About this WINE
Chateau Clos de Sarpe
There is only a tiny amount of this excellent St Emilion Grand Cru made each year. The 10 acre vineyard is biodynamically farmed and is situated on a south-south-east-facing, limestone hillside. The plantings are very old vines, 85% Merlot and 15% Cabernet Franc.
The winemaking is very modern with an eight to ten day maceration, followed by a long, four to five week fermentation and maceration with micro-oxygenation. The wine is aged for 16-18 months in 100% new oak barrels.The style is powerful, fruit driven and rich with notes of black fruit, smoke and liquorice.
Merlot
The most widely planted grape in Bordeaux and a grape that has been on a relentless expansion drive throughout the world in the last decade. Merlot is adaptable to most soils and is relatively simple to cultivate. It is a vigorous naturally high yielding grape that requires savage pruning - over-cropped Merlot-based wines are dilute and bland. It is also vital to pick at optimum ripeness as Merlot can quickly lose its varietal characteristics if harvested overripe.
In St.Emilion and Pomerol it withstands the moist clay rich soils far better than Cabernet grapes, and at it best produces opulently rich, plummy clarets with succulent fruitcake-like nuances. Le Pin, Pétrus and Clinet are examples of hedonistically rich Merlot wines at their very best. It also plays a key supporting role in filling out the middle palate of the Cabernet-dominated wines of the Médoc and Graves.
Merlot is now grown in virtually all wine growing countries and is particularly successful in California, Chile and Northern Italy.
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