Chateau Caronne Sainte Gemme, Haut Medoc Cru Bourgeois 1.5L Magnum

Description

Chateau Caronne Sainte Gemme is a Cru Bourgeois from the Haut Médoc wine region. The 45 hectare vineyard is located in the St Laurent du Medoc area adjacent to the St Julien appellation (next to Gruaud Larose and Lagrange amongst others) and is planted with 60% Cabernet Sauvignon, 3% Petit Verdot and 37% Merlot.

Records show that this vineyard was first reported in 1648 when a local landlord, Denis de Mullet of La Tour St Lambert rented it to a farmer in exchange for the wines produced. The property passed through various owners until, in 1900, ownership of Caronne passed to Emile and Eugène Borie. The sons of Eugène would later cede their shares to their uncle and purchase Ch. Batailley and later Ducru-Beaucaillou while Emile’s descendents would remain the sole owners of Caronne until this day. The property is now managed by Jean, grandson of Emile and François Nony, his nephew.

Caronne’s great soil has unlimited potential and has been described by Tom Stevenson as “a superb island of vines on a gravel plateau south of St Julien estates.” Recent investments include the building of a new wine making facility, the refurbishment of the barrel cellars and the creation of a temperature controlled storage cellar. Chateau Caronne Sainte Gemme takes pride in its deep gravel mounds of the günzien period which lie on a subsoil of iron rich sandstone to the east and clay to the west. The average age of the vines is 25 years old.

After harvest the grapes are sorted at the Chateau. The grapes are destalked, slightly crushed and into thermoregulated stainless steel and cememt fermentation vats. There is a light pumping over for soft extraction of the skins and preservation of fruit character. After up to three weeks maceration the wine is aged for 12 months in 225 litre French barrels (20% new each year). The wine is fined with egg whites and finally bottled at the vineyard 20 months after it is harvested.

The Chateau takes it name from Caronne, derived from “Carona” the Gallic name of a local spring source, and Gemme a corruption of “James”.