Just Approaching Maturity, Perfect Restaurant Selection!

This well-known Pauillac property covers over 25 hectares or close to 75 acres of vineyard with the average age of the vine being 34 years, the soil is a clayey-limestone gravel ridge. It is planted to 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 25% Merlot Noir, and 5% each Petit Verdot and Cabernet Franc. Although the harvest is by machine, the grapes are chilled in the thermo-regulated tanks before the 3-4 week fermentation to preserve some fresh fruit flavors and aromatics. After fermentation, the aging is totally in oak barrels with 40% of them being new each year. This Chateau was ranked as a Cru Bourgeois since 1932. However it somehow was overlooked in 1855 by the Bordeaux brokers who selected the chateaux for the famous 1855 Bordeaux classification. Otherwise it was considered a fourth growth by many writers prior to 1855 and as a fifth growth by M. d’Armailhac in his excellent book on the cultivation of the vine, written in 1855.