GRAPE VARIETIES 85% Merlot, 15% Malbec, and a touch of Cabernet Franc

GEOGRAPHICAL ORIGIN Anglade SOIL Shallow, early-ripening clay calcosols on asteriated limestone bedrock, less than 50 cm from the surface. This hard, fragmented limestone bedrock significantly restricts vine root growth and leads to early water stress. The vine roots have to pass through the fissures in the limestone bedrock to reach a meagre yet regular water supply. These soils thus produce early, continuous water stress before véraison (colour change) begins, lasting until the grapes have fully ripened. This results in small grapes with very thick skins and a high concentration of tannins and anthocyanins.

VITICULTURE Sustainable pruning, bud pruning, leaf thinning, green harvesting. The high leaf canopy rapidly consumes the soil’s water reserves by evapotranspiration and ensures an adequate leafto- fruit ratio, propitious to good concentration and extraction. The grapes are picked early in the morning at optimum ripeness (slightly overripe), to preserve their intrinsic fruitiness and full aromatic expression.

YIELD 35 hl/ha

FERMENTATION AND AGEING The grapes from each plot were fermented separately (1 vat = 1 plot) with 72-hour cold prefermentation maceration (10°C), vatting at 26°C for 28 days with daily pumping over, “quick” malolactic fermentation (in barrel for the Cabernets). The wines were put into barrels previously used for 2/3 vintages earlier than usual, in November, and aged for 18 months.

TASTING NOTES Garnet-red colour with brilliant purple highlights. Straightforward, elegant nose with oaky aromas, accompanied by notes of vanilla, toast, and cocoa. Fruity hints come to the fore including blackcurrant and other red berries. Starts out round on the palate with good grip and plenty of volume. Powerful, concentrated, well-structured mid-palate with overripe tannins and a bouquet featuring Virginia tobacco and eucalyptus, culminating in a very long aftertaste. All in all, a rich, generous wine, best decanted before serving

FOOD & WINE PAIRINGS Entrecôte steak, duck breast, steak tartare and beef carpaccio, lamprey in Bordeaux wine sauce, and cep mushrooms panfried with parsley or in bordelaise sauce, chocolate desserts, soft chocolate cake.