Modern techniques but respecting traditional methods. All the grapes are destalked and pressed before fermentation in stainless steel vats, each grape variety from different parts of the vineyard being fermented separately. Maceration at 28º C. takes 15 days. The wines are fermented for three weeks on the skins, and the property has sufficient tank space to ferment 100% of their harvest at once. After racking from stainless steel, half of the wine goes into 60-gallon Seguin-Moreau barrels,while the balance is aged in 800-gallon foudre. The wine is blended and time spent (12 months) in oak vats gives it the special aromas of vanilla and silky tannins. The wine is bottled, unfiltered, after a year in wood. The blend is 70% Malbec (known locally as Cot), the traditional grape of the region, blended with 15% Merlot which gives finesse and bouquet, 15% Tannat which gives it its aging potential. Yields average 40-45 hl/ha (about 2.5 - tons/acre.)

Rating

There’s a sense of elegance to the well-defined, concentrated flavors of dark cherry, blackberry and plum, followed by notes of sage, dark chocolate and tobacco leaf on the long, powerful finish. Drink now. 5,000 cases imported. –KM The #76 in Wine Spectator’s 2009 Top 100 Wine Spectator 90 points (Oct 31 2009)