Château Carbonnieux 2006

The 2006 vintage in Pessac-Léognan

Vintage benchmark: 89/100 (appellation benchmark, not a score for this wine)

Vintage character: Rain at véraison followed by a dry September gave classic, balanced wines with fine freshness, without the density of 2005.

Overall reading of the year’s season across Pessac-Léognan. An estate can depart from it sharply, in frost or hail years, where two neighbours did not make the same vintage. What this particular wine actually gave is on its technical sheet and in the scores above.

Tasting

The colour is dark, fairly dense, with purplish-red highlights. The nose is wide open and expressive. The first nose shows toasted notes and red fruits, black cherry. With swirling, spicy and slightly smoky aromas dominate over the fruit. The whole is round and pleasant. The attack is direct. The wine is balanced and straight, with a powerful tannic structure. The end of the palate remains round and aromatic, dominated by red fruit aromas. The finish is long. The overall harmony of this wine balances the freshness of its aromas with its powerful but still young tannins.

Blend of the 2006 vintage

Figures from the 2006 sheet

• 13 % vol.Alcohol
• 27 yrsVine age
• 200,000 bottlesProduction

Winemaking

The winemaker's aim is to reveal the quality potential that results from precise and careful work in the vineyard. At Château Carbonnieux, winemaking is classic: everything is done to respect the fruit and to limit the negative effects of each handling. The final result must meet the objective of the 3 "F"s that define the Carbonnieux style: Fraîcheur (freshness), Fruité (fruitiness), Finesse. The organoleptic identity of each plot is now well established, which makes it possible to follow each batch very precisely up to the blending. Since the 1990s, Antony Perrin has applied the principles of modern oenology, on the advice of Professor Denis Dubourdieu, so as to leave nothing to chance.

Ageing

In barrels for 15 to 18 months (35 to 40% new)

Food pairings

Culinary advice: grilled meats. Suggestion: dare to pair a young red with a chocolate dessert.

Terroir

A great terroir is a gift of Nature shaped by the work of men. The product of an original geological past, the Garonne gravel ridge of Château Carbonnieux has been under vine for more than seven centuries. The diversity of the soils along the slopes of this gravel "bean" offers a wide range of expression capable of producing exceptional white and red wines. Such a geological foundation guarantees complexity and breadth in the wines of this Pessac-Léognan Cru Classé. Today, the Carbonnieux estate covers 170 hectares of land at the gates of Bordeaux, of which the vines occupy 92 hectares in a single block, divided equally between red and white varieties.