HARVEST
from September 25 to 30 and October 8 to 15
BLEND
Cabernet-Sauvignon 53%, Merlot 40%, Cabernet Franc 5%, Petit Verdot 2%
FERMENTATION malolactic in barrels (100%)
MATURING for 13 months in barrels, 45% of which are new oak
PRODUCTION
60,000 bottles
Alc. by vol. 12.5%
Château Hourtin-Ducasse 2007
The fruit
Get the data sheet
A recommendation to the Decanter World Wine Awards 2009 in London
Cru Bourgeois, 2003 classification
Selected honor award guide Dussert-Gerber 2016
A bronze medal at the 2010 Féminalise competition in Beaune, France
Selected Vigneron d'Or by the guide Gilbert and Gaillard 2012. Rated 85/100
MENTIONS
THE SEASON
After a mild and dry winter, budbreak was early: last week of March for Merlot and first week of April for Cabernet. This precocity made the vine vulnerable and the 2007 campaign complex to carry out until the end of the harvest.
From mid-April, the unstable weather led us to split the treatments, particularly targeted, and thus to multiply them.
The flowering on May 10, also early, was characterized by a great disparity, between both: the grape varieties and grapes from the same plot. The persistence of this unstable weather has even led to sagging on some Cabernet-Sauvignon.
During the cool, humid summer, work on each vine (skinning, leaf stripping, thinning, etc.) enabled us to standardize the ripeness of the feet and protect the potential of the vintage in a better way. The heavy rains of the second half of August, almost 100 mm, slowed the growth of the vine; but the month of September, particularly dry and sunny, made it possible to catch up. The harvest took place from September 25 to October 16. The grapes were small, very concentrated and giving a little quantity of juice. 500 hl were harvested. We then proceeded to cold pre-fermentation maceration, followed by rapid alcoholic fermentation, all of which ultimately led to a wine of beautiful color and good substance ... a wine with a good potential, but in very small quantities.
Too early, too fragile ... but what a fruit!
TASTING
Orange cherry color with an honorable intensity for the vintage.
Coffee, peony, red pepper describe a complex nose. Notes of fennel blend with the smoke.
Mouth both full and delicate. Not a monster of concentration but a lot of delicacy with a beautiful aromatic imprint. At its peak, plateau phase.
Serving temperatures: 16 - 17 ° C.
Harmonises with: sweetbread with chanterelles, grilled cuttlefish salad with balsamic, veal chop with cream and vichy carrots, strawberry glazed vacherin…