Nose
Floral notes mixed with blackberry, cassis, plum, licorice and spring flowers.
Palate
It is medium to full-bodied, surprisingly opulent, long, multi-dimensional and textured.
Growing Conditions
A historic vintage. An exceptional drought, the like of which had not seen since 1976, created extremely low yields, and above all, strong concentrations in the grapes and juice bursting with aromas. A great wine was the inevitable result.
No one in France can remember drought conditions of such magnitude over such a long period (57% less rainfall than usual), although temperatures were never as high as during the 2003 heat wave. We carefully removed all the suckers – twice – as well as the side shoots in order to help the vines cope with reduced water consumption. This led to perfectly well-nourished grapes. After excellent flowering in early June, summer was excessively dry. Just like many other great vintages, this called a halt to premature growth. Drought conditions had two major effects on the fruit:
- small berries, meaning very low yields
- gradual concentration of flavour compounds in the grapes, very promising in terms of quality. The grapes slowly reached phenolic maturity after a few showers in early September.
Harvest
Picking began on 22nd September in plots of Merlot. The grapes were impressively ripe and healthy.
Picking of Cabernet Sauvignon and Petit Verdot took place from 30th September to 7th October under clear, blue skies.
Winemaking
Starting with the first pumping over, the wine had a superb colour and filled the vat room with powerful aromas. The fact that the grapes were so ripe also facilitated alcoholic fermentation. In fact, this was the first time anyone had ever seen sugar levels of this magnitude.
Daily tasting throughout fermentation made it possible to achieve just the right degree of extraction and retain all the freshness and balance of this powerful, concentrated vintage.
Appearance
A dense ruby/purple wine.
