波爾多(Bordeaux)

Bordeaux AOC is the catch-all designation for wines that don’t meet the requirements for a more specific commune appellation, and about 90 percent of these wines are reds. Sweet white wines at this level can forego the Bordeaux AOC designation and can be labelled Bordeaux Moelleux instead. These semi-sweet wines are made by arresting fermentation at the desired level of residual sugar, and they’re not to be confused with the more serious vins liquoreux. Sauternes and Barsac, for example, are vins liquoreux but carry the appellations of their regions. These are wines that are made in the vineyard, not in the winery.

The complex sweetness of these multidimensional ambrosias is a gift from botrytis cinerea, the fungus which concentrates grape flavors and sugars on the vine. In Moelleux winemaking, chilling, adding sulfur dioxide, sterile fermentation, and even cryoextraction can be employed to stop fermentation before the yeast consumes all the grapes’ sugars.