GRAVES: WINES OF. The wines of Graves are those made from grapes grown in the vineyards of the Graves district of Bordeaux. This district, which owes its name to its gravel soil, begins just outside Bordeaux; it extends about five and a half miles west of that city and thirteen miles to the south, along the left bank of the river Garonne.
There are both red and white wines of Graves, the red being the best, although the white wines are better known than the red, under the name of Graves.
The red wines of Graves are usually sold under the name of the Estate or Château where they are made. The finest Graves is the wine of Château Haut-Brion, which ranks with the three first growths of the Medoc. Château Haut-Brion is in the Corn mune, or parish of Pessac, where are situated other Châteaux famous for the excellence of their red wines, such as Chateau La Mission Haut-Brion, Château Pape Clement, etc. The other communes, or parishes, of the Graves district, which are renowned for the quality of their red wines are the following: Leognan, Martillac, Villenave d'Ornon and Merignac.
The red wines of Graves are softer, rounder, "fleshier," than the wines of the Medoc, and they do not last so long, nor do they possess, a very few of the best growths excepted, the same re fined delicacy or "breed"; their bouquet is quite distinctive.
The white wines of Graves are not nearly so fine as the red : they are a most useful and agreeable type of wine, neither too sweet nor too dry, and they are usually consumed when quite young, as they are not likely to improve appreciably by age. They are sometimes sold under the name of their birthplace, the name of the parish, estate, château or vineyard where they were made; they are also sometimes sold under some fancy name, the name of some imaginary or historical person or place, registered as a trade-mark; but the majority of the white wines of Graves reach the public merely under the name of Graves, being blends of white wines from the Graves district from different vineyards and possibly also from different vintages. (See WINE.) (A. L. S.)