Country: France

 

Region: Bordeaux 

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Appellation: Bordeaux 

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Vineyards: The Château Haut-Meyreau date back to 1802. Over the years, the domain has evolved and expanded to over 90 hectares of vines planted in the Entre-Deux-Mers region. The terroir requires a careful understanding of the soil and the messages it conveys in order to achieve a wine of such quality. Something which has pushed our team of skilled wine growers to orient our practices towards sustainable viticulture, earning us the hugely rewarding ‘High Environmental Value’ label. This wine tells the recent story of Haut-Meyreau, the 3 fingerprints representing the 3 generations who have succeeded each other at the head of the estate: Jean-Claude Bernard, Jean-Pierre Derouet and now Hugues Laborde.

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Grape varieties: 85% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Sauvignon 

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Winemaking: Mechanical night and early morning harvest, enabling us to bring in the freshest possible crops. The harvest is then being sorted by using densitometry, with the goal of cleaning out the berries of heavy particles (soil, dust…). As well as to discard pinked berries and vegetal debris. The harvest is then put into concrete or stainless-steel vats, without added sulfites (replaced by bioprotection) for a 6 days long cold pre-fermentation maceration. This first step is meant to extract the color and aromatic components which come from enzymes that are naturally present within the grape berry. During the aqueous phase, this helps avoid intensive work that could occur during the fermentation process and helps avoid the extraction of unwanted components (bitterness, vegetal harsh tannin…). After 6 days, we then launch the alcoholic fermentation by leaving the must with saccharomyces. For red wines, we believe that the aromatic profile inherited from indigenous yeasts is too hazardous and sometimes leads to flaws. The fermentation process goes on for 10 days at a temperature of 25°c. The goal here is to maintain a fresh temperature and avoid fast fermentation, which would lead to under-extraction of the structural and aromatic components. At the end of the fermentation, we start a hot post-fermentation maceration (28°c). This process goes on for 12 days. The daily tasting of the juice launches the devatting process of each plot. The press juices are then separated and ranked based on their qualities. Only a small part, the “heart of the press juice” is integrated into the majority of the blend, which occurs in December. The 1-year aging process is then made in concrete vats and in 80hl puncheons.

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Soil type: Lime Clay stone 

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Vines: Average vine age: 40 years old 3500 to 5000 vines per hectare 

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Aging potential: 8 years 

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Tasting Notes: open 2 hours before serving. Taste at room temperature 

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Notes: cherry, menthol, powdery tannins 

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Pairing: Roasted poultry, pan-fried mushrooms, new potatoes