Château Corbin 2019

The 2019 vintage in Saint-Émilion

Vintage benchmark: 95/100 (appellation benchmark, not a score for this wine)

Vintage character: A hot end of summer on rehydrated soils gave a rare balance between freshness and substance.

Overall reading of the year’s season across Saint-Émilion. 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.

The vintage

Highlights of 2019: early budburst and grouped flowering favoured a balanced distribution of young shoots and foliage. Given the dry weather, the grass cover was destroyed early to ease the vines' water supply. Vineyard prophylaxis and the dry climate made it possible to keep the number of treatments to a minimum.

The year was marked by a very mild, dry winter until the end of March, with temperatures sometimes above seasonal norms. The consequence of this mild winter was an early budburst from 25 March. In 2018, budburst had begun on 10 April.

The frosts of 5 and 6 May recorded temperatures below 0°C. Our frost-protection equipment prevented any damage, and fine, warm weather from 30 May to 4 June then started a massive flowering.

At the beginning of June, cooler temperatures (11°C) and heavy rainfall (45 mm on 5 June) caused significant coulure, offset by the abundant flowering. The weather remained unsettled until the end of June, and treating and working the soil in the vineyard was not easy.

Two heatwaves then followed, in the last week of June and from 22 to 25 July. With no rain, we removed the grass cover, as the vines were beginning to suffer from water shortage in some plots. On 26 and 27 July, 40 mm of rain triggered veraison, which was general by 29 July.

August was a fine summer month with cool nights. The sanitary condition of the crop was perfect.

At the beginning of September, the grapes had thin skins that came away easily, and crunchy pips. However, ripeness was not yet optimal in all plots.

The weather had been hot since 13 September (30 to 32°C) with mild nights (16°C). Harvesting began on 17 September on the young vines in fine sunshine. On 22 September the long-awaited rain arrived: 23 mm restarted the vine cycle and plumped up the berries. Harvesting resumed after a 48-hour break and finished on 4 October.

New in 2019: picking in the cool of early morning; hire of a latest-generation, high-performance destemmer; a very successful trial of full vinification in barrel; a trial of ageing in glass to preserve the purity of the fruit.

Blend of the 2019 vintage

Figures from the 2019 sheet

• 14.55 % vol.Alcohol
• 48 hl/haYield
• 30 yrsVine age
• 66,000 bottlesProduction

Winemaking

Hand harvest in small crates: Merlot from 17th September to 3rd October, Cabernet Franc on 30th September and 4th October. Yield: 48 hl/ha before selection. 3 sortings, destemming, crushing. From 1 to 4 pump-overs per day during alcoholic fermentation. Small-capacity (plot-by-plot) unlined concrete vats, temperature-controlled. Fermentation temperature: 26°. Vatting period of 19 à 22 days. Pneumatic press. Estimated selection: first wine 80%, second wine 20%.

Ageing

In French oak barrels with 40% new oak; planned ageing period of 15 to 16 months.

Terroir

Clay and clay-sand over an iron-rich clay subsoil.