Palate
The merlot, harvested relatively early, brings roundness and freshness to the wine with crunchy, delicious fruit. Harvested next, notes of petit verdot brings out the wine’s aromatic complexity reflected by its deep core colour. Requiring a longer time to fully mature, cabernet sauvignon needs to be waited on. It is the vineyard’s predominant grape variety and represents at least three-quaters of the final blend. Heat of the great wine, it is balanced between young vines with aromas blackcurrants, blackberries and elderones, ennobled by time, with silky and creamy tannins.
Growing Conditions
- Producing vines : 28 hectares
- Soil : Deep gravels, sandy gravels
- Average age of the vineyard : 35 years
- Density : 10 000 stocks / hectare
- Average yield : 40 hectolitres per hectare
Mechanical work of the soil or use of between-rows grass. Poussard pruning. Removal of the laterals and manual repositioning of the clusters. Thinning out of the leaves before the manual harvest. Signature of Natura 2000 Charter
Harvest
The merlot, harvested relatively early, brings roundness and freshness to the wine with crunchy, delicious fruit. Harvested next, notes of petit verdot brings out the wine’s aromatic complexity reflected by its deep core colour. Requiring a longer time to fully mature, cabernet sauvignon needs to be waited on. It is the vineyard’s predominant grape variety and represents at least three-quaters of the final blend. Heat of the great wine, it is balanced between young vines with aromas blackcurrants, blackberries and elderones, ennobled by time, with silky and creamy tannins.
Winemaking
Stainless steel vats from 12 hl to 120 hl to optimize the plot by plot selection.
Fermentations: temperatures from 26 to 28ºC 2 to 3 pumping-over a day.
Malolactic fermentations in barrels and stainless-steelvats.
Aging
Aged in French oak barrels for 12 to 14 months, the wines of Château Rauzan-Gassies are elegant, delicate and precise, with an intense colour and velvety texture. Especially known to excel with ageing, the very essence of Margaux will reveal all the elegance of its aerial and delicate bouquet over time.
