Château Carbonnieux 2017

The 2017 vintage in Pessac-Léognan

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

Vintage character: April frost cut the crop in half: the plots that were spared give fine, classic wines, and the vintage must be judged estate by estate.

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 2017 red is enhanced by its freshness and its rich fruity character (raspberry, blackcurrant...) without excess ripeness. Analyses show a high colour intensity, found in a fine garnet-red colour. On the palate the attack is delicate, the mid-palate is dense and soft at the same time, and the whole offers a lovely long, structured finish. 2017 will be a vintage of great finesse.

The vintage

After a cold winter, temperatures rose quickly in March and the buds began to swell from 20 March. In April, vegetation accelerated with exceptional heat peaks; the vines were about three weeks ahead of 2016 when an intense frost struck on 27, 28 and 29 April. Around 50% of the white varieties and 30% of the red varieties were affected. Château Carbonnieux, normally not very frost-prone thanks to its position at the top of a gravel ridge, was nevertheless seriously hit in its clay-limestone zones planted with white varieties and Merlot. In May-June, rather warm conditions kept the vines ahead; flowering took place from mid-May, fast and uniform. The reasonably warm, slightly rainy summer allowed the harvest to begin on 28 August, 15 days ahead of the norm. The whites, very uniform in ripeness, and the Merlots were picked quickly because of the low yield; the Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot benefited from a very sunny week to reach optimal ripeness. The harvest ended in dribs and drabs on 2 October. Yields are low but of very fine quality.

Blend of the 2017 vintage

Figures from the 2017 sheet

• 13.2 % vol.Alcohol
• 35 hl/haYield

Winemaking

Fermentation in temperature-controlled stainless-steel vats, average duration 9 days. 15 batches. Barrelling from 02/11 to 20/12.

Ageing

30% new oak, in Bordeaux barrels - 15 to 18 months

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.