Château Rouget 2013

The 2013 vintage in Pomerol

Vintage benchmark: 76/100 (appellation benchmark, not a score for this wine)

Vintage character: Coulure decimated the merlots and the rain did the rest: a light vintage, where the gap between terroirs is wider than usual.

Overall reading of the year’s season across Pomerol. 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

What if this vintage, so often decried, were finally to hold some pleasant surprises and make this Rouget 2013 an exception? Admittedly, Nature played tricks on us to make the task difficult. Throughout the growing cycle we fought against the elements, diseases and the whims of the vine. Rarely have the men of Rouget spent so much time redoing what rain, storms or wind had undone. Never had we worked so much on foot, as tractors were made too perilous by the often waterlogged soils. Our approach to viticulture, which blends the principles of organic farming and biodynamics but, above all in 2013, plain farmer's common sense, contributed a great deal to making our grapes more interesting than others. One had to know how to read the sky, understand the reactions of the vine and anticipate disease, on pain of being penalised immediately.

Exhausted but happy with the work done from April to September, we began the harvest in early October with our young Merlots. At no point did the sanitary state of our vineyard dictate our schedule. We could reasonably wait for the optimal ripeness the year allowed. Admittedly, we were not bringing in berries as numerous, tasty and structured as in 2009 or 2010, but we were far from the announced catastrophe.

Our approach to winemaking was therefore also based on pragmatism and constant monitoring. Short vattings, slow fermentations due to our indigenous yeasts, gentle extractions: this 2013 vintage is fragile, so it must in no way be brutalised. Aged for 18 months in barrels, with less than a third new so as not to be too marked by the wood, with few rackings so as not to tire it, and bottled in May 2015, this Rouget 2013 is very delicate on the palate. Subtle aromas of black fruit and plums coat the taste buds while retaining a very invigorating freshness on the finish. While its ageing potential clearly extends beyond the next 20 years, it will show at its best in 10 to 12 years.

Blend of the 2013 vintage

Figures from the 2013 sheet

• 40 yrsVine age

Winemaking

Fermentation in wood or stainless steel vats, parcel by parcel. Short vattings, slow fermentations due to indigenous yeasts, gentle extractions.

Ageing

Aged for 18 months in oak barrels (33% new and one-wine barrels), with few rackings. Fining is traditional, with fresh egg whites. Bottled in May 2015.

Terroir

Soils are gravelly, either mixed with clay or with sand. This soil composition, combined with an exceptional exposure, confers all the typicity, elegance and finesse to Château Rouget wines.