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Wine Description
The Story
The annual production for the first growth is about 100.000 bottles. Some really bad years (1991 and 1993) No classified growth has been produced.The first growth is produced from a 85ha of Sauternes appellation vines.
Only Semillon (65%) and Sauvignon (35%) are planted at Guiraud with a pruning "à cots" or "in fan" for the Semillons and long branches for the Sauvignons. The density of plantation is 6660 vine per ha (Root stock Riparia 33 09, 101 14,161 49). The average age of the vines is 35-40 years. The average yield is 12hl/ha. The maximum yield allowed by the appellation is 25hl/ha.
Harvest is only done hand picking by successive waves through the vineyard (2 to 7 selections), picking only the botrytised berries. A minimum of potential alcohol (20°) must be reached before starting the harvest. The fermentation is made in new oak barrels over a period of three weeks to two months. Different batches are fermentated until they reach their own equilibrium which depends upon their selection. Chaptalisation, cryoextraction and any other techniques used to enrich the wine are absolutely prohibited. The aging in barrels lasts 24 months.
Vintage 1929
The year 1929 was an extraordinary year in the Bordeaux vineyards as well as on Wall Street. When the U.S. stock market collapsed in 1929, it produced several undesirable effects abroad, particularly in Europe, where many countries had not fully recovered from the aftermath of World War I. In Germany, the economic disaster and resulting social dislocation contributed to the rise of Adolf in the United States, there were 16 million unemployed – about a third of the available labor force.
In Bordeaux, the 1929 is one of the “legendary” vintages of the century. Its reputation was made even greater as the 1930s were truly a disastrous decade, and it wasn't until 1945 that anything of equivalent quality was made. In Bordeaux, these sixteen years were one of the longest “dark periods” of the 20th century. The year 1929 was extremely hot and dry, the driest since the turn of the century. It only rained for a short time during harvest, but the nice warm weather returned. The grapes became very concentrated, rich in tannins and produced wine to last.