Château Caronne, 2015

Château Caronne Ste Gemme 2015 is a blend of largely Cabernet Sauvignon with a healthy dollop of Merlot and a dash of Petit Verdot, grown on deep gravelly soil close to Saint-Julien. The entrancing aromas of cherry, currant, mocha, tobacco and smoky underbrush, with a peppery nuance emerging with air. Its dark cherry, saline mineral and menthol flavours offer good intensity, with a sound vinous quality balancing the wine's sweetness. When the barrel aromas and flavours are well integrated into the wine this promises to be an excellent claret.

Caronne Sainte Gemme's 45 hectares of Haut-Médoc vines sit on a gravel plateau typical of the area. The soils are an iron rich clay-sandstone base at the western end and a more sandy mix towards the Gironde. The mix of grape varieties planted is also fairly typical of the Médoc; there is a predominance of Cabernet Sauvignon (60%), with rather less Merlot (37%) and just a few Petit Verdot vines (3%). They are planted at a density of 10,000 vines per hectare and have an average age of 25 years. A recent innovation by Fran√ßois Nony is the introduction of a green harvest to improve the quality of fruit reaching the winery. After the September harvest, which is partly done by hand and partly by machine (another focal point for further improvements), the grapes are sorted and destemmed at the winery, followed by a light crush and fermentation of fruit from distinct plots in either stainless steel or epoxy-lined cement vats. There is a light pumping over and a maceration of up to three weeks before the wine is run into barriques for twelve months, of which 20% are new each year.

• ❖ ABV: 13.5%