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Wow, when we bottled our 2018 Sauvignon Cent pour Cent we thought “this is great wine even if we say so ourselves”, so it’s great to hear that other people think so too. Today we received the news that Château de Claribès 2018 Sauvignon Cent pour Cent Organic is awarded a Médaille D’Argent at the Concours International de Lyon. This is the first wine from our new hectare of Sauvignon Blanc planted under AOP Sainte-Foy Côtes de Bordeaux, it’s Organic (Biologique) and Vegan.
But this wine is more than just a great wine that’s gaining medals, it also has a back story of persistence and an unusual boost at the end. When we took out the old Sauvignon back in 2011 we didn’t understand the authorisation process to replant and for various reasons lost three vintage years before planting the new vines. When you plant it then takes three years to get to the first production, 2017 for these vines. However, 2017 saw a late frost at the end of April that wiped out 100% of the vintage and had a knock-on effect for production in 2018. So the 2018 Sauvignon was over seven years in the making and we only got 1,600 bottles!
However, the story of this wine didn’t end there. Sadly, Helen’s father Ernie passed away in the days approaching harvest. This gave us a dilemma, harvest early and risk the wine being too acidic, harvest later and risk the sugar being too high to complete fermentation for a dry wine. In the end, circumstances pushed the harvest out to a week later than we would have chosen.
The sun was out so the sugar went up and the expected alcohol level rose from 13% to 14.5%!! With the advice and support from our oenologue, Caroline Fleur, we pushed on and ended up with a picture perfect fermentation that’s created a balanced, dry, fruity and aromatic wine.
So we hope you’ll enjoy it, remember the 14.5% and consume sensibly 🙂
We dedicate the wine, the Silver Medal and the little alcoholic bonus to Helen’s father Ernest Kelly 1927 – 2018. Cheers.
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