Les Astéries Emilion Grand Cru 2019

€240.00

Content: 0.75 Litre (€320.00 / 1 Litre)

Product number: 10292

LES ASTERIES was the first of the micro-cuvée wines in our ‘Single Vineyard Series’ based on the côtes that hug the town of Saint Emilion – the land of the Saint-Emilion Grand Crus Classés. The vines survived the frost of 1956 and date to almost a hundred years. Prior to our purchase they were a component of CHATEAU FONROQUE.

Grapes

83% Merlot 17% Cabernet Franc; 1.20 hectares, planted 1920.

Soil

This parcel is marked by a thin layer of clay over ‘Astéries’ limestone (rock limestone). This terroir yields a wine with exaggerated minerality in youth. ‘Carassonnage’ – the replacement of posts every year requires more effort here than elsewhere on the estate.

Viticulture

The vines are pruned on the double guyot system. The secondary shoots are removed and three runs of green harvesting completed in order to achieve no more than four bunches of grapes per vine, at mid-véraison. The grapes are handpicked into small trays before transfer to the winery.

Vinification

On arrival at the winery the grapes are sorted – firstly by bunch and then, after destemming, grape by grape. Only conveyors are used to transport the grapes and the wine is fermented in wooden vats after cold maceration. The wine undergoes malolactic fermentation in new French oak, and are barrel-aged in an airconditioned cellar at 18°C.

Anything Unusual

LES ASTERIES exhibits a fantastic mineral quality which is in keeping with a belt of terroir that passes through from CHATEAUX BELAIR, CANON, and CLOS FOURTET. We named the wine LES ASTERIES after the hardest form of limestone – calcaire à astéries – on which the vineyard is situated. It is unlike any other wine that we make.

96-98 PTS, THE WINE DOCTOR – CHRIS KISSACK: “This is a blend of 83% Merlot, picked on October 1st, and 17% Cabernet Franc, picked October 12th, with an alcohol of 14.9% and a pH of 3.65. A much more serious style compared to the other Maltus cuvées, including the other single-vineyard wines. The style is rich and brimming with tightly defined fruit, framed by notes of fresh, bright and minerally limestone, crushed rocks and rose petals. This feels immediately complete on the palate, elegant with perfumed roses and peonies, along with grilled blackcurrant, macerated cherry and liquorice, but it is that chalky mineral edge and of course the structure that defines the wine. The mineral component comes through loud and clear here, the texture fresh with polished and velvety tannins, and the acidity feels balanced too. This is a superb vintage for Astéries. The élevage will be in 80% new oak.”