Château Carbonnieux 2012

The 2012 vintage in Pessac-Léognan

Vintage benchmark: 85/100 (appellation benchmark, not a score for this wine)

Vintage character: A late cycle closing with rain gave an uneven vintage: the cabernets hold up, the merlots remain taut.

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 red wines are appealing from their earliest youth but will deliver all their aromas and palate complexity after several years of ageing. With balanced, silky tannins in harmony with the fruit, the red of Château Carbonnieux is a wine of great classicism.

Blend of the 2012 vintage

Figures from the 2012 sheet

• 13 % vol.Alcohol
• 45 hl/haYield
• 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

A noble fish with firm flesh, from the sea or fresh water (sole, sea bass, John Dory, cod, salmon, Arctic char, trout). White meat (poultry, veal, sweetbreads). Roasted or braised red meat. Mature cheeses with character and powerful aromas. Hard cheeses (Cantal, tomme, Comté, Salers).

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.