as an accident of geography. Since the beginning of winemaking in France, the French climate has been perfect to support a variety of grapes. The best wines in the world are made in France. Now, this is threatened, many wine growers feel, by climate change. In 2003, which was a very hot year, many feel that wines lost their identity and, for example, wines from the Loire valley in the northern part of France tasted like wines from the Rhône in the South.

Reflecting these concerns, in August of this year, 50 of France's top chefs, sommeliers and wine producers wrote to Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, arguing that climate change was threatening the survival of the wine industry and pushing for France to demand a 40 per cent cut in global carbon emissions by 2020 at this December’s Copenhagen conference. Climate change, they wrote, was threatening the soul of French wines.

Now, Greenpeace, has presented on September 4 under the heading: Rouge Alert: Climate Change Threatens French Wine a detailed study of the impact of climate change on wine in France. The study details how French wine production is a climatically sensitive endeavour - and shows that it is at great risk from environmental change.

The same day, the Financial Times carried an interesting article on the subject.

And I detected a new book by Stuart Pigott on wine regions beyond the traditional bounderies of wine growing, from a German perspective of course:

Stuart Pigott (September 2009), Wein Weit Weg – Wine far away: Expeditionen von Norwegen ueber den Kaukasus nach China.

It is a book, as Pigott puts it, about the wine regions of the 21^st century.... Norway and China?