LES GRANDS VINS
CLASSIC WINES

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Les grands vins

 

Chateau Vignelaure (red)

The red Chateau Vignelaure is the grand vin of the estate, made from a selection of the finest hand-picked grapes from old, low-yielding vines; Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah and Grenache. Each of the three varieties is harvested and vinified separately, with a long maceration to extract the maximum fruit-flavour and the optimum level of tannins. The Syrah brings spicy fruit to the wine, the Cabernet provides structure and elegance and the Grenache gives soft fruits and roundness. After the primary fermentation the wine descends to the subterranean cellars where it undergoes malolactic fermentation and matures in 1/3 new, 2/3 one-year-old and two year old French and American small oak barrels. After a year or more in wood with frequent rackings, the wine is bottled. It then benefits from a further period of ageing before being released onto the market. While Chateau Vignelaure can be enjoyed on release, it has the capacity to improve and develop in bottle for ten years or more after the vintage.
 
 
 

La Colline de Vignelaure (red)

La Colline de Vignelaure (red) is a rich, full-bodied wine made from Merlot with a small amount of Cabernet Sauvignon. It is named after the dry, rocky hillside set at an altitude of 480 metres where the vines grow. Here naturally stressed by heat and stony soil, these vines produce very low yields of small, intensely concentrated grapes. The wine is aged for twenty-four months in new French oak barrels before bottling with no fining and minimum filtration. It can be enjoyed now but will continue to develop for at least ten years. La Colline is classified as a Vin de Pays because Merlot is not a permitted variety in our appellation.
 
 
 

L’Esprit de Vignelaure (red)

L’Esprit de Vignelaure (red) represents the true expression of Cabernet Sauvignon at Vignelaure which has one of the earliest plantings of this variety in the Southeast of France. It is classified as a Vin de Pays not for quality reasons but because the local AOC rules limit the proportion of Cabernet Sauvignon in each vineyard to 30%. Since Vignelaure has 60% Cabernet in its vineyard we are obliged to label part of our Cabernet as Vin de Pays. At Vignelaure the Cabernet vines consistently produce the most complex and intensively flavoured grapes - it is the variety most ideally suited to our climate and terroir.
 
 
 

Chateau Vignelaure (rosé)

First produced in 2003 this rosé represents a departure from the rosés previously produced at Vignelaure. It is made in the tradition of a “Grand Vin” with the emphasis on richness, elegance and complexity – and perhaps unusually for a rosé with the potential to age and develop.

 

Different parcels of grapes are strictly selected in the vineyard and then vinified to maximize the finest characters of the fruit. The first wine in 2003 won accolades in the top European competitions and the second vintage also excelled. This is a wine that appeals to connoisseurs and represents what the best grapes combined with care and knowledge can produce.
 
 
 

 

   © 2007 | All rights reserved. | info@vignelaure.com | By: Majk.