Chateau Calvimont Graves Rouge

Chateau Calvimont Graves Rouge

Chateau Calvimont Graves Rouge, Bordeaux Blend From Graves, France.

Crunchy, hedgerow fruit with fine balance, medium, well-judged tannins, very drinkable and fresh on the finish. Try with Beef or Venison.

A Bordeaux Blend, at its most basic, is any combination of those grape varieties typically used to make the red wines of Bordeaux. The phrase, which seems to have originated with British wine merchants in the 19th Century, relates as much to wines made from the blend as to the grape variety combination itself (© Copyright material, Wine-Searcher.com). Far from being an officially defined or legal term, it is almost never used for wine-labeling purposes (although it occasionally appears on back labels). Its equivalent in the United States is Meritage, which is not only legally defined, but also a registered trademark.

Red Bordeaux Blends are known for their powerful structure and deep flavors. Dark fruits and berries such as plum and blackcurrant are commonly used to describe the flavors of red Bordeaux, although there is an unlimited range of terms that have been ascribed to them. Tannins tend to be relatively high in these wines, giving them a firm structure.

Graves is a wine district on the left bank of the Bordeaux region in France, characterized by the gravel soils (graves) after which it is named. Unique among Bordeaux’s sub-regions, Graves is equally respected for both its red wines as for its whites.

The district’s catch-all appellation is AOC Graves, which covers both red and white wines. A typical Graves red is based on the classic Bordeaux grape varieties Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, with Cabernet Franc, Malbec and Petit Verdot sometimes in a supporting role. The typical Graves white is dry, mid-bodied and usually made from the equally familiar combination of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon.