European & Australian Wine - Essay Sample

Introduction

Wine and beverage management is necessary to ensure the quality that meets the customers' expectations. The European and Australian has been involving in wine production from history until today since they contain significant regions which supply the beverages across the globe. For instance, the Hunter Valley region has iconic vineyards to ensure the continuous supply of wine. The warm climate in this area makes it suitable for the grapes which are used during the manufacturing of beverages. While the Bordeaux region produces quality alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks due to the presence of graves, they are fine-colored, fruity and balanced and suitable for white wine which is rich in taste, although not too sweet. Therefore, the report focuses on the range of beverages obtained from Hunter Valley in Australia and Bordeaux in French with an in-depth analysis of the legislative requirements relating to wine production.

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Overview of Hunter Valley and Bordeaux Regions

Hunter Valley is the oldest region that produces wine in Australia due to the presence of vineyard from the year 1860s. The humid and warm climate in the Australian wine is unique, resulting in earthy Shiraz and long-lived Semillon. Today the Hunter Valley is the most region frequently visited in Australia since it produces white wine (Patchell, 2016). The availability of humid and warm climate conditions makes the Hunter Valley produce famous Shiraz in Australia. The winemakers in the regions are exploring the innovation in the new styles and varieties such as Fiano, Barbera, and Tempranillo. The Hunter Valley Semillon contains the most excellent sites that include Tyrrell's Johnno vineyard that comprises of sandy soil reflecting notable minerality. Besides, the Semillon contains distinct styles that are a dessert wine, blended (unoaked or oaked), oaked, and unoaked single variety. Therefore, the Hunter Valley region has almost 24 landscaped hectares that displays bask and gardens in the lavish array of scent and color regardless of the season. Thus, the winemakers produce array, which includes Shiraz, Semillon, and Icon.

On the other hand, Bordeaux wine is the extensive wine growing region in French covering the entire area of Aquitaine mostly Gironde department. The Bordeaux region is categorized by Gironde Estuary ranging from Left Bank region which includes Graves, Right bank and Medoc as well as some parts of Blaye, Bourg, and Libournais (Celhay & Remaud, 2018). The word Bordeaux is linked with red wine blend which is made through blending the combination of Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon. Also, the winemakers may blend wines such as Cabernet Franc, Malbec, and Petit Verdot. The Bordeaux region has ideal soil and climate suitable for grapes and provides the winemakers an opportunity to find various areas of the world through visitors

History of Hunter Valley and Bordeaux Region

Hunter Valley

The Hunter Valley wine was discovered in 1797 by Lieutenant John Short land when he was looking for escaped convicts. The initial value of the area was for the source of coal and timber for the steamships. The first route to the Hunter Valley was discovered in 1820 by John Howe and constructed in 1823 ranging from Windsor to Singleton. In 1823, the vineyards were planted in 20 acres where the early pioneers of winemaking were George Wyndham, William Kelman, and James King. In 1840, the Hunter Valley wine region was registered to have more than 500 acres (Saliba, Bruwer, & MacDonald, 2015). Accordingly, the first wine was fermented using black cluster grapes in 1835, which was termed as Shiraz and Semillon, which was packed in bottles. The Hunter valley created non-vintage unique Semillon with citrus flavor to improve delicate bubbles through the Charmat method. Besides, the innovation resulted in the development of other beverages like craft beer in Hunter Valley due to the presence of visitors leading to improvement in socio-cultural aspects.

Bordeaux Region

Historically, the Roman introduced to wine in the Bordeaux region around a 1st century to enhance continuous production and consumption. The area was used for cultivating grapes and planting vineyard. In the 12th century, the wine popularity raised as a result of the marriage of Eleanor of Aquitaine and Henry Plantagenet, which enhanced the exportation of Bordeaux wine to England. The Bordeaux was spotted for wine because the climate and soil were unique for growing the tasting grapes (Ollat, Touzard, & van Leeuwen, 2016). Also, the region is located in a trading center where the river Gironde and Garonne made the shipping off the bottles quicker. There was the advancement of Bordeaux wine due to the improvement of roads which connected the Dutch purchasers. The development of wine began in the 18th century, where various vineyards spread in different districts of Bordeaux a scenario which improved the economic status quo of those regions (Toth, & Vegvari, 2016). The area was advantageous due to the combination of marine climate and right soil as well as its location near river Gironde, which made wines transportation easy. Bordeaux wines and vines were transported from Spain to Rioja. In 20th, the critics of wine emerged, which resulted in the development of other beverages like vintages, which is on demand even today.

Styles of Producing Wines

Hunter Valley

The wine produced in Hunter Valley is made using Pinot Noir or Chardonnay grapes, although there is unique specialty which uses Shiraz vineyard to form sparkling red wine. The sparkling wine is made using secondary fermentation, which takes place within the bottle. The wineries comprise of Tulloch, saddlers creek, and McGuigan (Anderson, 2016).

The Hunter Valley vineyard contains the modest gradients which include Semillon, Verdelho, and Chardonnay (whites) as well as Shiraz, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon (red). The features of Chardonnay are rich or oaky in flavors with cream and peaches notes. The Shiraz is characterized by gamy and astringent and descriptor of the tasty or sweaty saddle. The grapes in this region are grown in the volcanic soils through the construction of arbor or trellis before planting. The winemaking begins with harvesting the crapes, pressing and crushing where the vineyards are sorted, destemmed and crushed, fermented where the solids such as tannins, and yeast cells are removed and finally aging and bottling. The Hunter Valley wine is of high quality because of proper grapes from suitable climate and weather, as well as fermentation process and ingredients.

Bordeaux Region

In the Bordeaux vineyard, the red grapes are Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Cabernet Franc and small quantities of Carmenere, Malbec, and Petit Verdot. While the white grapes are Sauvignon Blanc, Semillon, and Muscadelle as well as Ugni Blanc, Folle Blanche, and Colombard. The vines are trained in double or single guyot. Prestigious chateaux may prefer hand-picking although machine harvesting is famous. After harvesting techniques, the grapes are destemmed and sorted before crushing mechanically. Then fermentation takes places in a controlled temperature.

The Bordeaux wines are produced in various styles from the different range of soils and terroirs. Bordeaux wines can be categorized into three main areas such as Medoc or Left Bank (Pauillac), St Julien (Margaux and Saint Estephe) and Haut Medoc (Chiffoleau, Dreyfus, & Touzard, 2016). The blending of Left Bank depends on the style of wine or their terroir that the manufacturer wants. The blends contain Cabernet Sauvignon combined with Merlot, and Franc and Petit Malbec and Verdot. The Medoc wines display the cassis flavors, and when it aged, it would take the characteristics of truffle and tobacco. Pessac Leognan is the best in producing Bordeaux wines as it contains an array of styles from the same blends that are found in the Medoc. The Pessac Leognan wines display earthy and smokey character.

The Right Bank contains Saint Emilion and Pomerol and many Satellite appellations with same soils and terroir. Cabernet Franc and Merlot are the best grapes from those areas. Lafleur, Petrus, Ausone and Cheval Blanc are the wines which are most expensive from this area and gives softer texture than Medoc. While in the better vintage, the Pomerol and St Emilion wines can give decadent tastes with chocolate, plum aromatics and floral. The Bordeaux wines are of a high quality due to the combination of reasonably massive production, established reputation, and longevity.

Classification and legislative Requirement

Hunter Valley

The government laws in Australia enhances the regulation relating to oenological processes and practices, wine blending, compositions, and other necessities in production beverages. Both state and federal laws regulate the labeling and manufacturing of the wine. For instance, wine manufacturing is governed through standard 4.5.1. The code is unique as it applies to wine commodities produced in the region (Bardaji & Iraizoz, 2015). The Hunter Valley export grape products with compliance with the standard. The legislation disregards the wine, which contains methanol more than 3g/l. The compliance regime regulates the wine to protect customers and allow fair trading surrounding for both exporters and producers. The legislation requires the submission of export wine for the approval by wine experts' panel. Thus only wine assessed with proper labels and free from fault by the laws is allowed to be sold. Therefore, based on the rules, the wine exported should not contain unsafe chemicals as the code of Food Standard state

Bordeaux Region

The Bordeaux wine has different laws that regulate its manufacturing. The Bordeaux wine legislation suggests that the grapes should be grown without irrigation. The rules should apply to the following vineyard; Merlot, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, and Grenache. The European commissions impose the legislation which regulates the labeling and presentation of wine products. The regulation forms CAP (Common Agricultural Policy) of the European Union, and control vineyard allows winemaking principles and practices for wine labeling and classification where wine legislation controls the total production to avoid overproduction. Hence, the law regulates wine distribution and manufacturing, winemaking practices, and labeling

Conclusion

Hunter Valley is the oldest region producing wine in Australia with vineyard from the year 1860s. Iconic vineyards are found in the areas which comprise of Old Hill, Graveyard, and Braemore. Bordeaux wine is the extensive wine growing region in French which covers the part of Aquitaine mostly Gironde department. Some wine regulations apply in both Hunter Valley as well as Bordeaux regions. Therefore the production of quality alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages depends on the legislation, vinegar planting, and harvesting methods as well as the fermentation process.

References

Anderson, K. (2016). Evolving varietal and quality distinctiveness of Australia's wine regions. Journal of wine research, 27(3), 173-192.

Bardaji, I., & Iraizoz, B. (2015). Uneven responses to climate and market influencing the geography of high-quality wine production in Europe. Regional environmental change, 15(1), 79-92.

Celhay, F., & Remaud, H. (2018). What does your wine label mean to consumers? A semiotic investigation of Bordeaux wine visual codes. Food Quality and Preference, 65, 129-145.

Chiffoleau, Y., Dreyfus, F., & Touzard, J. M. (2016). Ethics in French Wine Cooperatives: Part of a Social Movement?. In Creating Food Futures (pp. 131-145). Routledge.

Ollat, N., Touzard, J. M., & van Leeuwen, C. (2016). Climate change impacts and adaptations: New challenges for the wine industry. Journal of Wine Economics, 11(1), 139-149....