French Wine Explorers
Wine e-Newsletter
www.wine-tours-france.com
- August/September 2007
This month's wine explorations:
- The Mysterious "Malo" and What it Does for Wine
- Announcing Our Exciting 2008 Season of Tours!
- A Challenging 2007 Harvest for French Winemakers
- Great New Options for Private Wine Touring
Bonjour!
As the harvest begins in France, we'll be taking a look at an important aspect of winemaking that is often discussed but not always well-understood. Our correspondent for this article is Mary Kirk-Bonnet, Sommelier-Conseil, one of our superb wine expert guides, reporting after a recent private tour with clients in Champagne. The growing season has been difficult so far for winemakers in France this year, but it's really the next few weeks that will be decisive for this vintage. How will it all turn out? No one knows, of course, but we'll take a look at some of the challenges that lie ahead as harvest approaches.
We're also happy to announce our 2008 tour season, once again offering the very best wine estates, accommodations and dining available in the French wine country, as well as an authentic experience of French culture and a fun, relaxing vacation with other like-minded wine lovers. If you prefer to travel with friends or family on a private tour, we now have two great options for you - keep reading to learn more!
A bientot (see you soon),
Lauriann Greene-Sollin, Sommelier-Conseil
President/Founder
The
Myterious "Malo" and What it Does for Wine
by Mary Kirk-Bonnet, Sommelier-Conseil, Wine Expert Guide for French
Wine Explorers
On
a recent tour of
“Malo”
is winemaker’s lingo for malolactic fermentation (also abbreviated in
written form as MLF). Wines
that “do their malo” are wines that go through a malolactic
fermentation. This process
takes place right after the primary alcoholic fermentation, when yeasts
convert grape sugar into alcohol. In
the MLF, it is lactic acid bacteria that do the work. These bacteria
convert the “tarter” malic acid, an acid naturally found in wine (like
the one found in green granny smith apples), into the softer lactic acid
(like the one found in milk). For the MLF to take place, the temperature
of the wine must be 20-23° C (68-
Why
have wines do their malo?
Most
red wines go through malolactic fermentation. The astringent nature of
tannins is more pronounced in the presence of the unconverted, harsher
malic acid, but it is tempered when combined with the smoother lactic
acid. In this way, MLF helps create a softer, mellower sensation on the
palate. Wines that have gone
through MLF are also more stable than those that have not.
Wines can “do their malo” in the bottle if they haven’t
already done it in the winemaking process. It
is a rare occurrence, but if you perceive unpleasant fermenting aromas
with a slight prickling on the tongue (caused by carbon dioxide, a
by-product of MLF) then chances are that lactic bacteria were still
present and a little MLF has taken place in the bottle.
Okay, but what about white wines? To do malo or not to do malo . . . that is the question!
Generally,
white grapes that are grown in the cooler, northern wine producing regions
have higher acidity levels. Winemakers from these regions are more apt to
let their wines go through MLF.
In
addition to changing acidity, MLF can also modify the aromas and taste of
white wines. The milky,
buttery aromas and taste you can find in some New World Chardonnays is
produced by diacetyl, a by-product of MLF. Winemakers who want this aroma
in their wine will allow the MLF to take place.
On the other hand, winemakers who prefer a fruitier, crisper style
will block MLF because they feel that the resulting lactic aromas dominate
the more subtle, youthful fruit aromas. Certain aromatic grapes such as
Rieslings and Sauvignons generally do not benefit from MLF as it causes
them to lose their very distinctive and refreshing varietal aromas.
Chardonnay, on the other hand, is a grape that can gain in
complexity and body when it undergoes malolactic fermentation.
To
sum up, malolactic fermentation is an optional winemaking step. The main
effects of MLF are reduced acidity and mellower wines. A number of factors
including acidity levels at harvest, grape varieties and desired wine
style all play a role as to whether the wine will “do its malo” or
not. I hope this article has helped you understand this enigmatic
expression. During your next visit to a winery, you can drop the question
“So…do your white wines do their malo?”…I’m sure you will
impress!
Learn about all the fascinating aspects of winemaking in Champagne and the other French wine regions on a scheduled or private tour in 2008 - keep reading below for more information.
Announcing Our Exciting 2008 Tour Season!
We've been receiving lots of calls and emails asking for our 2008 tour dates - so we're very pleased to announce the following tours and dates for 2008:
May
19-24, 2008: Bordeaux Prestige (5 nights)
May 26-31, 2008: Burgundy & Champagne Prestige (5 nights)
June 2-7, 2007: Bordeaux Prestige (5 nights)
September 1-6, 2007: Great Estates of Bordeaux (5 nights)
September 8-12, 2007: Great Estates of Burgundy (4 nights)
December 11-15, 2007: Alsace Christmas Markets (4 nights)
The prices for all of our scheduled tours are nearly all-inclusive - we leave you just a couple of free meals, so you can eat lightly and make room for our extravagant group meals! Remember that these tours tends to fill up quickly (particularly the Bordeaux Prestige tour), so be sure to contact us soon to ensure your spot on the tour of your choice.
Private tours continue to be available in all the French wine regions, as well as in the finest wine regions of Italy, Spain and Portugal, to couples and groups. These can be customized as you wish, and can include hotels and chateaux from comfortable and charming 3-star to the most luxurious 5-star, gastronomic dining, cooking classes, special wine tastings and wine classes, cultural sightseeing, and, as always, the very best, most prestigious wineries, large and small, famous and soon-to-be-famous. Special in-depth tours are also available for wine tasting clubs, and for wine and food professionals.
See our web site and download a printable 2007-2008 schedule, contact us by email or telephone us at 1-877-261-1500 (toll free U.S. and Canada) for full itineraries, details and reservation forms. We hope you'll join us for an unforgettable wine and food adventure in 2008!
A Challenging 2007 Harvest for French Winemakers
The
year 2007 will probably go down in the annals
of French winegrowing as one of the most unpredictable ever
seen. The growing season started out on a very promising note.
Temperatures were unusually high in April and May, leading to a very early
flowering (mid-May; usually the flowering takes place in June in most
French wine regions) and early bud-break, a proliferation of leaves and
vines and a very early formation of distinct grapes on the vines.
But by the end of June, the warm, dry Spring weather was a distant
memory. Except for a brief warming in mid-July, the rest of the
summer has been one of the wettest in recent history, with temperatures
more appropriate for autumn than for summer. In addition, devastating
hailstorms caused significant damage to sections of the vineyards in
Burgundy, Alsace, Champagne and the Northern and Southern Rhone Valley.
At this point, winegrowers are dealing with several problems. The first is mildew and rot which have developed as a result of the consistently rainy conditions. Growers have been treating the vines with sulfur to keep these to a minimum, and scrupulous sorting during harvest will be key to producing good wines this year. Sorting out a large number of unusable grapes will of course significantly reduce the size of the crop. The other problem is that the grapes are probably not going to be as ripe as they should be, and within each parcel, the ripeness will not be consistent. Again, careful sorting out of unripe berries can reduce the impact, but for grape varieties that already have a hard time achieving optimal ripeness, like Cabernet Sauvignon in the Médoc in Bordeaux, it's not going to be easy to get good results.
Paradoxically, even with the cold weather, the harvest is a week to two weeks early this year in nearly every French wine region. Generally, harvest occurs 100 days after the flowering, and since the flowering was a few weeks early, the harvest will also be early. In any case, leaving the grapes to ripen longer as rain continued in the past few weeks would only have hastened the spread of the mildew and rot that is already present. So they are already picking the white grapes in Bordeaux, with the reds set to start in a few weeks. In Burgundy, the harvest starts in the next few days for whites and reds.
But nothing is yet written in stone for the 2007 vintage. As the old expression goes, "it ain't over 'till it's over," and in regions like Bordeaux where the reds have not yet been harvested, a few weeks of hot, sunny weather at this time could turn the situation around considerably. Remember also that the best estates know how to deal with difficult growing conditions. With careful treatments and a judicious use of green harvest and canopy management techniques, a great deal can be done to still produce a very good wine. Coupled with state-of-the-art winemaking techniques, the very finest estates no longer produce "bad" vintages. 2007 may not end up being a great year like 2000 or 2005, but it may very well be a perfectly good vintage, one you can drink early while waiting for your 2000's and 2005's to age gracefully in your cellars.
Guests on our Great Estates of Bordeaux tour and our Great Estates of Burgundy tour will have the fun of observing part of the 2007 harvest and early vinifications during their tour. Join us next year on one of these fun and fascinating tours!
Great New Options for Private Wine Tours
We are happy to now offer two great options for private wine touring. Our pre-packaged private wine tours are value-priced introductory 2- and 3-day tours in Bordeaux, Burgundy or Champagne (Rhone and Loire coming soon). They offer a great way to discover one of the French wine regions during a longer trip to France. They include fine 3 or 4-star hotels, are fully-escorted by one of our wine expert guides with a comfortable air conditioned vehicle, and include tours and tastings at some of the region's finest Grand Cru and Classified Growth chateaux. Just pick your tour, reserve and you're all set!
Our exclusive Customized Private Tour Planning Service offers you the possibility to design your dream wine tour from start to finish, with extensive, personal advising from our very experienced staff. Your trip can include multiple wine regions for as many days as you wish, the most exclusive estates (including First Growths, as available), ballooning, cooking classes, cheese tastings, sightseeing, spa services, upgraded luxury transportation, the best suites in the best hotels or private chateaux, gala dinners with music or fireworks - we'll work closely with you to make your dream a reality! We spend a great deal of time in communication with our clients for this service, and use all of our experience, contacts and expertise, we require a small retainer to get started designing your tour - this fee is applied to final balance payment for your tour. For more detailed information on our private wine touring options, please see our Custom Wine Tours page or contact us.
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© 2007 French Wine Explorers. Articles © 2007 Lauriann Greene. All rights reserved. Fla. Seller of Travel Reg. No. ST36431