Growing Conditions
Difficult weather conditions throughout the season, with frosts in the spring. Compensated by excellent weather in the final months, allowing us to harvest the grapes relatively late. A classic Brown vintage, with a strong majority of Cabernet Sauvignon and rich flavours typical of our gravel terroir.
Soil:
• Gravelly and clay-limestone soil
• Plot-by-plot management with integrated drainage system
Harvest
Harvest:
Merlot: 7th-21st October
Cabernet Sauvignon: 22th - 30th October
Petit Verdot: 17th October
Yield:
- 39 hectolitres/ha
- 78% 1st wine
• 100% manual in small boxes, with bunch selection on the vine
• Double sorting in the winery (bunches and grapes), using vibrating sorting tables
Bottling
10th & 11th May 2010
Winemaking
• 100-hectolitre thermo-regulated stainless steel vats • No grapes treading
• Cold maceration (8°C) for 3-5 days before fermentation
• Alcoholic fermentation at 25°C, then 28°C to finish
• Small volumes pumped over three times daily
• Warm maceration after fermentation (30°C), until ready for transfer to the barrels
• The contents of each vat are transferred to barrels after tasting. Pressing using a JLB vertical press.
• Malolactic fermentation: one third in brand new
French oak barrels, the rest in stainless steel vats
Aging
100% in French oak barrels: 40% new, 40% used once, 20% used twice. Matured for 12 - 15 months