Now that fermentations are finished, the wines show intense fruit, fine texture and crispy acidity.
Pascal Verhaeghe, Château du Cèdre Cahors
Château du Cèdre 2011
Lots of black and red fruit, elderberry and spices. Sweet and delicate fruit on the palate, fantastic roundness. The tannins will be appreciated for their velvety texture.
Château du Cèdre, Le Cèdre 2011
Pure fruit in the nose, flashing aromas of blackberry and violet. On the palate you will especially notice its minerality, surrounded by mellowness. Juicy wine with great potential.
Château du Cèdre GC 2011
Nose of stunning complexity, dominated by floral aromas (honeysuckle and hints of violet) and spices (juniper). Both fleshy and refined, GC has the character of a great “terroir-wine”.
Not really a fan of early vintage reports and classifications, I still would like to tell you some words about the grape quality of this year’s harvest at Domaine Santa Duc. Regarding bud-burst and flowering, one could say that 2011 was a precocious vintage. And though cool temperatures and sporadic rainfalls in July somehow dampened the enthusiasm of the vines, the following heat of August still predicted an early grape ripening. But experience tells, that one should be patient with “headstrong” grape varieties like Grenache, which never unfold their whole potential when they are rushed. So we decided to wait for them…
Domaine Santa Duc Gigondas
Harvest started on September 14th, followed by 16 days of hand picking and sorting. All fermentations were done with natural yeasts and we waived destemming on our ripest grapes. Due to this game of patience, the considerable gain of grape quality enabled us to go for long term macerations – up to four weeks – alongside with delicate extraction, to build up a solid but soft tannin structure.
Today, the young wines are plenty of fruit and spices, but also show depth and continuity. Many reasons to start ageing of the wines in a quit manner.
Le Cèdre Cahors - First impressions of the 2011 vintage
After proliferous rainfall in March and April, the Weather was predominantly dry in May and June. Flourishing (one of the most important periods during the year of the vigneron) passed under a brilliantly blue sky in June, without meteorological perturbances. This period was followed by a rather fresh climate and scattered showers in July, and a real summer August you may dream of.
Château du Cèdre - Grands vins de Cahors
Pascal goûte les graines de Malbec avant les vendanges
The vines
They did not suffer, neither from the rainfalls at springtime, nor from drought in summer. Being in advance of the normal rhythm of vegetational growth, the plants took advantage as well from the well fed deeper groundwater, as from abundant sunshine, with the result of a fine green foliage. Even at the end of August, the grapes were still surrounded by dark green leaves.
Harvest
Harvest started on august 31st with our Viognier. The grapes were perfectly healthy and very tasty. The yield amounted to about 30 hl/ha, with a total alcohol of 13%vol and a fresh, crispy acidity. Thus, we expect a perfect balance for this white wine. The first Malbecs were harvested on September 12th under a clear blue sky. A premature year, characterized by uniform ripeness in all our vineyards. The last grapes arrived in the cellar on September 22nd, to remain on skins for several weeks, followed by ripening in barrels during months.
Thus, you may take patience before you will be able to taste this promising year. Fortunately, we still have wines from 2008 and the following years available, to make the time of waiting appear short...
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